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ISCO Precision Optics and SIM2 Give You the Full Home Cinema Picture (7/4/2006)

Exploiting technology more usually found in your local multiplex, ISCO Precision Optics and SIM2 are for the first time allowing home cinema enthusiasts to enjoy movies in all the intensity and majesty of the original format.

You can now watch movies in true CinemaScope in the home, thanks to ISCO's incredible new range of anamorphic video attachments for home cinema projectors, which are distributed in the UK by SIM2.

Essentially, the new products are lenses that sit in front of your projector and reshape the image. So you can watch movies in true CinemaScope (2.35:1), Widescreen (16:9) or standard TV (4:3). But as the image is optically decompressed, rather than electronically, there is no light or quality loss from the projector. The lenses are to be sold as a package with SIM2's groundbreaking C3X 3-Chip DLP(tm) projector, although they can be bought individually.

In fact, image quality is improved as the ingenious lens removes the black bars at the top and bottom of your screen, which lower resolution and contrast, as well as brightness by up to 25%. With the addition of an ISCO Precision Optics video attachment the whole screen is used, with the anamorphic lens increasing the image size by a factor of 1:33. To complete the system a motorized horizontal masking system is needed for the screen, such as those available from Da-Lite.

The anamorphic video attachments can be placed on a stand in front of the prime lens. Alternatively, the addition of ISCO's Home Cinema Projection Unit allows you to move the anamorphic lens in and out of the projector's light path, either manually or by remote control.

This whole CinemaScope system is being offered by SIM2 for the ultimate home theatre viewing experience.

ISCO Precision Optics is a German company that has been manufacturing lenses for cinemas since 1953. It is a recognised leader in its field and has won three Technical Achievement Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of cinema projection lens.

Suggested retail price: £4000.
Availability: April 2006.