Tomasz Wadowski
Samsung brought not only a stand to Barcelona but also a concrete vision of the future of cinema halls. At the CineEurope 2025 fair, the company officially presented a new version of Onyx Cinema LED – a cinema screen that lights up by itself instead of relying on projector light. This is not entirely new, but only now does the solution have a chance to gain wider acceptance in Europe. The question is no longer "does it work," but "will it catch on?"
Glowing wall vs classic projector – where lies the difference?
Onyx Cinema LED offers maximum brightness up to 300 nits, while a typical cinema projector operates at 50-100 nits of reflected light. The difference is colossal – especially with daytime scenes, special effects, or HDR content (which, let's agree, doesn't make much sense in the world of projectors). Moreover, the LED screen also offers a much deeper black.
But it’s not as if projectors are going out of fashion. They have their advantages: they are primarily cheaper. Onyx, on the other hand, focuses on sharpness, contrast, and readiness to display materials 4K at 120 frames per second. This may come in handy in the future, but today most films are still made at 24 fps.
HDR in cinema?
The most interesting argument from Samsung is HDR. Thanks to higher brightness, the screen is able to display content with a wider tonal range – bright elements are not washed out, and dark ones do not blend into grey. Until now, most cinemas did not have the technology capable of showing HDR in all its glory. This may change now. But it only works if the film was actually created with HDR in mind – and there still aren’t many of those, at least not yet.
Disney Pixar focuses on Onyx.
As part of the collaboration with Pixar, the Onyx screen has arrived at the studio in California and will be used in film production – the first title, "Elio", will debut in 4K HDR on the LED screen. It's hard to find a better endorsement than the fact that creators of such demanding animations have chosen this technology as their reference!
Technology with potential, but also with limitations
Samsung offers Onyx in four sizes (5, 10, 14, and 20 metres), providing some flexibility in room design.
5 metres ≈ 197 inches
10 metres ≈ 394 inches
14 metres ≈ 551 inches
20 metres ≈ 787 inches
The company also tempts with the possibility of a 10-year warranty, which can be calming in the world of expensive investments. However, LED still represents a higher entry threshold, both financially and logistically. Calibration – though less dependent on the light source – is still necessary. And the technology itself may be perceived as too “perfect” by some viewers – too reminiscent of a television.
How much does such a screen cost?
The Samsung Onyx Cinema LED screen is not a monolithic surface – it consists of smaller LED modules that are assembled like building blocks into a larger whole. Each of these modules measures approximately 64 × 89 cm, and its price starts at 3,300 dollars – and we are talking here about wholesale orders rather than the purchase of a single unit for a living room.
For comparison: a standard 65-inch television (which is about 1.44 metres wide) costs approximately 1,000 dollars. Meanwhile, to create an Onyx screen that is 10 metres wide and has a 21:9 aspect ratio – as in a cinema – about 80 of these modules are needed, which translates to a panel cost of around 264,000 dollars. With a 20-metre screen (similar to what we find in cinemas with IMAX), the number of modules increases exponentially – we then approach a price of 1,000,000 dollars.
And that’s still just the modules alone. The complete set also requires controllers, power supply, casing, installation system, cooling system, as well as professional installation and calibration. In short: the price reaches a level that can be an investment for commercial cinemas for years, while for the average user – it remains a curiosity from the future.
Cinema is changing, but projectors will not be heading to the dump anytime soon
Onyx Cinema LED is undoubtedly a revolution in the world of cinema technology – not only in terms of parameters but also the very philosophy of image display. A glowing screen instead of a projector is a fundamental change. However, as is often the case with revolutions, not every cinema and not every operator is ready for it.
So we should not expect that in the near future, in an average Multikino or Cinema City, someone will start throwing projectors in the bin. But one cannot completely rule it out – for if the industry decides to go towards a "premium experience" and technological advantage, then Onyx may be the direction that changes the rules of the game.
For now, it is a proposal for the few. But perhaps in a few years – a standard for many.
