Mexico. Lunaria, the new planetarium of the city of Guadalajara, has acquired six projectors of 3DLP Christie Mirage 304K technology to illuminate its 8K dome that offers 30 million pixels in 500 square meters of projection surface. The installation has been in charge of the companies Evans & Sutherland (E&S) and Digital Planetariums.
Enrique Fonte, director of Planetariums Digitales, a Mexican company specialized in the design and supply of planetariums, explained the reason for the choice of Christie projectors for this room: "The government of the state of Jalisco wanted to have a world-class stereo 3D system, and this was only achieved with these projectors highly tested by E & S in installations made in different parts of the world."
He added: "We chose the Mirage 304K model for its 4K resolution and excellent brightness of 30,000 lumens, plus it works very stably at 120Hz. Being a stereo 3D system, it was required to have an extraordinary luminosity after blending. We were also attracted by its easy connectivity and the quality of its colors, which allow us to achieve impeccable image quality in 2D and 3D."
Enrique Fonte also highlights the 30 million effective pixels that are achieved after blending, "which make the size of the pixel very small and imperceptible to the audience, in addition to producing a brilliance that positions it among the great domes of the world".
For Alfonso Islas, director of Lunaria, "the six Christie Mirage projectors are having a very efficient performance, providing a very high quality and resolution in our dome".
The projection dome is governed by the Digistar 6 system, developed by the American E&S. This solution is made up of hardware and software, and has tools such as image synchrony, auto blending and self-alignment to create an image of extraordinary quality where the joints on the screen are imperceptible and where the image is always focused anywhere on the projection surface, both in 2D and in active stereo 3D.
Digistar 6 also has a tool called Domecasting that will allow Lunaria to connect in real time with other planetariums in the world equipped with the same system, and thus share content, discoveries, news, conferences, events, etc.
The dome, with capacity for 175 spectators, is also equipped with a surround sound system in 7.1 channels of high power supplied by a third party, a perimeter ambient lighting system with RGB LeDs and DMX control.
Christie's equipment is installed perimeter around the room, projecting documentaries or full-dome and large-format 2D and 3D films that have been previously rendered for dome. The screen used is the NanoSeam model of the Spitz brand; It has 18 meters in diameter (360 x 180 degrees) with an inclination of 18 degrees to achieve greater immersion.
