Picture Quality in Dome Theaters

Abstract

We are doing research to provide the sense of presence to viewers in dome theaters. A comparison between dome screens and flat screens, quantitative measurements in a current typical dome theater and subjective assessments with a large screen were conducted. First, calculations on image distortions, which are introduced in this paper, show that dome theaters can provide a large screen with fewer distortions than a flat screen. Contrast was measured in a typical large dome theater and it was found that contrast degrades with the projected image size. Lastly, the results of a subjective assessment with a large screen of 450 inches show that luminance and contrast ratio are crucial with large screens.