Rio Tech and Volfoni sign joint venture for China’s cinema market

Beijing, August 22, 2012. Rio Tech and Volfoni announced today the creation of a joint venture for the industry of Chinese cinema technology. The 50/50 venture will launch a new series of passive 3D polarization modulators during BIRTV.

“Volfoni is a very innovative and creative 3D company that offers world-class cutting-edge 3D technology,” says Mr. Pan Zhou, president of Rio Tech. “We are very excited about the joint venture with Volfoni. It will accelerate the development and popularity of 3D viewing in China.”

“Rio is one of the key companies in the Chinese cinema business,” says Mr. Thierry Henkinet, CEO and co-founder of Volfoni. “We look forward to working with Rio to offer all Chinese installers and cinema owners more choices to allow for the best 3D experience. The joint venture gives us closer contact to our customers in this important market, and lets us adapt best to their needs.”

The joint venture will present for the first time in China the new SmartCrystalTM Cinema, a polarization modulator designed and made in Europe and approved by Hollywood studios. This exceptional product will be on demo during BIRTV (booth 2A240, from August 22 to 25). Derived from “Surface Switching” technology developed by Volfoni, SmartCrystalTM Cinema allows for the most beautiful 3D imagery on the market, in terms of both brightness and color quality.

About Volfoni :

Founded in 2007, Paris-based Volfoni is a renowned 3D technology provider in Europe. To offer the highest quality of products to its customers, Volfoni has invested significantly over the last couple of years to build and control the entire manufacturing chain, from R&D to mass production. The company is proud to count a team of world-class scientists (Three of which have PhDs specializing in liquid crystal technology), engineers, technicians and designers. Volfoni has now become one of the very few companies in the world to offer a wide variety of 3D technologies (active and passive) with high quality standard (endorsed by the Hollywood studios’ golden eyes). Volfoni products are appreciated by the most demanding users because they answer, in a creative way, the constantly changing needs of the various 3D applications which are currently booming. For more information, please visit www.volfoni.com

About Guangzhou Rio Tech Optics Co., Ltd :

Guangzhou Rio Tech Optics Co., Ltd. (Rio Tech) specializes in 3D solutions including cinema systems and glasses. Rio Tech’s products include polarization modulators, dual polarization 3D system, active3D systems, circular polarized glasses, linear polarized glasses, active 3D shutter glasses. Rio Tech provides all-around professional solutions to its customers and has become one of the biggest 3D cinema product suppliers in China.

Press contact: Volfoni - Seon LE SACHE, slesache@volfoni.com, +33 6 7718 0454 RIO – Alice Peng, rio_pa@163.com, +86 20 8388 7337

Volfoni Presents New SmartCrystal Pro 3D Polarization Modulator for LCD 3D-Ready Projectors at InfoComm 2012

It’s press release time :-) 

June 12th, 2012

Creative 3D technology company Volfoni will be exhibiting their range of 3D products at this year’s InfoComm, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center June 13th – 15th. Volfoni is also happy to announce that Stephen Palmer, PhD and member of Volfoni’s R&D team, will be a key speaker at the Projection Summit, held at the Las Vegas Hotel in conjunction with InfoComm. Palmer will be discussing brightness as it relates to stereoscopic 3D solutions for passive 3D.

As 3D technology increases in its scope and utilization outside of cinemas, Volfoni’s products are increasingly applicable in many different markets. Their range of active and passive 3D equipment are perfect for any type of Pro AV integrator looking to use high quality 3D technology for their projects.

Volfoni’s SmartCrystal Pro currently works with any DLP-capable 3D-ready projectors, and a newer model designed to work with LCD projectors for increased luminosity will be shown as a sneak preview at InfoComm.

Launched in 2011, SmartCrystal Pro is the perfect size for smaller rooms that want to go 3D while using the low-cost “kid-friendly” circular polarized glasses. From classrooms showing 3D films, to bars and restaurants showing the Olympics in 3D, to corporations wanting to utilize 3D for presentations and events, the SmartCrystal Pro is useful in situations where a lot of 3D glasses are needed, and low-cost passive glasses are preferred over active glasses.

