INNOVATION SERIES #01
The Owner and family enjoyed watching movies whilst onboard but had found the experience to be diminishing. The yacht’s ageing cinema could not support the latest cinematic experience. Several different specialists were previously hired but the Owner had been disappointed with the outcome every time.
The Owner’s Team decided that as part of the yacht’s scheduled refit, the cinema should be upgraded to a professional, modern cinematic standard. This decision came with big challenges though, not least because the refit was already well under way!
The biggest challenge was the footprint had to remain the same, the interior could only have minor amendments, with no major structural changes, but the experience had to be significantly noticeable on its first demonstration.
We were engaged, and it was made very clear to us there wasn’t going to be a second chance to get this right.
Acoustics were delivered with a combination of Alcon speakers, digital processing via QSYS, and Arvus for Dolby Atmos decode, with isolation and mounting designed in house.
For the video path Sony’s 4K high bright laser projector was selected as the optimum product, however, this gave us a new challenge; the projector’s size, weight and lens selection meant it would be noticeable in the clean lines of the cinema design.
A reverse position custom housing was designed to fit into the ceiling void space. This raised the projector position and allowed a motorised drop-down mirror to be deployed when in use and retracted when not required. By installing this custom engineered solution, noise suppression and cooling were also significantly improved.
A trusted integrator was chosen to execute the actual installation. They had to work very closely with the Owner’s Team to ensure expectations were met and accurate engineering documentation produced.
As always, a refit can and will throw up a few surprises, this one was no exception. During the design phase, the space behind the existing screen was unknown. On removal, we discovered a depth issue requiring a redesign of the front space frame. It was replaced with a shallower screen and a video processor added. This modification not only provided a larger image but also came at no additional cost.
When the family representative came onboard, he could not see any material or aesthetic changes (other than the projector had seemingly disappeared). That was pleasing to us as that was challenge #1 overcome.
When he sat down and we played the first demonstration through, that’s when he knew what he had paid for, one smile and a thumbs up was all the feedback we needed.
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