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Birmingham’s Thinktank Planetarium Reopens as Full Dome LED Experience Courtesy Global Immersion

Graham Hodgson of Global Immersion installs an LED projector.  Courtesy Thinktank .

West Sussex, England — One of the UK’s busiest planetariums at Thinktank, Birmingham, England, has reopened to the public with a special screening of the industry’s newest and most cutting-edge dome content, shown on a new dome projection display designed and installed by Global Immersion. The new display, featuring six edge-blended projection channels, promises an intensely colorful and resolute immersive experience.

On Wednesday 26 September, the renovated 10-meter/33-feet diameter, 70-seat planetarium at Thinktank opened its doors with a six-channel high performance LED projection system from international planetarium experts, Global Immersion. The upgrade took place over four days while the theater remained in operation.

Thinktank Planetarium is an attraction within Thinktank, Birmingham’s science museum; a state-of-the-art facility opened in 2001 as part of city’s Millennium Point complex. The planetarium itself attracts 100,000 visitors per year and is renowned for showing experimental content in addition to traditional science and educational media.

Nick Dodds, Sales Engineer at Global Immersion explained; “The Thinktank team had a clear vision of what the new dome display would deliver in terms of performance, installation time, compatibility with their existing theater server system, and flexibility – especially since they run such a wide variety of programs from astronomy and earth science through to culture and arts. Their new display is versatile enough for them to present any subject matter, with consistently stunning results.”

Mario Di Maggio, Planetarium Manager at Thinktank commented; “Digital domes are intensely powerful visual theaters, yet only as good as their projection systems. We therefore chose low maintenance, rich-color projectors with a matching high quality blending system.”

Graham Hodgson of Global Immersion, Lead Engineer on the project said; “LED projection technology brings many benefits to planetariums seeking an operationally robust digital display with incredible results. With no lamp replacement and no color wheel change requirements, this system can drastically reduce maintenance costs and provides an energy-efficient solution too with low power consumption and heat output.”

Dodds added; “We are energized by our new partnership with Thinktank. Not only did we supply a robust six LED projector system with our proprietary mounting, alignment and blending technologies, but we transformed the planetarium into one of the few dome theaters in the world with LED-projection technology.”

“We have integrated several LED projection systems into planetariums and are seeing an increase in demand for this technology and its welcomed benefits of low cost of ownership, vivid color saturation and crystal clear display results as an ideal solution for smaller planetariums.”

The planetarium launched with a sell-out special event celebrating international award-winning fulldome arts and experimental fulldome film, screening Mirage 3D’s Dawn of the Space Age and the juried reel from the Domefest 2012 competition held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, earlier this year.

For further information about Global Immersion and the Global Immersion range of immersive theater solutions please visit www.globalimmersion.com

About Global Immersion
Global Immersion is an international designer and supplier of high performance digital immersive theater. The award-winning team, with offices in the UK and USA, specializes in the innovation of world-class digital Giant Screen Cinema, 3D, 4D and planetarium environments. Renowned for delivering some of the world’s greatest digital theaters, the company develops and integrates leading-edge technologies exclusively for application, and has worked with some of the finest museums, science centers, digital theaters, theme parks and visitor attractions.

Born from a management buyout in 2007, Global Immersion’s extensive expertise includes planning, design, development, engineering, media & production, integration and through- life support for digital experiences that are built for the future.

Joe Kleiman
Joe Kleimanhttp://wwww.themedreality.com
Raised in San Diego on theme parks, zoos, and IMAX films, InPark's Senior Correspondent Joe Kleiman would expand his childhood loves into two decades as a projectionist and theater director within the giant screen industry. In addition to his work in commercial and museum operations, Joe has volunteered his time to animal husbandry at leading facilities in California and Texas and has played a leading management role for a number of performing arts companies. Joe previously served as News Editor and has remained a contributing author to InPark Magazine since 2011. HIs writing has also appeared in Sound & Communications, LF Examiner, Jim Hill Media, The Planetarian, Behind the Thrills, and MiceChat His blog, ThemedReality.com takes an unconventional look at the attractions industry. Follow on twitter @ThemesRenewed Joe lives in Sacramento, California with his wife, dog, and a ghost.

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