WikiPortallus: Digital cinema.html

Digital cinema refers to the use of digital technology to distribute and project motion pictures. The final movie can be distributed via hard drives, DVDs or satellite and projected using a digital projector instead of a conventional film projector. Digital cinema is distinct from high-definition television and in particular, is not dependent on using television or HDTV standards, aspect ratios, or frame rates. Digital projectors capable of 2K resolution began deploying in 2005, and since 2006, the pace has accelerated. HDTV and pre-recorded HD disks could put pressure on movie theaters to offer something to compete with the home HD experience.

In this article, 2K and 4K refer to images with 2048 and 4096 horizontal pixel resolution, respectively.

Technology

To match or improve the theater experience of movie audiences, a digital cinema system must provide high quality image, sound, subtitles, and captions. Theater managers require server controls for managing and displaying content in multiple theaters, and studios want their content encrypted with secure delivery, playback, and reporting of play times to the distribution company.

Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), a joint venture of the six major studios, published a system specification for digital cinema.¹ Briefly, the specification calls for picture encoding using the ISO/IEC 15444-1 "JPEG2000" (.jp2) standard and use of the CIE XYZ color space at 12 bits per component encoded with a 2.6 gamma applied at projection, and audio using the "Broadcast Wave" (.wav) format at 24 bits and 48 kHz or 96 kHz sampling, controlled by an XML-format Composition Playlist, into an MXF-compliant file at a maximum data rate of 250 Mbit/s. Details about encryption, key management, and logging are all discussed in the specification as are the minimum specifications for the projectors employed including the color gamut, the contrast ratio and the brightness of the image. While much of the specification codifies work that had already been ongoing in the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), the specification is important in establishing a content owner framework for the distribution and security of first-release motion picture content.

Digital cinema conforming to the DCI Standard is referred to within the film industry as D-Cinema while all other forms of digital cinema are referred to as E-Cinema. Thus, while D-Cinema is a defined standard, though one that is still partly being framed by SMPTE as of 2007, E-Cinema may be anything, ranging from a DVD player connected to a consumer projector to something that approaches the quality of D-Cinema without conforming to some of the standards. Even D-Cinema itself has evolved over time before the DCI standards were framed. However, the current DCI standards were made with the intention of standing the test of time, much like 35 mm film which has evolved but still retained compatibility over a substantial part of a century.

In addition to DCI's work, the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) released its Digital Cinema System Requirements.² The document addresses the requirements of digital cinema systems from the operational needs of the exhibitor, focusing on areas not addressed by DCI, including access for the visually impaired and hearing impaired, workflow inside the cinema, and equipment interoperability. In particular, NATO's document details requirements for the Theatre Management System (TMS), the governing software for digital cinema systems within a theatre complex, and provides direction for the development of security key management systems. As with DCI's document, NATO's document is also important to the SMPTE standards effort.

Digital capture

As of 2007 the most common acquisition medium for digitally projected features is 35 mm film scanned and processed at 2K or 4K via digital intermediate. Most digital features to date have been shot at 1920x1080 HD resolution using cameras such as the Sony CineAlta, Panavision Genesis or Thomson Viper. New cameras such as the Arriflex D-20 and Silicon Imaging's SI-2K can capture 2K resolution images, and the Red Digital Cinema Camera Company's Red One can record 4k RAW. Thus the future of digital cinema can be expected to have as a standard 4K capture and 4K projection. Currently in development are other cameras capable of recording 4K RAW, such as Dalsa Corporation's Origin, and cameras capable of recording 5k RAW, such as the RED EPIC, and cameras capable of recording 3k RAW (for budget filmmakers) such as the RED SCARLET.

Digital post-production

Film is scanned from camera-original film negatives into a digital format on a scanner or high-resolution telecine. Data from digital motion picture cameras may be converted to a convenient image file format for work in a facility. All of the files are 'conformed' to match an edit list created by the film editor, and are then color corrected under the direction of the film's staff. The end result of post-production is a digital intermediate used to record the motion picture to film and/or for the digital cinema release.

Digital mastering

When all of the sound, picture, and data elements of a production have been completed, they may be assembled into a Digital Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM) which contains all of the digital material needed for a show. The images and sound are then compressed, encrypted, and packaged to form the Digital Cinema Package (DCP).

