Projection booth (projection room)

In a digital cinema the booth holds the projector with its media block, the content storage, the sound processor, amplifiers and the automation that ties them to the TMS. UNIC’s handbook on cinema auditorium design (second edition, 2020) lists what a good booth needs: easy access to equipment during a show, room for service, storage for spare lamps and filters, a fuse box per auditorium, and space for processors, servers, amplifiers and light controls.

The booth is not only a room. Many modern sites run one long projection corridor serving every screen, or mount projectors in enclosures. The rules below apply either way.

The port is the classic one. Uncoated window glass loses light and creates reflections, and some fire-rated glass is not suitable for polarised 3D, which the handbook flags. Specify the glass with the projector, not with the building.

The second is height. A booth set high above a steep auditorium forces a steep projection angle and keystone that no lens fully hides. The throw ratio and position should be fixed with the screen size, which the screen size calculator and the movie theater floor plan guide help with.

The third is heat. A booth sized for one lamp projector becomes too warm when a second is added or when the air handling is shared. Converting from xenon to laser changes the cooling load again, so check it before the install rather than after the first shutdown.