Starplex Cinemas 3D

Starplex Cinemas prides itself in providing customers with the most exciting theater experience possible. Starplex has now introduced digital projection and digital 3D in select locations, allowing patrons to experience one of the newest innovations to the film industry.

While traditional celluloid 35mm film has been used to shoot movies for the last century, digital projectors now allow filmmakers to show their work with the detail intended and in a range of up to 35 trillion colors. Digital presentation also provides a sharper image that is not susceptible to fading or scratching.

With the advancement of digital projection, films can be formatted in 3D to create the effect that the audience is sitting in the midst of the film. By using two images (one for the right eye and one for the left eye), the 3D effect is achieved when images are viewed with lightweight glasses that decode the 3D images and allow viewers to see both images.

Starplex digital capabilities are equipped with RealD, the world’s leading digital 3D experience provider. This patented technology, which is currently used in space exploration and industrial design, reflects the way the human eye really sees things – in 3D. RealD delivers digital 3D to the highest standard in cinemas by producing a seamless 3D picture that appears to project both behind and in front of the screen.

Starplex launched the installation of digital projectors in early 2008 and has already unveiled the power of digital projection in the Forney, Waco Galaxy, Corpus Christi, and Rio Grande City locations.

There will be an additional $2.00 charge per ticket for all shows featured in 3D digital format.

So How Does It Work?

The RealD 3-D system is based on the push-pull electro-optical modulator called the ZScreen invented by Lenny Lipton, an American inventor.

The technique that RealD uses is comparable to the traditional method of 3-D imaging which uses linearly polarized glasses. The traditional method works by projecting two differently linearly polarized images onto the same screen, polarized at +45° and -45° from the horizontal, which are then filtered by linearly polarized glasses worn by the audience. This type of 3-D imaging requires two projectors, and suffers from visible double-imaging if the head is tilted to the side which places the glasses at an inappropriate angle.

RealD however uses a single projector that alternately projects the right-eye frame and left-eye frame, and circularly polarizes these frames, clockwise for the right-eye and counterclockwise for the left-eye, using a liquid-crystal screen placed in front of the projector lens. Circularly polarized glasses make sure each eye sees only "its own" picture, even if the head is tilted. The very high framerate, which is 72 frames per second per eye, makes sure the image looks continuous. In RealD Cinema, each frame is projected three times to reduce flicker, as the source video is usually 24 frames per second. The result is a seamless 3-D picture that seems to extend behind and in front of the screen itself.

For more information about RealD technology, CLICK HERE.