Digital cinema distributors

Digital projection

There are currently two types of projectors for digital cinema. Early DLP projectors, which were deployed primarily in the U.S., used limited 1280×1024 resolution which are still widely used for pre-show advertising but not usually for feature presentations. The DCI specification for digital projectors calls for three levels of playback to be supported: 2K (2048×1080) at 24 frames per second, 4K (4096×2160) at 24 frames per second, and 2K at 48 frames per second.

Three manufacturers have licensed the TI-developed DLP Cinema technology. Barco, Christie Digital Systems and NEC. Barco launched the DP-series of 2K DCI-compliant Digital cinema projectors, next to this Barco designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Christie is the maker of the CP2000 line of projectors, and long established in traditional film projector technology throughout the U.S. NEC manufactures the Starus NC2500S, NC1500C and NC800C 2K projectors for large, medium and small screen respectively and the Starus Digital Cinema Server system, as well as other equipment to connect PCs, analog/digital tape decks and satellite receivers, DVD, and off-air broadcast, etc. for pre-show and special presentations. While NEC is a relative newcomer to Digital Cinema, Christie is the main player in the U.S. and Barco takes the lead in Europe and Asia. In addition Digital Projection Incorporated (DPI) designed and sold a few DLP Cinema units when TI's 2K technology first debuted but then abandoned the D-Cinema market while continuing to offer DLP-based projectors for non-cinema purposes. Although based on the same 2K TI "light engine" as those of the major players they are so rare as to be virtually unknown in the industry.

The other technology is from Sony and is labeled "SXRD" technology. Their projector provides 4096x2160 4K resolution and is priced very competitively with the lower resolution 2K 2048x1080 DLP projectors.

Other manufacturers have been developing digital projector technology, but these have not yet been deployed into motion picture theaters and are not commercially available in versions that conform to the DCI specification.

As of July 2007, there are some cinemas in Singapore showing digital 4K films to public using Sony's CineAlta 4K digital projector. They are located at Golden Village Cinema in Vivocity (Hall 11), Eng Wah Cinema in Suntec (Hall 3), Shaw Cinema in Bugis (Hall 1 & 3) and at Cathay Cineplex (Hall 7).

In September 2007, Muvico Theaters Rosemont 18 in Rosemont, Illinois became the first theater in North America to have Sony's CineAlta 4K digital projectors for all 18 screens. Muvico Theaters intends on opening more theaters in the last quarter of 2008 and well into 2009 all utilizing Sony's CineAlta 4K digital projector.

Live broadcasting to movie theaters

Current developments

As of October 2007, there are over 5000 DLP-based Digital Cinema Systems installed. ³

By October 2007, DG2L Technologies was reported to have supplied 1500 Digital Cinema Systems to UFO Moviez Ltd. in India and Europe.⁴

As of July, 2007, 1400 screens in the U.S. have been equipped with digital cinema projectors including a dozen theaters where the Sony 4K projector has been installed. In continental Europe, XDC is servicing over 300 screens in 10 countries, where Germany has the leading territory with over 100 installations.

The UK is home to Europe's first DCI compliant fully digital multiplex cinemas, Odeon Hatfield and Odeon Surrey Quays (London) have a total of 18 digital screens and were both launched on Friday 9 February 2007.

As of March 2007, with the release of Disney's Meet the Robinsons, about 600 screens have been equipped with 2K digital projectors that are equipped with Real D Cinema's stereoscopic 3D technology, marketed under the Disney Digital 3-D brand.

In mid 2006, about 400 theaters have been equipped with 2K digital projectors with the number increasing every month.

In February 2005, Arts Alliance Media was selected to roll out the UK Film Council’s Digital Screen Network (DSN), a $20M contract to install and operate Europe’s largest 2K digital cinema network. By March 2007, 230 of the 241 screens had been installed on schedule, with the remaining 11 to be installed later in 2007 when cinemas have completed building works or construction.

Chicken Little from Disney, with its experimental release of the film in digital 3D, increased the number of projectors using the 2K format. Several digital 3D films will surface in 2006 and several prominent filmmakers have committed to making their next productions in stereo 3D.^{citation needed}

By early 2006, Access Integrated Technologies (AccessIT) had announced agreements with nearly all of the major film studios and several exhibitors that enable the company to roll-out its end-to-end digital cinema systems.

