Over 5,000 cinema information, film trailers and concessions screens powered by Connectvision, the cinema industry's leading, multimedia digital display technology are now in operation at cinemas across the UK and Ireland. The Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London is the latest venue to use the technology to broadcast news of film times and availability, film trailers and concessions offers to LCD screens throughout the cinema.
The Windows.net based, HD-ready, Connectvision software allows Empire Cinemas to draw on a wide variety of image formats and multimedia file types such as jpeg, avi, mov, digital video, PowerPoint Files, and HTML Web Pages. In addition, it allows information from 'live' RSS feeds from the Internet, Intranet and IPTV to be included in the screen content. The software is also integrated with film schedules and ticketing systems, providing a complete information source for cinema-goers. The Empire Leicester Square is using Connectvision to schedule and zone multimedia content to 40” LCD screens in the entrance, lobby, bar and concessions areas. The entrance and lobby screens show film availability, special offers and film trailers. While the screens above the bar and concessions area show the latest concessions offers. Typically screen content is scheduled weekly from a central server.
Connectvision is the latest investment in technology at the Leicester Square cinema. A new digital screen is due to open shortly. Extensive remodelling of the cinema's interior has led to a larger bar and concessions area which is covered by Connectvision screens. Moreover closure of the traditional sales kiosks in favour of self-service ticket machines for credit / debit card and on-line sales, together with the ability to buy tickets from any of the bar and concession areas EpoS, place greater emphasis on the multimedia information provided by the Connectvision screens.
Empire Cinemas is also using Connectvision at cinemas in High Wycombe and Basildon. All Connectvision content for each cinema is managed centrally from Leicester Square. The IT director, Empire Cinemas Ltd commented, “Connectvision is easy to use and provides a common messaging platform, allowing us to explore a large range of digital media content. Importantly it will enable us to offer customers a richer cinema experience as we tailor Connectvision's zoning and scheduling facilities to target particular audiences by film genre, and time of showing.”
Each of the Samsung 40” screens has an integrated PC and hard drive connected to the central server by Cat 5 cabling. “This approach makes the way we use the screens more flexible. We wanted to be able to position the screens anywhere and simply add them to the network using standard cabling, avoiding the limitations and cost of using expensive video cable,” he explained.