THX Holdings Ltd. (THX) announced Monday a cooperative agreement with SAPPRFT Test Institute of Film Technical Quality (TIFTQ), marking the beginning of the companies’ efforts to co-develop new cinema standards and services for the Chinese market.

In the past few years, China’s cinema industry experienced tremendous growth with approximately 5,000 new auditoriums opening each year. This feverish pace of construction has outpaced the education of cinema design, installation and maintenance professionals – often resulting in poor architectural and acoustic design as well as underperforming audio and video systems.

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) operates through TIFTQ as the only third-party testing institute for China’s film industry.

The collaboration between SAPPRFT’s TIFTQ and THX is of utmost significance as it marks the very first time a foreign entity will participate in defining national quality standards for China’s cinema industry.

The goals of the partnership are to develop advanced evaluation, testing and calibration methodologies that will be applied by the administration to ensure the newly defined standards are met by all operating auditoriums regardless of location, size or playback format.

The two companies plan to open a quality inspection laboratory that will provide testing, evaluation and certification services for audio-visual professional products and relevant cinema equipment.

The companies also aim to create specialized training courses for cinema technicians, calibrators and projectionists for the technical installation, adjustment, operation and maintenance of Chinese cinemas.

Founded by George Lucas 30 years ago, THX develops and licenses new technologies and specifications for audio and video applications.

Photo courtesy: THX Holdings Ltd.