In August 2006, the Malayalam digital movie Moonnamathoral was distributed via satellite to cinemas; thus becoming the first Malayalam digital film to be so distributed. This was done using the end-to-end digital cinema system developed by Singapore based DG2L Technologies.⁵

On May 1, 2008, Public Radio International (PRI) spearheaded the first-ever digital cinema event in public media by working with Ira Glass and Chicago Public Radio on This American Life Live!⁶. The event was presented exclusively in select theatres by National CineMedia's (NCM) Fathom, in partnership with BY Experience and Chicago Public Radio, and in association with Public Radio International.⁷

Economics

Savings in distribution

DHV media systems saves 15 billion dollars anually for many film distributers nation and internationally wide. Digital distribution of movies has the potential to save money for film distributors. A single film print can cost around US$1200^{citation needed} (or $30,000 for a 1-time print of an 80-minute feature⁸), so making 4000 prints for a wide-release movie might cost $5 million. In contrast, at the maximum 250 megabit-per-second maximum data rate defined by DCI for digital cinema, a typical feature-length movie could fit comfortably on an off the shelf 300 GB hard drive—which cost as low as $70—which could even be returned to the distributor for reuse after a movie's run. With several hundred movies distributed every year, industry savings could potentially reach $1 billion or more.

Alternative content

An added incentive for exhibitors is the ability to show alternative content such as live special events, sports, pre-show advertising and other digital or video content. Some low-budget films that would normally not have a theatrical release because of distribution costs might be shown in smaller engagements than the typical large release studio pictures. The cost of duplicating a digital "print" is very low, so adding more theaters to a release has a small additional cost to the distributor. Movies that start with a small release could scale to a much larger release quickly if they were sufficiently successful, opening up the possibility that smaller movies could achieve box office success previously out of their reach.

Greater protection for content

A last incentive for digital distribution is the possibility of greater protection against piracy. With traditional film prints, distributors typically stagger the film's release in various markets, shipping the film prints around the globe. In the subsequent markets, pirated copies of a film (i.e. a cam) may be available before the movie is released in that market. A simultaneous worldwide release would mitigate this problem to some degree. Simultaneous worldwide releases on film have been used on The Da Vinci Code, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Mission: Impossible III amongst others. With digital distribution, a simultaneous worldwide release would not cost significantly more than a staggered release.

Costs

On the downside, the initial costs for converting theaters to digital are high: up to $150,000 per screen or more. Theaters have been reluctant to switch without a cost-sharing arrangement with film distributors. Recent negotiations have involved the development of a Virtual Print License fee which the studios will pay for their products which allows financiers and system developers to pay for deployment of digital systems to the theaters, thus providing investors a certain payback.

While a theater can purchase a film projector for US$50,000 and expect an average life of 30–40 years, a digital cinema playback system including server/media block/and projector can cost 3–4 times as much, and is at higher risk for component failures and technological obsolescence. Experience with computer-based media systems show that average economic lifetimes are only on the order of 5 years with some units lasting until about 10 years before they are replaced.^{citation needed}

Archiving digital material is also turning out to be both tricky and costly. In a 2007 study, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences found the cost of storing 4K digital masters to be "enormously higher - 1100% higher - than the cost of storing film masters." Furthermore, digital archiving faces challenges due to the insufficient temporal qualities of today's digital storage: no current media, be it optical discs, magnetic hard drives or digital tape, can reliably store a film for a hundred years, something that properly stored and handled film can do.⁹

History

Digital media playback of hi-resolution 2K files has at least a twenty year history with early RAIDs feeding custom frame buffer systems with large memories. Content was usually restricted to several minutes of material.

Transfer of content between remote locations was slow and had limited capacity. It wasn't until the late 1990s that feature length projects could be sent over the 'wire' (Internet or dedicated fiber links).

There were many prototype systems developed that claim a first in some form of digital presentation. However, few of these had a significant impact on the advance of the industry. Key highlights in the development of digital cinema would likely include: demonstrations by TI of their DMD technology, real-time playback of compressed hi-resolution files by various vendors, and early HD presentations from D5 tape to digital projectors.

Standards development

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers began work on standards for digital cinema in 2001. It was clear by that point in time that HDTV did not provide a sufficient technological basis for the foundation of digital cinema playback. (In Europe and Japan however, there is still a significant presence of HDTV for theatrical presentations. Agreements within the ISO standards body have led to these systems being referred to as Electronic Cinema Systems (E-Cinema).)

