Mol, Belgium (August 5, 2013)-Cinemark will deploy the Auro 11.1 by Barco immersive audio playback system in more than 150 premium Extreme Digital (XD) screens worldwide.
Cinemark’s decision reportedly makes Auro 11.1 the worldwide market leader in immersive cinema audio systems for the movie exhibition industry. Cinemark will begin the worldwide deployment this year in all of its “tier one” markets, starting with North America.
“After independently testing both commercially available immersive cinema sound solutions, it became abundantly clear that Auro 11.1 provides the best complement to the Cinemark XD experience. We firmly believe that the fullness and richness of Auro’s height layer, coupled with the discreetness of the future and open standard object-based capabilities supported by Auro, will make for the best movie going experience possible,” said Damian Wardle, vice president of worldwide theatres technology & presentation at Cinemark. “It’s backward and forward compatibility with existing cinema audio systems, in addition to the ease and economy regarding both implementation and operation, are also critical elements.”
Barco and Cinemark are working together to address concerns expressed by the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and the Union Internationale des Cinemas (UNIC) in their recent statement announcing cinema exhibitor requirements for immersive sound technologies. By enabling playback of immersive soundtracks produced using toolsets based on open standards on its screens, Cinemark hopes to serve as a model for this approach to foster greater competition and ultimately facilitate quicker implementation in the marketplace.
Cinemark Holdings, Inc.
www.cinemark.com
Auro Technologies
www.auro-technologies.com