At the recent CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas, Volfoni unveiled their brand-new passive 3D theater system, called SmartCrystal Cinema. This competitively-priced, European-made passive 3D polarization window with a motorized bracket received much acclaim, and has put Volfoni on the map in the cinema industry. Another medium-sized polarizer is in the works, which will have a window size between the sizes of SmartCrystal Cinema and SmartCrystal Pro, and will be designed with the high-end AV market in mind.

Volfoni is very well-known for their active 3D products, mainly their EDGE line of active glasses, both DLP-Link and IR (infra-red) versions. A large portion of AV integrators are well-acquainted with active 3D glasses, and the quality of Volfoni’s EDGE brand stands out in the crowd. Lightweight and durable, with a comfortable universal nosepiece, EDGE glasses are perfect for long-term use. The DLP-Link glasses are popular with schools because they turn on with just the touch of a button, and they work with 3D-ready DLP projectors and white screens. The IR glasses work with Volfoni emitter kits. Emitter kits come in various sizes, depending on the size of the space where 3D is being shown.

“We manage the entire channel of our products, so quality is of utmost concern. New active and passive products are always in development, and we take great pride in being extremely attentive to each of our customer’s needs. We are dedicated to developing offers for a range of markets such as corporate, education, home theater, AV professionals,” says Thierry Henkinet, CEO of Volfoni.

See the products in action and learn more at Volfoni’s booth C5026 in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, June 13th – 15th. Stephen Palmer’s talk will take place June 12th at 3:30pm at the Las Vegas Hotel.

Brazil’s Educar show: Education in 3D

Volfoni was delighted to have our products featured at Educar 2012, which is an education & technology conference held in Sao Paulo, Brazil May 16th-19th. See photos below of people sporting our 3D EDGE active DLP-Link glasses, which are perfect for the classroom (you can learn more about the glasses here). A big thank you to Freddy Zular from Faz Digital for organizing this.

Passive 3D for all: More about Volfoni’s SmartCrystal Pro

We have recently seen a very in-depth article talking about building a 3D projection room, using in part our small polarization modulator which turns active 3D into passive 3D: SmartCrystal Pro. A very favorable point was the fact that it is the same quality as competitors’, but is a fraction of the price, as we manage the entire channel of production of the SmartCrystal Pro. Read the article here:

http://cosmo.gatech.edu/?p=694

Also, we had a great review in PC Mag, in case you haven’t checked that out yet: 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403680,00.asp

All in all, the SCP is a great way to bring passive 3D into your home theater, school, lecture hall, or small auditorium.

About the new French 3D screen “law”

Last week, Variety ran an article talking about the French film board’s decision to phase out the usage of silver screens over the next 5 years. The board favors using white screens for 3D and 2D, because of the image degradation seen when silver screens show 2D.

France has 2,519 screens used for 3D, and of that about 1,200 are silver screens.

Some things the article did not mention:

The law is not a ban on silver screens for 3D.

In France, the idea is that movies should be viewed as high-quality as possible. A great idea, if you ask me :-). Therefore, a movie cannot be projected on a bad quality screen.

The level of light being uniform all over the screen, is a key point. Silver screens cannot guarantee this type of uniformity, and as a result, the French don’t want to allow silver screens used for 2D projection. However, they did allow silver screens to be used for passive 3D, because at the time the law was written, silver screens were the only way you could show 3D. It’s different now, of course, with the rise of white screens and active 3D.

When 3D first started in France, an exception was granted to allow 2D projection to occur on 3D silver screens. This was a move to spur growth in the 3D industry as a whole. Here we are, 5 years later, and the French government’s plan was to allow 2D projections on silver screens forever. Filmmakers refused to have their 2D films shown on silver screens. As a result, the government has extended their plan for another 5 years, with the promise of phasing out the usage of silver screens for 2D. Filmmakers are really hoping that this is the last exception ever to the law.

If the filmmakers get their way, silver screens will still be allowed, but will have to be separate, and dedicated to 3D showings only.

And as we know, 5 years is a long time in a burgeoning industry, and much can change. We know how fast things happen in our industry, so all we can do is make predictions and just ride the waves of change :-)