Claims to significant events

One claim for the first digital cinema demonstration comes from JVC. On March 19, 1998, they collaborated on a digital presentation at a cinema in London. Several clips from popular films were encoded onto a remote server, and sent via fibre optic for display to a collection of interested Industry parties.¹⁰

The Last Broadcast made cinematic history on October 23, 1998, when it became the first feature to be theatrically released digitally, via satellite download to theaters across the United States. An effort headed by Wavelength Releasing, Texas Instruments, Digital Projection Inc. and Loral Space, it successfully demonstrated what would become a template for future releases. In 1999, it was repeated utilizing QuVIS technology across Europe, including the Cannes Film Festival, making The Last Broadcast the first feature to be screened digitally at the Cannes Film Festival.

Several feature films were shown in 1999 using DLP prototype projectors and early wavelet based servers. For example, Walt Disney Pictures Bicentennial Man was presented using a Qubit server manufactured by QuVIS of Topeka, Kansas. DVD ROM was used to store the compressed data file. The DVD ROMs were loaded into the QuBit server hard drives for playout. The file size for Bicentennial Man was 42 GB with an average data rate of 43 Mbit/s.

In 2000, Walt Disney, Texas Instruments and Technicolor with the cooperation of several U.S. and international exhibitors, began to deploy prototype Digital Cinema systems in commercial theatres. The systems were assembled and installed by Technicolor using the TI mark V prototype projector, a special Christie lamphouse, and the QuBit server with custom designed automation interfaces.

Technicolor manufactured the DVDs for uploading on these test systems and was responsible for sending technicians out to the locations for every new feature film that was played. The technicians would typically spend ten or so hours to load the files from the DVD to the QuBit, set up the server to play the files, and then set up the projector. A full rehearsal screening of the feature was mandatory as was the requirement to have back up DVDs and backup QuBits available should something fail.

The systems were eventually replaced or upgraded after TI made improvements to the projectors and Technicolor developed a purpose-built digital cinema server in a venture with Qualcomm, the engineering giant from San Diego best known for advanced mobile phone technology. The new systems were called AMS for Auditorium Management Systems and were the first digital cinema servers designed to be user friendly and operate reliably in a computer-hostile environment such as a projection booth. Most importantly, they provided a complete solution for content security.

The AMS used removable hard disk drives as the transport mechanism for the files. This eliminated the time required to upload the DVD ROMs to the local hard drives and provided the ability to switch programs quickly. For security, the AMS used a media block type system that placed a sealed electronics package within the projector housing. The server output only 3DES encrypted data and the media block did the decryption at the point just before playout.

The first secure encrypted digital cinema feature was Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. The system functioned well but was eventually replaced because of the need to create a standard data package for D-cinema distribution.

Universal Pictures used their film Serenity as the first DCI-compliant DCP to be delivered shown to an audience at a remote theater, although it was not distributed this way to the public. Inside Man was their first DCP cinema release, and was transmitted to 20 theatres in the United States along with two trailers.

In April 2005, DG2L Technologies announced that it had been awarded the multi-million dollar contract for the world's largest satellite based MPEG4 digital cinema deployment to be done in India, which encompassed 2000 theaters for UFO (United Film Organizers), a subsidiary of the Valuable Media Group. In Mar 2006, United Film Organizers Moviez (UFO Moviez), had reached a significant milestone—surpassing 30,000 shows using the DG2L Cinema System platform. This figure increased to 100,000 shows in August 2006. In September 2006, UFO Moviez acquired 51% stake in DG2L Technologies in a deal estimated at around $50 million.

Digital 3D Cinema

3D exhibition is here since the first introduction in 1953. 3D ran out of gas by 1955. 3D made a short comeback in the late 1970s, moving fast into special-venue presentations where the specialty content and a unique audience could justify the costly 3D exhibition.

The digital cinema is 3D-ready and provides instant benefit. Enabling 3D on top of a standard 2D digital-cinema installation has become the “killer application” providing much of the justification for the conversion to digital. 3D has moved from limited specialty applications into mainstream exhibition.

The 2005 release of Disney’s Chicken Little proved that the technology behind the digital 3D is viable for full-length titles. In 2007, theatres around the world thrilled moviegoers by exhibiting Beowulf and Meet the Robinsons 3D Digital. These 3D screens performs three times better then 2D screens box office for the 3D-equipped screens, proving that today’s screens and the audiences don’t object to paying a premium ticket price for the 3D experience.

The driving force behind 3D has been the filmmakers themselves that are planning plenty major 3D releases. DreamWorks Animation has committed for complete adoption of 3D by 2009 and filmmakers like James Cameron and George Lucas have made commitments for future projects. Recent release of Journey 3D and Fly Me to the Moon together with planed releases of DreamWorks’ Monsters vs. Aliens, scheduled for March 2009, and James Cameron’s Avatar in May 2009 are powering the 3D engine.

