(Mission Times Courier, San Diego, Ca) -  Beginning October 8, visitors to the San Diego Natural History Museum will be dazzled by Dolby® 3D, the latest in digital 3D technology that delivers a premium viewing experience from anywhere in the 300-seat, stadium-style theater. Audiences will be immersed in Dinosaurs Alive! 3D, which will open on the Museum's giant 56' screen, one of the largest 3D installations in southern California.

The Downing 3D Experience is sponsored by John and Tracy Downing, Downing Family Foundation, Eleanor and Jerry Navarra, Jerome's Furniture, and Stephen Cohen, President, Private Asset Management, Inc. John Downing, Eleanor Navarra, and Stephen Cohen are all members of the Museum's Board of Directors.

The theater is included with General Admission to the Museum and is free for Museum members (effective November 7, admission prices will be $10-16, with discounts for students, military, youth, seniors, and groups).

Jim Stone, Vice President of Public Programs, says, "Attendees of the recent Comic-Con event were treated to a spectacular Dolby 3D experience. We're excited to be bringing Dolby 3D to the San Diego Natural History Museum in October with an incredible makeover of our Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan Theater. This new technology is really going to bring the ancient past alive and thrill our visitors."

In alignment with the Museum's commitment to sustainability, Dolby 3D uses high-performance, eco-friendly glasses that require no batteries or charging and can be cleaned and reused repeatedly, reducing waste associated with a disposable-glasses model. Dolby 3D uses a unique full-spectrum color-filter technology licensed from Infitec that provides realistic color reproduction and an extremely sharp image.
Applying the Dolby 3D filter to the light before the image is formed delivers stable and sharp images without modulation of the actual image. As a result, there is no degradation to the picture presenting a premium image to every visitor in the theater. The Dolby 3D system supports both 2D and 3D digital cinema presentations to give the Museum flexibility in delivering a wide range of content. This works by retracting the full-spectrum color-filter wheel out of the light path for 2D and into the light path for 3D in the projector.
The first 3D film to be shown in the new theater will be Dinosaurs Alive!, narrated by Michael Douglas. The film brings dinosaurs, their behaviors and their ancient environments to life on screen as never before seen-juxtaposing stunningly realistic and scientifically accurate computer-generated imagery with 1920's documentary footage, dramatic new scenes of real fossils and current dinosaur-hunting expeditions. Using state-of-the-art techniques, the film features spectacular animation and a live-action story that joins renowned paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History as they uncover new fossils-including the discovery of what may be the oldest dinosaur ever found in North America.

Dinosaurs Alive! is a production of David Clark Inc., Giant Screen Films, the Maryland Science Center, and Stardust Blue, in association with the American Museum of Natural History. The film is written and directed by two veteran filmmakers, Academy Award-nominated Bayley Silleck and Emmy Award-winning David Clark, with cinematography by Bill Reeve. Dinosaur animation was created by Digital Artists Montreal Network, whose artists have previously created dinosaurs for the Discovery Channel specials about dinosaurs. Major funding was provided by the National Science Foundation with additional support from the Museum Film Network and the 3D Film Interest Group. The film is distributed by Giant Screen Films of Evanston, IL.

Celebrating its 135th year, the San Diego Natural History Museum is the second oldest scientific institution in California; third west of the Mississippi. A binational Museum, its mission is to interpret the natural world through research, education, and exhibits; to promote understanding of the evolution and diversity of southern California and the peninsula of Baja California and to inspire in all a respect for nature and the environment. The Society of Natural History was directly responsible for the establishment of the Torrey Pines State Reserve, the San Diego Zoological Society, and the Anza-Borrego State Park. Phone: (619) 232-3821. Website: www.sdnhm.org.