Samsung along with group company HARMAN on Thursday launched the world’s largest Onyx Cinema LED Screen in Bengaluru at Swagath Cinemas, which will now be known as Swagath Onyx Theatre.
"Since the beginning, cinemas have been powered by projector based systems. ONYX Cinema LED is the next generation of cinema viewing. This theatre in Bengaluru -- Swagath Onyx Theatre -- incorporates a 14-metre Cinema LED screen, which is the largest in the world," Puneet Sethi, Vice President, Consumer Electronics Enterprise Business, Samsung India told IANS.
At the inauguration, HARMAN global ambassador and Oscar winning composer AR Rahman said, “With Samsung’s ground-breaking Onyx Cinema LED Screen technology and HARMAN’s iconic JBL audio, movie goers in Bengaluru will immensely enjoy their experience at the theatre. I have worked with HARMAN and used JBL Professional systems for many years, and I can confidently say that they truly do justice to the music I create. There is no sound like JBL sound, so it makes sense that the brand is powering this amazing new way to enjoy movies and music.”
The South Korean tech major installed the first such screen at PVR in Delhi last year. After that, it partnered with INOX to bring the ONYX experience in Mumbai and with Cinepolis in Delhi.
Samsung aims to introduce 35-40 such Cinema LED displays at movie theatres across the country by the end of 2022.
"We started with the ONYX Cinema LED journey in Delhi and Mumbai and now we're entering the south India market, which we foresee as a strong market for Samsung. Our primary focus will be around metro and other Class A cities," Sethi said.
The technology was originally introduced by the company in 2017 and the first screen was installed in Korea.
"There is huge potential in India and we want to convert at least 20 per cent of the screens to Cinema LED over the next decade. We will offer innovative solutions to consumers in India and transform their overall cinema viewing experience," Sethi added.
According to the company, the installation of one LED screen roughly requires 8-10 weeks.
The 4K LED screen comes with comprehensive solutions such as "Onyx View", "Onyx 3D" and "Onyx Sound".
The display has HDR (High Dynamic Range) to the cinema, showcasing on-screen contents at peak brightness level, nearly 10 times greater than that offered by the standard cinema projectors.
The ONYX display accommodates any venue configuration and aims to deliver an unmatched visual quality, technical performance and reliability over traditional projectors, the company claimed.
The display maintains its advanced presentation capabilities in ambient lighting conditions regardless of the featured on-screen content.
(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in)
With IANS inputs