London has seen the launch of the first Sony 4K digital cinema system this week, with the Apollo Cinema chain unveiling the ‘Art Cinealta’ 4K projection setup at its Piccadilly branch.

The move is significant as it brings unrivalled picture quality to the big screen, with it the ability to play 3D movies in the best possible way.
At the launch event there were a number of industry heads discussing 3D cinema technology and the stereoscopic 3D industry as a whole. Among them was film producer and politician David Putnam who called the advent of 3D digital cinemas in the UK nothing less than game changing.
“The growth in cinema and box-office revenue is remarkable,” Putnam explained.
“2008 saw £170 million in sales, the best since 2004, and 3D is part of this. There is every indication that when films are shown in 3D and 2D, 3D is favoured by the public four to one. I do believe that in every sense that digital and 3D projection in general is the game changer in cinema.”
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RED Digital Cinema have been getting a lot of media attention lately with their range of super high resolution cameras. But for us 3D fans the great news is their cameras have the capabilty of shooting mega high quality 3D movies. RED call their 3D format ‘R3D’ and the footage can be edited in RED’s proprietry software apps ‘REDCINE’ & ‘RED Alert’. Alternatively ‘Scratch’ and ‘Final Cut Pro’ (6.02 or above) are also able to edit the native RAW R3D. Other than the fact that these cameras shoot from 3K right up to 28K (261 megapixels @ 25 fps), they are extremely reasonably priced (considering the technology used). Several movies have previously been shot using previous models of RED 3D cameras and the results are impressive but the news coming from RED PR suggest this is only the tip of the iceberg (in terms of 3D technology) and RED has some big plans for 3D cinema technology in the future. Watch this space!