Samsung Brings World’s Largest Onyx Cinema LED Screen to India, HARMAN Introduces JBL® Sculpted Surround Sound to Swagath Theatre in Bengaluru

Samsung along with group company HARMAN today launched the World’s Largest Onyx Cinema LED Screen in India’s tech capital Bengaluru at the iconic Swagath Cinemas, which will now be rechristened Swagath Onyx Theatre. Academy Award winner, musician and philanthropist, AR Rahman inaugurated the new theatre today.

Samsung inaugurated India’s largest Onyx Cinema LED screen at Swagath Theatre, Bengaluru in the presence of musician and composer AR Rahman

With a 14 metre screen, the largest Onyx Cinema LED screen format in the world, Swagath Onyx Theatre on Bengaluru’s MG Road will offer powerful, captivating and larger-than-life visuals, transforming the cinema viewing experience for cine lovers. Globally, there are only two other 14 metre Onyx Cinema LED screens installed by Samsung to date, in Malaysia and China.

At 618 seats, Swagath Onyx Theatre is also the world’s largest theatre that is equipped with an Onyx Cinema LED screen. Acoustics in the theatre have been dramatically upgraded with JBL Professional cinema loudspeakers from HARMAN.

The Onyx screen is 3D applicable with active 3D technology for all 618 seats in the theatre.

With the introduction of this new technology, Samsung will transform cinema viewing experience with HDR support offering unparalleled picture quality. With Onyx Cinema LED, movie lovers will get unparalleled picture quality, true colours and greater vibrancy and accuracy, exactly how the director intended it to be seen.

The 14 metre Onyx Cinema LED Screen in Bengaluru was unveiled in the presence of Moon Goo Chin, Corporate Vice President, Consumer Electronics Business, Samsung India; Puneet Sethi, Vice President, Consumer Electronics Enterprise Business, Samsung India; Prashant Govindan, Head – Professional Solutions, HARMAN India and SAARC; Kishore P, Director, Swagath Group of Cinemas and AR Rahman.

“Samsung is the only brand offering an end-to-end movie experience, from stunning visuals through Onyx Cinema LED Screens to phenomenal sound from JBL Professional by HARMAN. Onyx Cinema LED at Swagath Onyx Theatre in Bengaluru will revolutionize cinema viewing experience for film lovers in the city and across India. This is a remarkable milestone for Indian cinema and a testament to our consumer-centric approach,” said Puneet Sethi, Vice President, Consumer Electronics Enterprise Business, Samsung India.

“The current wave of cinema is replete with great visuals, rich soundtracks and background score. The new Onyx Cinema LED powered by JBL’s iconic sound will transform cinematic experience for movie goers. This mighty combination of a revolutionary screen and legendary sound will truly elevate the content and we are excited for Indian cinephiles to experience this epic offering,” said Prashant Govindan, Head – Professional Solutions, HARMAN India & SAARC.

At the inauguration, HARMAN global ambassador and award winning musician & composer AR Rahman said, “With Samsung’s ground-breaking Onyx Cinema LED Screen technology and HARMAN’s iconic JBL audio, movie goers in Bengaluru will immensely enjoy their experience at the theatre. I have worked with HARMAN and used JBL Professional systems for many years, and I can confidently say that they truly do justice to the music I create. There is no sound like JBL sound, so it makes sense that the brand is powering this amazing new way to enjoy movies and music.”

“At Swagath Cinemas we take pride in our heritage yet strive to provide a futuristic cinema viewing experience to our customers. Our association with Samsung to launch the World’s Largest Onyx Cinema LED Screen in Bengaluru is testimony to our commitment to movie lovers across India,” said Kishore P, Director, Swagath Group of Cinemas.

The large 14 metre screen offers powerful, captivating and larger-than-life visuals with greater attention to detail. The screen is capable of delivering true colors with HDR support with greater vibrancy and accuracy along with sharp contrast, higher levels of brightness and great viewing angles that are unaffected by ambient light; eliminating optical distortion and interference. The disruptive technology is a breakthrough in the cinema industry, which has been relying on projector-based system for decades.

The latest Onyx Cinema LED screen comes equipped with an array of solutions including Onyx VIEW, Onyx 3D and Onyx SOUND, providing a uniquely immersive experience.

The sound system at Swagath Onyx Theatre is comprised of Onyx Sound, an innovative audio solution that incorporates industry leading products from the HARMAN family of brands including Crown amplifiers, BSS signal processing, and JBL Professional’s loudspeakers and exclusive Sculpted Surround technology. The Onyx Sound reproduces today’s dynamic soundtracks with stunning clarity and detail.

The system includes six JBL AM 7315 screen array loudspeakers, four JBL 9300 cinema surround loudspeakers, eighteen JBL 9350 + four JBL SCS 12 high impact cinema surround loudspeakers, six JBL AC28/26 used as underfills for the balcony area and nine JBL 5628 dual 18″ cinema subwoofers. Processing is provided by a BSS networked audio system, and the entire system is powered by 31 Crown DSi amplifiers.

Apart from the new Onyx Cinema LED Screen, Swagath Onyx Theatre in Bengaluru has also upgraded its overall look and feel inside the theatre with refurbished interiors and comfortable seats, even as it retains its heritage look on the outside.

About Onyx Cinema LED

The Onyx display easily accommodates any venue configuration while delivering unmatched visual quality, technical performance and reliability over traditional projectors. The screen maintains its advanced presentation capabilities in ambient lighting conditions, regardless of the featured on-screen content. It also allows theatre owners to utilize their theatres for corporate events, concerts and sports event viewing and gaming competitions.

Onyx SOUND: The screen offers state-of-the-art Onyx surround sound experience, the result of research and co-development by HARMAN and Samsung’s Audio Lab, bringing scenes to life through clear and precise audio. This innovative audio solution solves the challenges posed for center channel audio when incorporated with a solid cinema LED screen, which does not allow for the placement of loudspeakers behind the screen, which is the common placement in traditional cinemas.  When combined together with JBL’s Sculpted Surround technology, Onyx Sound creates a seamless, immersive audio experience for viewers, regardless of their seat location, that further enhances the already stunning visuals offered by Onyx.

Onyx VIEW: Combined with an infinite contrast ratio and specialized low-tone greyscale settings, Onyx VIEW delivers brighter and more detail-rich content. The screen delivers High Dynamic Range (HDR) to cinema, showcasing on-screen contents at peak brightness level – nearly 10 times greater than that offered by standard cinema projectors (146fL versus 14fL). The display delivers improved uniformity, free of optical distortion and interference. It is industry’s first DCI-certified cinema display available in 5, 10 and 14 metres width.

3D Onyx Cinema LED: This screen makes 3D movie content more realistic through enhanced brightness and consistent colour amplification. Glass-wearing viewers can now have the benefit of watching subtitle texts, images and even minor visual details with unprecedented clarity.