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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: Future of Sony D-Cinema
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Carsten Kurz
Film God
Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009
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posted 03-29-2015 08:12 PM
Why would 'three competing' companies make their situation any better?
The situation after the final stage of the digital rollout is complicated for all companies in that area. They needed to establish high-output manufacturing processes for a couple of years, and knew that they would face a fast decline at some point.
However, I think all four companies can deal with that, because the cinema business was only one of their product segments. Also, the same factory that builds Sonys digital cinema projectors builds other professional production gear. It's a modular part-time fab.
What makes things even more complicated to judge for Sony is their cross-market 4k/UHD marketing. They want to sell 4k to consumers, gamers, cinemas, production companies, etc. That's why they want to produce 4k movies as well to sustain that approach.
We should also not forget that all companies went into 10year warranty commitments, so they are obliged to support their product at least as long as that.
Frankly I couldn't care less about laser projection. It is either too expensive or nothing more than a buzz-word-item (in the form of phosphor-conversion devices).
When you scroll back in this forum, you will find similar discussions about the future of NEC, BARCO, or TI's DLP division as a whole.
- Carsten
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 03-30-2015 04:30 AM
Unless a cheaper and/or far better technology comes around that can replace it, there's no reason to expect TI's DLP to go away anytime soon.
Sony's tech is built around their proprietary LCoS implementation called SXRD. There's currently no other major player licensing this technology from them, so all investments into this technology have to be recouped with their own product portfolio. If they decide to stop investing money in this technology, it's essentially over for their digital cinema products too. It also makes it harder for them to spin it off or sell it to one of their competitors or any other player wanting to get into the niche market of Ditigal Cinema.
Christie and Barco both specialize in professional visualization products for niche markets and the cinema products of NEC, Barco and Christie are all built around a very common TI reference platform. Both Barco and Christie offer models in which the only notable difference between the DCI model and the "professional" model is the interface card configuration. So, for them, the costs of being and staying in this niche are rather minimal, it's part of their natural evolution of many of their core products.
But even if any one of those big players decides to discontinue their digital cinema projector products, they could easily sell or transfer it to any other big player in the DLP market space, like e.g. Panasonic.
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Carsten Kurz
Film God
Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009
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posted 03-30-2015 05:08 PM
There's a major european Sony representative giving a speech about Sonys laser projector development mid-may on a cinema trade-fair here. I don't think they are announcing this in order for him to say 'We're not doing it'. What this guy told me last year was that they are looking for the right business model for them and the exhibitors. LIPs now come into the market after literally all screens have been converted to Xenon or UHP DCI. Of course there will always be a need for new gear replacing old gear, and there is a need for brighter and better 3D on the largest screens for sure. But these are very small numbers compared to what drove the digital rollout during the last 5-8 years.
Sure, Sonys SXRD is limited in screen size as long as they run xenon, and laser would allow them to go for the largest screens. They could have done it easily, they had laser projector prototypes running in public back in 2005,
http://www.sony.net/Products/SC-HP/cx_news_archives/img/pdf/vol_40/sideview40.pdf
and public DCI LIP prototype back in 2012 (just as the DLP companies).
http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/laser-light-engines-sony-present-first-public-demonstrati on-high-brightness-laser-3d-nyse-sne-1642593.htm
They sell phosphor conversion laser projectors in the business projector market for two years now, as well as consumer 4k laser projectors:
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-projectors/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-show-projectors-laserprojectorslanding page.shtml
http://www.sony.net/Products/4k-ultra-short-throw/
Sony even makes their own high power laser engines. To me this looks as if they sure can do it, but don't see a valuable business model around it currently in the DCI market. LIPs do make sense in the presentation projector market, hence Sony makes and sells them there.
What could actually drive considerable numbers of new DCI LIPs to be sold within the next couple of years? Maybe Sony acts quite sensible here.
- Carsten
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