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Digital Cinema - Coming to a Theater Near You

DIGDIA
October 1, 2006
107 Pages - SKU: DDA1422378

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Digital Cinema - Coming to a Theater Near You

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Digital Cinema is going to transform your local theater and the movie industry itself. New Digital Cinema technology, standards and business models are changing the workflow, the content, and the economics.

2005 saw the first major step towards making Digital Cinema a reality. The major studios all agreed to a set of recommendations created by the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI). DCI stabilized the target for equipment manufacturers and addressed key issues such as content management and security.

2006 saw a major step unfold with the concept of the Virtual Print Fee (VPF). The VPF makes the economics work for studios, distributors and exhibitors (theater owners).

DCI and VPF together have open the flood gates. From virtually no Digital Cinema screens at the start of 2005, we have seen the installation of over digital 1,000 screens a little over a year later, and counting.
This report addresses these questions:

What are the DCI specifications?
What is the new Digital Cinema workflow?
What is the Virtual Print Fee and how does it work?
Which industry organizations are involved?
What are some of the industry market statistics, including a forecast the number of Digital Cinema screens?
Who are some of the key Digital Cinema vendors and what are some of their products?
How is technology affecting the industry?
What is stereoscopic digital cinema, why is it significant, what are the challenges?

How might Digital Cinema affect the Digital Home in the future?

