ENGINEERING

Quantum Leap In Video Processing Provides Powerful Combination Of High Frame Rates And High Resolution

Christie has unveiled its latest electronics platform – Christie TruLife – with a proprietary, 1.2 Gigapixel per second, floating point architecture. Christie TruLife electronics forms the basis for the latest generation of projectors capable of delivering industry-leading ultra high resolution, high frame rate video with unprecedented image fidelity (e.g. 4K resolution image processing at 60 fps and beyond). The current standard digital interfaces such as DVI have a bandwidth of 165 MHz.

Anchored by a high-performance electronics engine that leverages the latest in field-programmable gate array (FPGA) integrated circuits (ICs), the platform is capable of supporting a video-processing pipeline of up to 1.2 Gigapixels per second (GPix/s). Christie projectors based on the new electronics platform will use this very high capacity image-processing power to deliver immersive, hyper-realistic video experiences.

Exclusive Design Delivers True Lifelike Visual Experiences

“Traditional design cycles and the limitations of off-the-shelf video processing ICs were hindering our ability to solve video-processing problems.  This was in turn holding back the expression of our customers’ collective imaginations for realizing lifelike, ultra-realistic, immersive environments through video displays,” said Jennifer Smith, vice president of Global Engineering at Christie. “By breaking from the pack with our own custom designs, we were able to build a high-performance video pipeline and computational blocks that deliver the high-fidelity images our customers are clamoring for. The first expression of the Christie TruLife electronics architecture will be debuted at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show April 6-11 in Las Vegas.”

Many industries will immediately benefit from this original video-processing electronics architecture, with cases in point including those end users creating groundbreaking theme-park attractions, visualization “power walls” and flight simulation environments.  Christie TruLife electronics will underpin these applications providing customers with realistic experiences, alleviating the image blurring and motion sickness that may accompany these environments.

Speed the Hallmark of the Christie TruLife Electronics Platform

Just how powerful is the Christie TruLife electronics platform? Taking a common measurement of video-processing power – the speed or rate with which video data is processed, typically measured in Gigapixels per second (GPix/s) – the Christie platform scales to reach 1.2 GPix/s, which is nearly 10x faster than standard high-def projection and 4x faster than typical 3D projection, as well as double what other 4K projectors are capable of. 

Launching throughout 2013, Christie projectors featuring TruLife will enable 4K2K, Ultra-HD/Quad-HD resolutions today at 60 fps, and will have the capability to support higher resolutions and higher frame rates.

Floating Point Strides

“When increasing the resolution, one simultaneously needs a higher frame rate for the images and increased dynamic range, to make the experience more lifelike. We achieved this by designing a new floating-point processing engine within the platform, which affords an equivalent of 25 bits of fixed point processing as compared to the 8 to 10 bits of processing found in today’s standard projectors.  We linked our floating point processing modules with the very latest in ultra high speed serial communication links, called ‘SerDes’ and fast access memory blocks to deliver an unprecedented solution,” said Jeevan Vivegananthan, director of product development, Christie Business Products.

“The increased dynamic range offered by the floating point engine of Christie TruLife will be appreciated by those, such as automobile designers, who want to render the highest fidelity images with very smooth, deep and rich color transitions,” added Vivegananthan. 

Christie’s new electronics platform will also facilitate the creation of new user experiences, automated setup, increased connectivity and “smart” control features enabling the next generation of collaborative, augmented reality and projection mapping applications.

“Rather than wait for the traditional video IC industry to catch up with the needs of the professional AV market, Christie took the lead and pioneered its own technology solution,” added Smith.

Christie is showcasing some of its newest technologies, including new projectors based on the Christie TruLife electronics platform, at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show April 6-11; see Booth SL 2609.