Christie has announced that the British Film Institute (BFI) has installed Real Laser illumination technology in its main screening room, continuing their long standing partnership. Following a trial period at the BFI London Film Festival, a CP4420-RGB pure laser projector replaced the Christie series one projector installed there 14 years ago. The CP4420-RGB 20,000 lumen projector has a wide gamut for color fidelity and is future-proofed with a high frame rate (4K 120fps or 4K 60fps/eye 3D playback). The projector is designed with a long-lasting light source with 50,000 hours of DCI-specified brightness. Directors and film representatives who attended London Film Festival screenings were able to sample their work on the Christie Real Laser illuminated projector.
Dominic Simmons, head of technical services at the BFI said of the projector, “We liked the results we saw with laser at the Festival, and it also went down very well with the filmmakers. They loved the images. In fact, the pictures we can now show audiences are vivid, have very good contrast and excellent quality in general. Moreover, the sustainability of pure laser helps reduce energy use, so the upgrade has been a double whammy. The low maintenance is clearly positive, there will be savings with every use and no change of lamps which is very helpful,” says Simmons adding, “We have a matte white screen which is a good fit for laser projection.”
The flagship screening room also received an audio update in the refurbishment. Christie partnered with Powersoft, whose amplifiers support Christie Vive Audio. “I heard Vive Audio in another cinema and thought it sounded very good indeed,” explained Simmons. “We wanted to upgrade, and Christie had a great solution with the ribbon drive technology (line arrays). Christie helped in the consultancy process and NFT1 was fitted with five LA3i line arrays and five S215 subwoofers for the screen channels, two S218LP subwoofers and LA3Si surround loudspeakers.”
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