Modeling of Achievable Contrast and Its Impact on HDR Projection in Commercial Cinema Environments

There is a growing interest in high dynamic range imaging for cinema projection applications. It has been reported that the observable cinema contrast ratio is determined not only by the native projector contrast but even more by various parameters such as the projection lens, port window, screen, theater setting, and audiences. We have derived a mathematical model to characterize the influence of these parameters and to assess their relative importance as a function of the projected image content. Furthermore, a fast measurement method was developed to determine the various parameters across different theaters, providing a good match with our model.