1 Summary
2 Cinema Industry: 2.1 U.S. Cinema Numbers; 2.2 Digital Cinema Specification Efforts; 2.3 Outside of the U.S.; 2.4 E-Cinema vs. Digital Cinema; 2.5 Digital Cinema Screens; 2.6 Economics of the Virtual Print Fee; 2.7 Forecast: U.S. Digital Screens; 2.8 Movie Content
3 Film-based Workflow Summary: 3.1 Production; 3.2 Postproduction; 3.3 Mastering/Packaging; 3.4 Distribution; 3.5 Exhibition
4 Digital Workflow Summary: 4.1 Production; 4.2 Postproduction; 4.3 Mastering/Packaging; 4.4 Distribution; 4.5 Exhibition
5 Stereoscopic Movies: 5.1 Polarization vs. Active Glasses; 5.2 Double and Triple-Flash; 5.3 Stereoscopic Challenges; 5.4 Stereoscopic Content
6 DC28 Outline: 6.1 Mastering; 6.2 Distribution; 6.3 Exhibition
7 Pirate Primer: 7.1.1 Plugging Leaks No Longer Sufficient; 7.1.2 Grokster Rules
8 Digital Home: 8.1 Video Content; 8.2 Audio Content; 8.3 Video Processors; 8.4 Displays; 8.5 DVD Servers; 8.6 ETC’s New Digital Home Project
9 References: 9.1 Organizations; 9.2 Publications; 9.3 Conferences; 9.4 Glossary
Figures: Figure 1 - Number of screens and cinemas in the U.S. (1995 - 2005; Figure 2 - mid-2006 Top 20 U.S. theater chains, ranked by screen count; Figure 3 - U.S. Cinema Revenue in reported and inflation adjusted dollars, U.S. admissions, and video sales (1995 - 2005); Figure 4 - U.S. per capita annual spending on entertainment media.; Figure 5 - Percentage time spent by U.S. Consumers on various entertainment media. 100% equals roughly 5,700 hours/year; Figure 6 - Produced and Released U.S. Theatrical Films, and films produced but not released (1997 - 2005); Figure 7 - Box office sales for other parts of the world (billions of dollars, 2001 - 2005); Figure 8 - DLP 2K cinema WW deployments by quarter; Figure 9 - Mid-2006, Deployed 2K screens by theater chain; Figure 10 - Forecast: Number of digital screens in the U.S. (2005 - 2015); Figure 11 - Movie Windows in the Previous Century; Figure 12 - Movie Windows Today; Figure 13 - Statistics: Percent of Box Office Take by Week After Release; Figure 14 - Statistics: DVD Release Windows Over Time by Studio; Figure 15 - Overall Digital Workflow; Figure 16 - Sony HDC930 camera (similar to HDC950); Figure 17 - Founder Jeff Kreines from Kinneta holding up the company’s new camera. (Picture courtesy of Smoke and Mirrors); Figure 18 - Panasonic camera using P2 flash cards; Figure 19 - NHK’s Ultra high definition camera; Figure 20 - Grass Valley’s (Thomson) Spirit 4K Datacine; Figure 21 - Cintel DSX datacine; Figure 22 - Avid Nitris system for editing using DNxHD compression (photo source: Avid); Figure 23 - Rendering server farm at Industrial Light and Magic; Figure 24 - Da Vinci 2K Plus color enhancement workstation; Figure 25 - Color transformation from XYZ colorimetric data to RGB as used by a DLP projector using a LUT; Figure 26 - Charles Swartz, (former) CEO of Entertainment Technology Center, holding up draft DCI specifications at the Digital Cinema Summit, April 2005 (photo courtesy of Smoke & Mirrors); Figure 27 - comparison of various display aspect ratios, with a “scope” image shown inside an HDTV widescreen display; Figure 28 - CIE chromaticity diagram showing visible (purple), Rec 709 (black), DLP Cinema (white), and XYZ encoding spaces; Figure 29 - 12 bit (4,096 levels) code value versus luminance; Figure 30 - Speaker layout for an “advanced theater”; Figure 31 - Digital Cinema Package; Figure 32 - T.I.’s DLP 2K Cinema package, nine of the mirrors in the Digital Mirror Device (DMD), and the silicon micro-machined spring structure that the mirrors sit on; Figure 33 - HP’s Wobulator applied to a DLP projector; Figure 34 - Barco D-Cine Premiere DP100; Figure 35 - LTI’s LTIX-6000W-HS Xenon bulb; Figure 36 - Close-up of Barco projector inputs; Figure 37 - Christie CP series 2K projector; Figure 38 - NEC iS15-2K DLP Cinema Projector (photo: NEC); Figure 39 - Layout of Sony’s SXRD (LCOS) display (not in proportion); Figure 40 - Sony’s SRX-R110 4K projector; Figure 41 - JVC 4K2K D-ILA projector; Figure 42 - Secure “Media Block” block diagram; Figure 43 - QuVIS Cinema Player; Figure 44 - Doremi DCP-2000 Digital Cinema Server; Figure 45 - GDC Tech Digital Film Server; Figure 46 - Dolby Show Player and Show Store, with Digital Media Adapter (top); Figure 47 - ILM’s custom Digital Cinema server system; Figure 48 - ILM’s 300 seat theater in San Francisco; Figure 49 - Avica FilmStore Central and Player for a multiplexed theater; Figure 50 - GDC Tech FC1000 CinePlex Central Server; Figure 51 - Multi-screen system block diagram; Figure 52 - Real-D circular polarization filter on Christie digital projector; Figure 53 - Nuvision Technologies active glasses; Figure 54 - Double-flash reduces stereoscopic synchronization issues; Figure 55 - Panasonic stereoscopic projector arrangement; Figure 56 - Conflicting focus and parallax cues; Figure 57 - 3D camera used for the Creature of the Black Lagoon (1954); Figure 58 - 3D camera made by 21st Century 3D using modified Panasonic cameras; Figure 59 - MPAA estimate of Worldwide Piracy Rates; Figure 60 - MPAA Photos of Hidden Camcorder System; Figure 61 - Pirated Movie Worldwide Timeline; Figure 62 - Estimated Cumulative Pirated Downloads Over Time for a Sample of Movies; Figure 63 - Survey: What factor will most influence when you buy a High Definition DVD player (Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) - Price, One Format, Multi-Format, Movie Choice; Figure 64 - Survey: Amongst owners of HDTV or people that intend on buying one within a year - What factor will most influence when you buy a High Definition DVD player (Blu-Ray or HDDVD) - Price, One Format, Multi-Format, Movie Choice; Figure 65 - Survey: How likely or willing would you be in paying $35 for a “High Definition” DVD?; Figure 66 - A very high end home theater, with electronics in the equipment closet (photos courtesy of CEDIA); Figure 67 - Sony’s Qualia 004 SXRD projector; Figure 68 - Kaleidescape DVD server, and bank of HDDs

Digital Cinema - Coming to a Theater Near You

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