Barco’s planetarium projection technology to sail the high seas aboard Queen Mary 2
KORTRIJK, BELGIUM, January 9, 2004. Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, the most expensive passenger liner ever built, features the first planetarium to sail the high seas. Three times each day, Barco’s planetarium projector system will pump stunning space visualizations and dazzling shows across the entire hemispherical screen creating a sensation of movement for the 150-seat audience.
“We are proud to have been able to contribute to this worldwide first,” says Eric Braux, Barco Edutainment Product Group Manager. “Travelers will be able to witness the immersive excitement of Barco’s high-definition video projection during the traditional six-day transatlantic crossings as well as Caribbean voyages from New York, Rio de Janeiro sailings at Carnival time, and other voyages to Europe and the Americas.”
Six Barco SIM4 DLP projectors were chosen by Sky-Skan, the main contractor for the planetarium, to equip its SkyVision high-definition video and DigitalSky planetarium system, that also takes care of the splitting up of the main images and the distortion and soft-edge blending required to project a single, immersive image on the hemispherical totally surrounding screen.
Next to being a perfect match for powerful image generators, SIM4 DLP™ projectors can also be part of Barco’s I-Dome DLP™ projection system. This system allows the use of PC’s and can handle the complete visualization, including predistortion to produce a correct picture on a spherical screen and proprietary optical blending of the images to achieve the true black levels needed to project a starry sky.
Total planetarium visualization solutions such as on the QM2 and others with Barco’s I-Dome system, open a new world for science museums and planetariums worldwide, since they can project whatever content provided by the image generators. It can project the configuration of planets and stars as they stood when Christ was born, and how they will stand in millenniums to come, but also the human DNA-chain, or a virtual tour of Nefertari’s Tomb or just a fairy-tale totally surrounding the audience with multi-channel video and sound.
In just one year’s time, Barco’s projection systems became the leading projection solution for planetariums and science centers with installations in Germany (Planetarium Hamburg and Kiel), France (l’Astronef, St-Etienne), Spain (Planetarium Valladolid, Museo de la Ciencia Barcelona), Greece (Athens “Eugenides” Planetarium, New Technology Museum and Science Center-Thessaloniki), Finland (Tampere Planetarium), Huntsville - Alabama, USA (Sci-Quest interactive Theater) and in Mexico City (Papalote Museo del Niño).
About Barco
Barco, an international company headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium, is active in three key areas of imaging technology. Barco designs and develops solutions for large screen visualization, display solutions for life-critical applications, and systems for visual inspection. Barco has a network of subsidiaries, distributors, and agents in almost 100 countries. Barco is quoted on Brussels/Euronext and is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company.
About Sky-Scan
For over 35 years, Sky-Skan has been the world’s leading provider of media technologies and facility design for domed theaters. Sky-Skan’s products and services include their trademark SPICE Automation Show Control System, dome screen-oriented video and audio systems, specialized image creation software for video and still pictures on domed screens and complete turn-key facility design and construction management services. Sky-Scan maintains sales, production facilities and technical support on 3 continents with its offices in Nashua, NH USA; Munich, Germany; and Melbourne, Australia.
For more information, please contact
JP
Tanghe
Senior Advisor to the CEO
Barco nv
Telephone
+32 56/26 23 22
jp.tanghe@barco.com
