Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Tuesday, February 03, 2026
Christie to showcase the power of visual storytelling at ISE 2026
TPi: Showcasing an array of innovative and adaptable solutions, Christie will highlight its latest visual technologies across a range of immersive and interactive demonstrations, including 1DLP and 3DLP laser projectors, LED video walls, and powerful image processing solutions.
I think for a while there has been a question in the industry of where the use cases of LED Panels for projectors are, and which one is “better.” I think that the fact that Christie continues to compete in both markets and is actively developing new technology, makes a testament that both of these technologies have uses. Projectors are useful because they can cast onto all kinds of shapes and surfaces. This booth shows how projections can be used to map onto objects, as they projection map masks. It is possible to project onto surfaces that are not flat, and that move throughout the performances. LED walls however, can be super super bright, and stand up to the sun even on bright days. They can be great for outdoor address where you need a big screen, but not necessarily a surface that needs to be lit. They also are great because you don’t need to find a place to hang the projector or to see the beam of light in the air.
Christie’s imagery systems are really really impressive to witness in person. I was at InfoComm this past summer while I was in Orlando, and their projectors in particular are really impressive. Also whilst I was in Orlando, I saw Disney’s flagship night time projection show, Happily Ever After, and the effects created by the Christie projection system were also stunning. It is quite amazing to me how good the effects look with the projector being located over 500 feet away from the target. What I wasn’t as familiar with was Christie’s LED Wall systems. Though, I suppose it is not surprising that they are also seeking to tap that market. The conversation around the integration of video systems into theatre has always been interesting to me, as for a while it seemed like that was all that Broadway was doing, with large scale video installations dominating New York for the past decade. I think there’s some level of balance to be found, between the use of video and practical effects and sets.
2 comments:
I think for a while there has been a question in the industry of where the use cases of LED Panels for projectors are, and which one is “better.” I think that the fact that Christie continues to compete in both markets and is actively developing new technology, makes a testament that both of these technologies have uses. Projectors are useful because they can cast onto all kinds of shapes and surfaces. This booth shows how projections can be used to map onto objects, as they projection map masks. It is possible to project onto surfaces that are not flat, and that move throughout the performances. LED walls however, can be super super bright, and stand up to the sun even on bright days. They can be great for outdoor address where you need a big screen, but not necessarily a surface that needs to be lit. They also are great because you don’t need to find a place to hang the projector or to see the beam of light in the air.
Christie’s imagery systems are really really impressive to witness in person. I was at InfoComm this past summer while I was in Orlando, and their projectors in particular are really impressive. Also whilst I was in Orlando, I saw Disney’s flagship night time projection show, Happily Ever After, and the effects created by the Christie projection system were also stunning. It is quite amazing to me how good the effects look with the projector being located over 500 feet away from the target. What I wasn’t as familiar with was Christie’s LED Wall systems. Though, I suppose it is not surprising that they are also seeking to tap that market. The conversation around the integration of video systems into theatre has always been interesting to me, as for a while it seemed like that was all that Broadway was doing, with large scale video installations dominating New York for the past decade. I think there’s some level of balance to be found, between the use of video and practical effects and sets.
Post a Comment