Sony Electronics last week unveiled a new digital cinemaprojection system - offering four times the resolution of the current projectordeveloped by market leader Texas Instruments.

The move by Sony comes at a time when the industry isincreasingly embracing the need for new technology, both in a bid to counterrampant piracy and to improve the offering of cinema against competing leisureoptions.

Significantly, the cost of one of Sony's new 4k projectorsfor smaller cinemas will be $60,000, while a second projector for biggerscreens will be $80,000, said Tom Mykietyn, director of content creation atSony.

That is substantially lower than the $100,000 per projectorthat is currently available in Hollywood, and well below the $150,000 that justa few years ago was the early industry standard.

Meanwhile, Eastman Kodak is developing its own 4k digitalprojector which it expects to be available by 2006. Texas Instruments has saidit has no intention of developing a chip with 4k resolution as its 2k projectoralready produces images better than the best film can do.