AV Specialist Africa Edition Volume 94 - (Page 16)

De Beers diamond world gets the christie cut C Digital Fabric and Fuse Communication South Africa have utilised Christie cutting-edge projection in the renovation of the legendary De Beers ‘Big Hole’ — described as the world’s deepest man-made hole — in Kimberley, South Africa. Cradle of Humankind project and striking up a good relationship with the design company Fuse Communication which continued into the Kimberley project. They were tasked with designing all the AV systems (including the underground element). Final specifications were decided by a team comprising Fuse Communication, Digital Fabric, and AV contractors Sonic Factory and Tadco. Digital Fabric’s Gavin Olivier describes how visitors to De Beers Diamond World have been mesmerized by the HD cinema experience. “When we started shopping for projectors it became immediately clear that Christie’s HD8K was our first choice. It’s really quite unique: native HD, 3-chip DLP in a compact and affordable package.” osting around R50 million, this heritage site in the world’s diamond capital has now developed its second phase — the new De Beers Diamond World — which has been set up as a worldwide tourist attraction and visitor centre. The highlight is the use of audiovisual effects to simulate the underground experience, and the first deployment of the Christie HD 8K projector (which is also the first-ever native HD resolution 3-chip projector). A spectacular upgraded rough diamond display, a viewing platform and interactive audio-visual displays all serve to enhance the visitor experience. Digital Fabric were appointed as AV consultants after working in a similar capacity on the Diamonds & Destiny The introductory 5.1 surround theatre presents a 15-minute film titled Diamonds & Destiny — run end-to-end in 1920 x 1080 HD native resolution. It was shot on HDCAM especially for this attraction in a period theme, and edited and encoded locally to HD-MPEG. 16

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AV Specialist Africa Edition Volume 94

HD: the winners and losers
The future of news
De Beers Diamond World gets Christie cut
The magic of cinema
SANDF on recruitment drive

AV Specialist Africa Edition Volume 94