Dolby opens test cinema in San Francisco

  • 2016-11-23
On November 17, Dolby Laboratories opened a test cinema in San Francisco, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

According to Dolby’s Cinema Business Group’s senior vice president, Doug Darrow, the cinema is a 230-seat theater that is, in effect, a laboratory and one of more than 100 such facilities inside Dolby’s headquarters, which is on Market Street. Darrow refers to the new test theater as the “crown jewel” of all the labs in the building.

The cinema will be used for private events, but its main purpose is to test new audio and visual technologies before they are installed in theaters equipped with Dolby systems. Among the developments that might be tested are Dolby Atom audio technology, and the Dolby Laser vision project. Dolby came to public attention in 1977, when its sounds systems elevated the audio experience to new levels for people who went to see the original ‘Star Wars’.

The Dolby headquarters building opened its doors in September 2015, with more than 750 employees on staff. The offices boast about 63,000 square feet of space, including the labs mentioned above, and was designed specifically for Dolby as a ‘vertical village’, meaning everything employees might need, from a yoga room to a fitness center, is on the premises.

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