Laser projector stars at LR event

It’s next big thing in films, company says; others skeptical

Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - 03/26/2015 - Twins Walter and William Burgess are the CEO and COO of Power Technology Inc., the company their father started 46 years ago. The firm will give a demonstration today at Ron Robinson Theater showing how their Illumina Cinema Laser System brings more color to film.
Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - 03/26/2015 - Twins Walter and William Burgess are the CEO and COO of Power Technology Inc., the company their father started 46 years ago. The firm will give a demonstration today at Ron Robinson Theater showing how their Illumina Cinema Laser System brings more color to film.

A homegrown company with more than 45 years of experience working with lasers is showing off a new laser-illuminated projector today that could replace the expensive bulbs most movie theaters use.

Power Technology Inc. in Alexander will be showing segments of the innovative James Cameron movie Avatar and a locally made film celebrating the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's 100th year of conservation at an invitation-only event at Ron Robinson Theater in downtown Little Rock. Power Technology also will be streaming the program live to customers and technology writers across the globe.

The laser technology, called the Illumina Cinema Laser System, allows theaters to project a wider range of colors and brighter, speckle-free light onto movie screens. Walter Burgess, Power Technology's vice president of sales and engineering, said he believes it will transform the industry, counteracting dwindling movie ticket sales and drawing people back into the theater from their state-of-the-art viewing devices at home.

One observer with extensive knowledge of the technology agrees.

"The technology has been around for a few years, but the implementation on a big screen is brand new," said Brandon Compton, theater manager at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas -- a 300-acre nonprofit theme park with a cutting-edge giant-screen theater using the same technology but on a higher level. Moody's screen is the largest in Texas, Compton said.

"It certainly does have potential to revolutionize the movie-going experience," he said.

Low light levels, especially in 3-D productions, have plagued cinema operations for years, Compton added.

"It's a noticeable improvement over today's bulbs," Burgess said. "It's not like it blows you away or knocks your socks off, but it is something that if you're looking for it, you'll notice that the colors are more vivid."

He said the laser system can last 20 times longer than the widely used xenon bulbs, making it less expensive over time. The system requires 10 percent of the electricity used by the bulb, also reducing costs. An average movie theater uses bulbs that cost $1,500 to $3,500 each, he said. The laser system, while expensive -- Burgess would give only a price point as being in the six figures -- can last five to 10 years.

The savings can be in the tens of thousands of dollars per year per screen. Compton told Burgess that he spent $49,000 in bulbs for one screen. Burgess admitted it was an extreme case.

Theater Group Inc. owner Matt Smith, proprietor of the Riverdale 10 theater on Cantrell Road and other theaters in and around central Arkansas, said the bulbs don't cost as much as Burgess claims and that the laser-illuminated projector is not yet affordable enough to do away with the industry-standard bulbs. Theater operators are just now finishing the switch from 35 mm film to digital-light projection.

"If you are talking about a premium-large format, a massive screen that's going to be using a huge xenon bulb to show a movie, lasers are going to be cost-effective for that first," Smith said. "Right now, today, they're not."

He based his information on conversations and correspondence with others in the industry at seminars and conferences.

"What I'm hearing is that laser is not replacing xenon anytime soon. It could be years down the road, could be decades down the road," he said.

The International Business Times reported in January that ticket revenue was down more than 5 percent in 2014, to an estimated $10.35 billion, compared with $10.92 billion the previous year. Box-office revenue has fallen three of the past five years.

Power Technology was founded by Burgess' father, Thomas, at the family's kitchen table in southwest Little Rock, making laser parts in 1969. From the kitchen, the company grew to fill a garage, then a horse barn, then a 6,000-square-foot building and a 12,000-square-foot building.

Lasers were new back then. Lasers are now used in nearly every facet of life. Burgess said the company's first client was in Jacksonville and remains a customer today. The company employs some 50 people in Alexander, about 10 feet from Little Rock, Burgess said.

The family's patriarch has since retired, and the company is run by twin sons, Walter and William, who serves as vice president of operations.

"He complements my skills and vice versa," Walter Burgess said.

The company made a name for itself making laser light sources for analytical, scientific and defense business, the last of which led to creation of the Illumina Cinema Laser System. In 2012, Power Technology completed a $1.5 million military project for a tier 1 defense contractor. Company officials extracted some of what they learned from that job and applied it to the laser-illuminated projector they're promoting today.

SundayMonday Business on 03/30/2015

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