Samsung's 34-foot Onyx is a giant 4K TV screen built for the movie theatre, and it's coming to India

amsung is bringing its line of 4K LED theatrical screens, aka Onyx, to India. You can say that Onyx is a giant 4K TV screen built specifically for the movie theatre. That's set to give conventional projection technology a run for its money, if Samsung is to be gone by. The name Onyx here is representative of the LED screen's signature pitch black-rendering technology, something that the company is touting as its main highlight. The screen, some of which have already been installed in the US and Europe, and a few other counties in Asia, is still in its nascent stage having made its debut in Korea some six months back.

But Samsung is hoping to capture 20 per cent of the market by 2020. This is one of the reasons why it is bringing the technology to India, which is one of its biggest markets. In India, the company is looking to have at least 10 installations, by the end of this year. Although it says that many exhibitors have shown interest, it isn't naming them as of this moment. Samsung is expected to make some sort of announcement soon though, probably closer to when it would have at least one such installation up and running. The company will be focusing on metros to begin with, although it's also looking to reach out to more areas depending on how well the technology is received.

So, what exactly can Onyx do, that conventional projection-based technology that we've all grown up watching can't? Firstly, Onyx is an LED screen or monitor designed for the movie theatre which means it offers the latest in tech and user experience, according to Samsung. "It's something that people wouldn't even have imagined. If you watch a movie on an LED, and you compare it with the projector system, you'll never go watching the latter. It's so immersive," a Samsung spokesperson told India Today Tech.

Although there will be more sizes (10.24x5.4 m, 5.1x2.7 m and 14x7.1 m), in future, for now only one variant of Onyx is coming to India. That is the 10.24x5.4 m version. The 34-foot version boasts of a resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixel, and is capable of offering richer, crisper picture than standard 2K projection, so says Samsung. It's capable of displaying 2K, 4K, 3D, and HDR images. Samsung is broadly touting three features, Onyx View, Onyx 3D and Onyx Sound, adding that Onyx is a complete solution for exhibitors. Moreover, Samsung claims that Onyx -- the version that is coming to India -- is the world's first DCI-certified cinema screen.

-- Onyx View: for infinite contrast and specialised low-tone greyscale settings

-- Onyx 3D: for clearer subtitle text, images and even minor visual details when wearing glasses

-- Onyx Sound: surround sound from JBL

The 34-foot Onyx may be smaller than the conventional 45- to 65-foot projection screens at most movie theatres, but, the Onyx LED screen has other advantages, in addition to better picture (and hopefully, sound as well) quality.

Onyx is a giant 4K TV screen built specifically for the movie theatre, that's set to give conventional projection technology a run for its money, if Samsung is to be gone by

Samsung will be working closely with exhibitors to design the seating arrangement and also the sound system to offer all-round better user experience. And unlike standard projection, the screen will also work well in partial light, thereby re-defining (sort of) the concept of a movie theatre. "The same property can be used to do other events so it's not a theater only. It becomes an infrastructure for doing other events: kids parties, conferences, product launches. Today you can't switch on the lights if you want to do any other event because it's a cinema environment. With Onyx, the ambient light doesn't affect the viewing of the screen. So you can have much more activities," the spokesperson added.

Onyx is said to offer a life of 100,000 hours, that's almost 17 years (if you run 4/5 shows on an average) which, according to Samsung, is the best in the industry which is why exhibitors would be interested to make an investment. That investment will cost them "$600,000-$800,000 depending on the size of the auditorium and the kind of solution they'll be looking for." As for ticket prices going up, although Samsung isn't giving a number, we can expect them to be roughly in the same ball-park as IMAX.