Adler Planetarium Chooses Global Immersion for 8K True Black Digital Dome Theater

May 25, 2011 - PRLog -- International immersive experience designer and integrator, Global Immersion, has completed the technology integration for the Grainger Sky Theater at the Adler Planetarium, Chicago, USA. Global Immersion’s premium immersive solution, Fidelity Black 8K™, has been fully integrated into the theater – now the highest resolution digital dome theater in the world - and will open to the public in July 2011.

The Adler Planetarium was founded in 1930 as America’s first planetarium. After closing for renovations in September 2010, the 80-year old Historic Sky Theater – now named the Grainger Sky Theater - has undergone a complete transformation and will serve as the centerpiece of the Adler Planetarium’s new Deep Space Adventure.

Global Immersion was contracted by the Adler Planetarium in April 2010 to design and integrate an ultra high performance, contrast and resolution immersive experience unlike any other in the world, integrating its proprietary Fidelity Black 8K™ digital theater solution into the newly installed 71-ft/21.6 meter diameter dome featuring a twenty-channel hyper-array of Zorro® projectors from Rockwell Collins.

Unrivaled Display Performance
The twenty projector configuration has produced an overall display resolution in excess of 8.3K. The resulting immersive experience is a completely black environment and incredible projected detail and color produced by high levels of contrast.

Powered by Global Immersion’s Fidelity Play™ comprising forty-six Media Servers™, the Grainger Sky Theater is primed for both real-time and playback media and is capable of running at both 30 and 60 frames per second (fps) at 8K resolution. The Uniview™ real-time data and astronomy visualization platform from SCISS will be used for astronomy presentations.

“The system in the Grainger Sky Theater surpasses anything we have done before in terms of display performance,” says Andrew Zadarnowski, Senior Project Manager at Global Immersion and Project Manager for the Grainger Sky Theater renovation. “The resolution and contrast of this display will completely immerse visitors in what will seem to be the real thing – audiences can be closer to touching the stars and galaxies in our Universe than they can anywhere else on the planet.”

Zadarnowski continues, “The entire system is incredibly robust and flexible – as the digital media age is quickly transitioning to higher native frame rates and resolutions, the playback server systems are ready for the next level of digital cinema.”

“The completely transformed Grainger Sky Theater is taking the immersive dome experience to a whole new level,” said Doug Roberts, PhD, Adler Associate Vice President for Digital Technology and Project Director for the Grainger Sky Theater. “Global Immersion and the Adler have collaborated since the beginning of the project to create a one-of-a-kind experience for visitors. Using twenty separate projectors – powered by forty-six computers – to create one seamless image is unprecedented.”

Global Immersion also integrated a turnkey 15.2 audio solution and a fully integrated control system including programmed touch-screen interfaces and a state-of-the-art custom operator console.

The Grainger Sky Theater will be opening to the public as part of the new Deep Space Adventure on July 8th, 2011 and will be showing a new fulldome production from the Adler Planetarium.




About the Adler
The Adler Planetarium - America’s First Planetarium - was founded in 1930 by Chicago business leader Max Adler. A recognized leader in public learning, the Adler inspires young people - particularly women and minorities - to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Scientists, historians and educators at the museum inspire the next generation of explorers.

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About Global Immersion
Global Immersion is an award-winning organization, dedicated to the unique and innovative medium of immersive theater and specializing in the design and integration of world-class planetarium, giant screen, 3D and 4D environments.

With over thirteen years experience in the world of fulldome displays and scientific data visualization, Global Immersion combines a wide range of proven technologies to create enthralling and exciting immersive theater. As a full-service team, they pull together consultancy, design, technology, engineering, system integration, content and creativity – for world-class experiences that are built for the future.