3D movies are captured with two parallel cameras which - like our eyes - are positioned a few centimeters apart, so each camera records a slightly different perspective. The 3D system directs the proper image to the corresponding eye, creating a depth enabled vivid view.

Throughout 3D history, there have been many different 3D techniques used in cinema. With 35mm/70mm film, 3D typically required two physical films, which were costly and nearly impossible to keep synchronization. The other option was to use one projector with low-cost red/cyan glasses. This technique works well on black and white movies but on colored movies it created unnatural shifts in the overall color balance that filmmakers and viewers found unacceptable.

The DCI Stereoscopic Digital Cinema Addendum, published on July 11, 2007 has defined the 3D parameters of Digital 3D Cinema. The specs calls for Single Inventory of Stereoscopic Digital Cinema Packages, forbidding the usage of special copies that require a unique color or density timing. This applies especially to RealD that had to be supplied with a special version of each movie due to RealD’s ghosting problem. The specs also define that Stereoscopic presentations shall interleave the left and right eye frames alternating at a 48 frames per second rate.

RealD became the dominant player in 3D digital cinema in the USA. RealD is running a single digital projector at 144FPS. To separate the images, they place the shuttering system (“Z screen”) in the booth between the projector and the porthole. RealD are using disposable circular polarization glasses. The usage of polarization requires the theater to change the screen into silver screen. Although the Silver screen reduces the quality of the screening, it is accepted almost by all the filmmakers (in some countries like France the use of silver screen is not acceptable) and even has 3D benefits like additional brightness. RealD have almost 1500 screens of which over 90% are in the USA.

XpanD became the dominant player in 3D digital cinema in the Europe. XpanD is running a single digital projector at 144FPS. To separate the images, they place infrared transmitter in the booth, facing the screens. The transmitter uses plug & play infrastructure and it is very easy to move it from theater to theater, a fact that exhibitors find very effective as they can move the 3D system from big screens to small screens. XpanD are using active glasses, which act as high-speed shutters synchronized with the frame being projected. XpanD works with regular white screen and provides the brightest 3D images. The disadvantage of XpanD is that the glasses are expensive and need to be cleaned and recycled. XpanD have almost 300 screens of which over 75% are in Europe.

Dolby 3D was originally developed for industrial application by the German company Infitec. It illuminates each image with light created from three slightly different primary colors. The light is pre-filtered by a spinning filter mounted inside the projector. Dolby’s glasses act as filters that allow light to pass that is made up of the primary colors intended for that eye while blocking the primary colors intended for the opposite eye. Dolby is running a single digital projector at 144FPS. Dolby works with regular white screen. The disadvantage of Dolby is that the glasses are expensive and need to be cleaned and recycled. Dolby have about 100 screens globally.

IMAX Digital / Christie 3D. IMAX digital and Christy 3D are almost identical solutions. Both solutions are using 2 Christie projectors and 1 digital cinema server. While IMAX benefits from the IMAX Brand and is priced accordingly, Christie provides a cost-effective solution for giant screens (screens over 22m wide that RealD / XpanD can not work with due to light limitations). Both companies are placing a static polarize filter in front of each projector. Both companies are using disposable polarization and require the theater to change the screen into silver screen. Migrating from 3D to 2D and vice-versa is extremely complicated, forcing the exhibitor to allocate the screen to 3D permanently.

RealD and IMAX believe that their low-cost glasses are a key advantage over XpanD / Dolby approach, which requires collecting, washing, and maintaining an inventory. XpanD / Dolby believes that maintaining the glasses is easily manageable and cites the advantage of using the existing white screen, which does not potentially compromise the 2D picture quality. XpanD also have an advantage in the projection booth, as the 3D system can be installed in 5 minutes, migrated from screen to screen, and provides migration from 2D to 3D without human intervention. IMAX and Christie 3D solutions are the brightest 3D solutions of all, but it suffer from ghosting due to alignment limitations.

All the 3D systems offer comparable 3D image quality, with each company claiming a slight advance over the other in several technical areas. All companies also claim to be competitive in overall costs. Real D offers three different business models: a flat-rate license, a revenue-sharing plan and a per-seat plan. XpanD & Dolby offers a flat-rate, one-time purchase without future licensing costs. XpanD are proven to be the best solution for multiplexes, RealD are probably the best solution for permanent screens, Christie 3D is the best solution for giant screens and IMAX is the best 3D Brand.

List of digital cinema companies

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