Samsung replaced projectors and screens with LED movie display screen for the first time in a movie theater, a landmark moment in the history of the film industry. The South Korean electronics giant first unveiled its Samsung LED movie screen in March this year, and now the 10.3m (33.8ft) wide screen has settled in South Korea’s Lotte Movie World Tower.
Not only does Samsung’s LED cinema screen support 4K (4096×2160) resolution, it also promises HDR visuals. However, LED screens are much smaller than typical movie theater screens (usually 45 feet to 72 feet).
“Through clearer, more lifelike colors, complementary audio and enhanced vision, our cinema LED screens make audiences feel immersive,” said HS Kim, president of Samsung’s visual display business. The LED screen launched this time is just a small appetizer in front of the global $40 billion movie market.
As the movie market is increasingly eroded by home entertainment systems and services such as giant TV screens, video-on-demand and Dolby Surround audio, LED movie screens will be the future evolution of the movie industry.
Samsung has yet to announce plans for the installation of the LED cinema screen, or how much it will cost. But the company has made it clear that it will be used in a variety of scenarios, including corporate functions, concerts and esports.
China’s first LED movie screen launched
On February 4, 2018, Wanda Cinemas in Shanghai Wujiaochang officially opened the first LED movie screen in China. The news that China’s first Samsung Cinema LED theater will be located in Shanghai jointly announced by Wanda Films and JYLED is not only a new beginning for Chinese LED display companies determined to enter the cinema market, but also has a huge encouraging effect. It means that we also have the ability and strength to compete with foreign forces!
In fact, before Samsung launched the LED movie screen, many domestic R&D engineers in the deep field have accumulated a lot of experience in LED imaging. According to the senior engineer of JYLED, the earliest paper knowledge about LED stereoscopic movie projection can be traced back to 2011.
It can be seen from the papers of that year that there is already a very complete design scheme and logical thinking in the LED cinema display screen, but there is still a certain distance between the paper at that time and the actual implementation. What is even more unexpected is that, It is a pity to be the first to launch the world’s first LED movie screen by foreign manufacturers.
The display effect is clear and realistic, and the audience is full of praise
Judging from the public information, this LED movie screen in Shanghai Wanda Cinema has a screen width of nearly 10.3 meters, an ultra-clear 4K resolution (4,096 x 2,160) and a peak brightness (146fL) 10 times higher than that of traditional projection equipment. At present, it is the only LED display screen in China whose picture quality meets the DCI standard. Compared with the traditional projection technology, the LED movie screen incorporates high dynamic range imaging (HDR) technology, which can achieve a more realistic picture quality effect.
At the same time, it also delivers perfect color accuracy (DCI-P3 color gamut) at peak brightness, presenting bright colors to the audience. But whether it is 4K, brightness, or HDR technology, behind these tall names, it cannot hide the fact that this is a P2 LED display.
For Chinese display companies that sell LED products around the world and provide about 90% of the world’s LED displays, it can be said that it is easy to produce a P2 small-pitch LED display. From a technical point of view, with the development of small-pitch LED displays, it is completely feasible for domestic LED displays to reach the 4K HDR standard.
It is precisely because of these conditions that companies like JYLED can make a difference in the cinema market. However, we cannot ignore the fact that, apart from Shenzhen JYLED, there is no LED display company in China that can pass the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) certification and can enter the cinema market with great fanfare.
In the final analysis, there are still some application problems in small-pitch LED displays that need to be solved urgently, such as failure rate problems caused by discrete devices, heat dissipation, and dizziness caused by long-term viewing. These problems are not only a stumbling block for entering the cinema market, but also a stumbling block for small-pitch LED displays to lead to a larger market, that is, from the commercial market to the civilian market.
