Christie Digital integrates first color touch panel control on new digital cinema projectors
Summary
High-performance projection equipment maker chooses Advantech TPC-642 color touch panel control – with user-friendly Windows platform and time-saving Ethernet connectivity – to project itself out-front of other digital cinema projectors using monochromatic touch panels.
Introduction
Christie Digital's (Kitchener, Ontario Canada) search for a color touch panel computer to help differentiate its cinema projectors from competitive products using traditional, monochromatic touch panels led it to the Advantech TPC-642. The company purchased a number of TPC-642's for use in its DCP-H and DCP-I lines of Digital Cinema projectors featuring DLP Cinema™ technology (DLP Cinema™ is a trademark of Texas Instruments). The Advantech panel is used primarily in the set-up and operation of the projectors. The touch panel mounts to the mobile projector unit and connects to the projector head via Ethernet. An operator uses the touch panel to set parameters and operate the projector. The product is used in a variety of cinema applications, including theaters, post-production suites and multi-media theatrical productions.
Project Requirements
This control application required that the controllers be rugged to withstand the environmental conditions for all cinema applications and run on a Windows CE platform. This project represents the first time that Christie has implemented color touch screen panels in its Digital Cinema projectors, so simple control integration and product support were vital.
Why Advantech
Advantech's compact TPC-642 allowed Christie to develop a solution quickly, speeding time to market, thanks to its standard Windows CE platform. This allowed Christie to be the first projection manufacturer to implement a color touch panel controller for Digital Cinema projection applications. Christie also capitalizes on features such as Ethernet connectivity, secure login/password function and color screen differentiation for ease-of-use and navigation. The control is robustly engineered to withstand temperatures from 0° to 45°C with a 5.7" touchscreen rated to over 1 million activations.
Conclusion
Christie Digital is very satisfied with the quality of Advantech's controllers and the support received over the course of this new product development. "Though this is a first-time project, we are confident in Advantech's ability to meet our requirements," notes D'Arcy Pickering, product manager for Christie digital cinema projectors.
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CHRISTIE INFO
Advantech Corporation, Industrial Automation Group - Founded in 1983, the Industrial Automation Group of Advantech Corporation is the only complete PC-based Industrial Automation Solution Manufacturer offering products such as Industrial PCs, Workstations, Panel PCs, Flat Panel Monitors, Heavy Environmental PCs, Customized PCs, Single Board Computers, Data Acquisition & Control Devices and Web-enabled products for a wide array of industries. Drawing on the talents of more than 1,800 people, Advantech operates an extensive sales and marketing network in 16 countries and 35 major cities to deliver fast time-to-market services to our worldwide customers. Today Advantech offers over 700 products and solutions, adding 30 new products each year. US operations for the Industrial Automation Group are based in Cincinnati, OH (877-294-8989). Web: www.advantech.com/ia. Email:
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