Leica Australia has confirmed that its high-end Cine 1 Cinema TV will probably be one of many stars of the Australian Hello-Fi Present 2024 in Sydney. It’s a singular likelihood to spend time with this entire leisure system with excellent 4K picture decision, immersive Dolby Atmos encompass sound and unmistakable Leica high quality.
A house theatre projector may appear a side-step for Leica Digital camera AG, the worldwide producer of high-end cameras and lenses, effective mechanical and medical devices and high-tech gadgets of the very best requirements in imaging. However maybe not a lot – house leisure has lengthy relied on high-quality lenses, and much sooner than video projection. Many was the Nineteen Sixties house the place an enormous display screen was illuminated by a trendy Leica/Leitz Pradovit slide projector, the peak of house leisure with its cabled distant management which might shuttle the 35mm slides forwards and backwards.
So in some methods, the Leica Cine 1 sees the German firm reclaiming territory lengthy ceded. And this ultra-short-throw projector consists of each a video streaming module and TV tuners inside, and has a built-in sound system. You possibly can plug in extra sources, however the Cine 1 already supplies all the pieces in a single: a deliberate various to a tv.
Masters of glass
The comfort of a projector positioned near the wall is simple, however the technical problem of delivering an excellent unfold of sunshine and correct imaging from such a place is appreciable. Chief among the many challenges is the standard of the lenses, each throughout the inside imaging and particularly on the exit lens, with its unenviable process of delivering an oblong picture thrown up from beneath.
The potential benefits of getting Leica-standard glass are appreciable, and right here the subtle Leica Summicron lens makes use of 4 aspherical lenses together, every manufactured based on Leica requirements, and exactly matched to the picture dimension. Leica’s personal picture processing can be employed – Leica Picture Optimization (LIO). This brings ‘particular algorithms’ to bear with the promise of “significantly pure color rendition, richly detailed color gradation and an impressive distinction ratio”.
The good interface is VIDAA, as utilized in Hisense’s Laser TVs and televisions, and consists of voice management, direct entry to streaming platforms and terrestrial catch-up apps (Freeview). The TV tuner is triple-headed, and there’s Apple AirPlay accessible too.
One other simple bonus with Leica’s tackle projection is the beautiful cupboard, its timeless look seeming completely twenty first century whereas nonetheless triggering ideas of these Pradovits of the Nineteen Sixties.
Certainly it appears Leica sees the Cine 1 as representing greater than its return to house leisure: it notes how this ‘Cinema TV’ additionally completes a movie-making circle for the corporate. It was again in 1914 when Oskar Barnack, chief developer at Leitz (as Leica was formally known as till 1986) got here up with the concept of utilizing 35mm cinema movie as a regular for nonetheless images, doubling the single-frame format from 18×24 mm to 24×36 mm. On the different finish of historical past, Leitz high-end cine lenses are nonetheless manufactured in Wetzlar, Germany at this time, “designed to accompany cinematographers within the masterful creation of their visions all over the world”.
So who higher to place the lenses within the projectors that deliver these visions again off the recording medium? As Leica places it, its enterprise is “shifting folks by imagery,” and the brand new projector permits it for the primary time to ship shifting photographs to the lounge.
The Cine 1 can do this in two sizes: 100-inch (value $13,999) or 120-inch ($14,999), with ambient-light-rejecting screens and customized set up choices additionally accessible.
You possibly can expertise Leica’s Cine 1 on the Australian Hello-Fi Present 2024 in Sydney from April fifth to seventh.
