OT: Siggraph 37" 1920x1080 200,000:1 contrast

Coursedesign wrote on 8/3/2005, 10:37 PM
I just got back from Siggraph. Some incredible stuff on the floor, such as a very very large rear projection screen in the nVidia booth showing some incredibly realistic 3D renderings in near realtime.

DAZ 3D Studio is available as a free download in release candidate version, soon to be a free full release. This is a product like Poser, with slightly less functionality but with some UI functions actually better/easier to use. Good deal!

The "Electronic Theater" showed animation content for two hours. Not much here that could even be compared with anything that's ever been done before.

There was 3D "cartoon" content of beyond incredible quality (artistically and technically), fantastic realistic motion captured 3D composites used in an HP commercial, an animation from Sony(!) that explained very clearly the XYZ color space from CIE (as different from most other color systems, it is device-independent and goes beyond what the eye can see), tornado simulations, and much much more.

Artistically, on a scale from 1 to 10, this program of animation content ranked a "Holy Mackerel!"

Well worth the $50 single performance ticket price!

Although I got one of those tickets for free after submitting my own animation.

Specifically it was my own very slowly animated facial expression showing my reaction to the ticket price, this made the ticketeer promptly fork over a free VIP ticket. Gotta love it, I'm glad I took those theater classes a long time ago! :O)

Projection was handled by a $150,000 Christie 2K projector that was out of this world good.

I recently saw Revenge of the Sith in 2K projection at the Arclight theater (did I say I got 2 free tickets? :O), their projection was not as high quality as this puppy.

Astonishing brightness, contrast ratio, color space, sharpness and a sheer subjective joy! I want one!

More if I find something more in my two huge swag bags, my brain is fried from so many sense impressions...

Comments

Coursedesign wrote on 8/4/2005, 8:43 AM
Addendum:

nVidia FX 1300 workstation class graphics card selling on the floor for $299 instead of the $799 MSLP or $600+ street price. You have to have a PCI Express slot to use it though.

Bought a very decent MPEG4 pocket size camcorder with 6.6 Mpixel still capability for $288 (they had already sold 500 on the floor in 2 days!). Records on 45x SD cards, a 512MB card is good for two hours at the highest quality setting, 640x480 (square pixels) at 30fps. NTSC and PAL out. Uses a very common good and inexpensive Nokia cell phone battery, good for 6 hours. Manufacturer web site.

This is a new generation of a previous camera that sold for abt $600.

Great for location scouting and much more, the quality isn't as good as what I shoot normally, but very very acceptable for many applications.
Coursedesign wrote on 8/5/2005, 12:13 PM
Two interesting products at the show:

Brightside DR-37P Extreme Dynamic Range Display
37" flat screen,
Resolution 1920x1080
16 bits per color
Contrast ratio > 200,000:1
Brightness 3,000 cd/m2
Black Level 0.015 cd/m2
IMLED - Individually Modulated Array of LED backlights

The picture was absolutely astonishing.

Brightside web site.

This company also has some other interesting products for high dynamic range images.
Quryous wrote on 8/9/2005, 12:03 PM
The BrightSide 37" TV sounds really good.

Now, pay attention, people!!! I want you ALL to rush right out and buy one to help pay for the R&D. Then, in about 3 years when the price gets a mite bit more realistic, I might be able to con (persuade) my wife into letting me have one.
Coursedesign wrote on 8/9/2005, 12:10 PM
In the meantime you can always try the classics:
"The children need it for their homework."
"With this, we'll finally be able to enjoy those nature shows."
"My eyes are swollen from watching our dark TV."
...and...
"Honey, we'll be able to enjoy this so much more than the second home we talked about!"
apit34356 wrote on 8/9/2005, 9:39 PM
Coursedesign, did you see the the sony 4k theater projector, kiss the 2k market goodbye. This 4k projector will put a serious dent in the film projector market, also will probably kill low or medium budget 35mm film projects for the big screen.