Dolby Does 3D

ShoWest 2007 provided another big boost to digital cinema. With numerous announcements and equally enlightening panel presentations on the subject, it nonetheless seemed at times as if the deployment of d-cinema systems was becoming old news. Instead, all the excitement was bubbling up into a new dimension. After an exclusive media preview on March 12, news that Dolby Laboratories had developed another and apparently more flexible cinema solution for digital 3D quickly spread throughout the convention. Theatre operators and technology experts signed up in record numbers at the Dolby tradeshow booth to attend an invitation-only demonstration of the all-new Dolby 3D Digital Cinema (D3DDC). And even though the company carefully spoke of a “sneak peek” and about developments that are “still in the early stages of testing,” from all accounts received, people were deeply impressed by what they saw. [Disclosure: Due to an eye deficiency, this author cannot properly see any images produced by 3D systems.]