Jordan O'BrienPanamorph, the US lens specialist, has joined Habitech’s line-up of home entertainment and automation products, with the UK distributor set to show off the lenses at Essential Install Live! South.
Habitech believes that Panamorph’s Paladin (8K-ready) and Phoenix (4K-ready) 2.4:1 Ultra-Wide lenses will ideally complement its range of JVC high-end home theatre projectors. That’s because the lenses have been specifically engineered to realise the original ultra-wide aspect ratio of at least 70% of all new film releases.
That’s not where the advantages end however, with Panamorph’s lenses also promising to reproduce authentic colours, tones and detail – meaning users will be able to get the most out of their projectors.
Panamorph’s Paladin and Phoenix lenses facilitate the move from 16:9 to Ultra-Wide home theatre screens, providing the panoramic experience of commercial cinema at home, which Habitech believes will be the next big home theatre upgrade. To showcase the advantages of the ultra-wide format, Habitech has set up a comparison on its website between the 2.4:1 aspect ratio and 16:9.
The 2.4:1 aspect ratio is something that can only truly be enjoyed with a projector, with most 4K/UHD and HD TVs offering the more common 16:9 aspect ratio. That means when someone wants to enjoy the film as intended the user is forced to watch it in a letterboxed view – essentially turning off approx. 25% of the display device’s resolution while trapping 25% of the light and converting it to heat.
What that means is that on a 4K UHD display users are only getting a 3K performance, while only 810 lines of resolution can be enjoyed on a 1080p/HD display.
Panamorph’s Ultra-wide lenses promise to utilise the entire power the projector has to offer. The company has already worked with home theatre projector manufacturers for over 10 years, meaning every leading projector model should be convertible to the full cinema UltraWide 2.4:1 aspect ratio using a Panamorph lens.
What that means is that users will no longer have to endure a letterboxed experience and will reclaim over two million pixels when watching 4K UHD content and also enjoy a brighter picture.
Habitech says that Panamorph’s new Paladin and Phoenix Ultra-Wide lenses improve the visual performance of the entire home theatre investment by over 30%.
In addition to the performance advantages, a further benefit of the upgrade from 16:9 to Ultra-Wide 2.4:1 is the practicality of being able to install a 2.4:1 screen within the height dimension of a UK room. An installer would be able to specify a much wider screen utilising the 2.4:1 aspect ratio than they would with a 16:9 screen.
Habitech plans to demonstrate the Ultra-Wide experience through a Panamorph Paladin lens fitted to JVC’s X9000 projector at Sound Booth 3 at Essential Install Live! South. Panamorph’s Shawn Kelly will be available to explain the technology and field questions from integrators.