IMAX, known for its high-end cinematic experiences, has extended its reach beyond movie theaters. What many are not aware of is its foray into the world of streaming, where it offers exceptional experiences to viewers from the comfort of their homes.
The session “IMAX: Expanding Horizons in Premium Entertainment & Global Cinema”, during the first day of ATF 2024, showed how is the company’s strategic opportunities in the premium entertainment landscape.
The brandhighlighted its streaming optimization technology, which seeks to make this format more profitable without compromising quality or original creative vision. In addition, the expansion of the brand into new markets through IMAX Enhanced content and certified devices was discussed. Recently, the company delivered an innovative live broadcast of the NBA Finals in IMAX theaters in Taiwan and Hong Kong, taking sports excitement to a new level.
Vikram Arumilli, GM & SVP of Streaming and Consumer Technology at IMAX, explained: ‘one of the keys of our innovation is VisionScience, a technology that we acquired through the startup StimWave. This technology maps human vision to an algorithm, allowing the quality of content to be evaluated in real time without the need for a reference, which optimizes image quality and the viewer’s experience’.
At the same time, the exec highlighted the impact of this technology in optimizing content for streaming services. ‘With StreamAware and StreamSmart, IMAX enables streaming services to adjust image quality according to the needs of the content, ensuring that the trade-off between quality and delivery costs is as efficient as possible’.
IMAX is also innovating in the transmission of live events in IMAX theaters. Using high-quality hardware connections in more than 250 theaters worldwide,the brand has brought events such as the NBA and eSports to the big screen, enhancing the experience in venues that might otherwise be empty during the week.
