Digital cinema installations are booming with Texas Instruments reporting that more than 50,000 DLP cinema projectors have been installed in theatres around the world.
TI says these latest figures mark a turning point in the cinema industry with more than 50% of the estimated worldwide commercial cinema screens converting to digital. The industry expects the shift to near completion by the end of 2015.
To mark the event, DLP Cinema provided each of its licensees; Barco, Christie and NEC, with a commemorative DLP Cinema chip representing the 50,000th 3-chipset manufactured. These chips will be installed at three cinemas. Barco has selected the Cinemark El Tesoro in Medellin, Colombia, Christie has chosen the Shanghai Film Group Corporation (SFG) in China and NEC has picked the Majestic Cinema in Milwaukee, WI USA as the worldwide representatives of this 50,000th milestone.
Christie said that it was responsible for shipping and installing more than 26,000 digital cinema projectors worldwide while Barco claimed more than 20,000 units bagging 40% of the total DLP Cinema based projector fleet across the globe.
In the 12-month period between December 1, 2010 and November 30, 2011, the number of DLP Cinema screens worldwide grew to a total of 51,620 (up from 28,036) – nearly double the amount of such screens at this point in 2010 – for an increase of 84 percent. DLP Cinema 3D screens have risen 65 percent to 30,290 in total (from 18,367) during the same 12 month timeframe. The total DLP Cinema worldwide screens do not include IMAX digital powered by DLP Cinema, which separately grew to 410 sites globally.
The EMEA region saw a 91% increase in DLP Cinema screens in the same 12 month period to reach 17, 670 installations. It saw a 56% increase with 3D to reach 10,848.