DIGHTL CINEMA

DIGHTL CINEMA

With the release of the Dolby Digital Audio Coding Standard in 1991, the transition from cinema to digital video occurred before the transition from cinema to digital audio.

[2] Its mainstay is the Modified Discrete Cosine Conversion (MDCT), a lossy audio compression algorithm. In the 1990s cinema typically combined analog video with digital audio.


[3] It is a modification of the discrete cosine transformation (DCT) algorithm, first proposed by Nasir Ahmed in 1972 and originally designed for image compression.

[4] DCT was given J.P. Prinsein was adapted to MDCT by A.W. Johnson and Alan b. Bradley attended the University of Surrey in 1987,

[5] And then Dolby Laboratories adapted the MDCT algorithm with conceptual coding principles to develop the AC-3 audio format for cinema needs.



Digital media playback of high-resolution 2K files has a history of at least 20 years. Early video data storage units (RAIDs) fed custom frame buffer systems with large memories.

In early digital video units, content was usually limited to several minutes of content. Material transfer between remote locations was slow and had limited capacity.

It was not until the late 1990s that feature-length films could be sent over "wire" (Internet or dedicated fiber links). On October 23, 1998, digital light processing (DLP) projector technology was publicly demonstrated with the release of The Last Broadcast,

The first feature-length film was shot, edited and distributed digitally. [4] [[] [,] The film was screened publicly in five theaters in the United States (Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), Minneapolis, Providence, and Orlando) with Texas Instruments.

The foundation

Texas Instruments, DLP Cinema Prototype Projector, Mark V, 2000
In the United States, on June 18, 1999, Texas Instruments' DLP cinema projector technology was publicly displayed on two screens in Los Angeles and New York for the release of Lucasfilm's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Men's. [4] In Europe, on 2 February 2000, Texas Instruments' DLP cinema projector technology was publicly displayed on a screen in Paris by Philippe Bint for the release of Toy Story 2. [10]

From 1997 to 2000, the JPEG 2000 image compression standard was developed by a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) committee, chaired by Tordes Ibrahimi (later JPEG chairman). [11] Unlike the original 1992 JPEG standard, which is a DCT-based lossy compression format for static digital images, JPEG 2000 is a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) based compression standard for motion imaging video compression with Motion MEG 2000 Can be customized. The JPEG 2000 technology was later chosen as the video coding standard for digital cinema in 2004. [12]

The initiative
On January 19, 2000, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, in the United States, launched the first standards group dedicated to the development of digital cinema. [13] As of December 2000, there were 15 digital cinema screens in the United States and Canada, 11 in Western Europe, 4 in Asia, and South America. [14] The Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) was formed in March 2002 as a joint project of several motion picture studios (Disney, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros. Studios) to create digital cinema. To develop a system specification. 15]

In April 2004, in cooperation with the American Society of Cinematographers, DCI created standard evaluation material (the ASC/DCI StEM material) for testing of 2K and 4K playback and compression technologies. DCI selected JPEG 2000 as the basis for the compression in the system the same year.[16] Initial tests with JPEG 2000 produced bit-rates of around 75–125 Mbps for 2K resolution and 100–200 Mbps for 4K resolution.[12]

Worldwide deployment

In China, in June 2005, an e-cinema system called "dMs" was established and was used in over 15,000 screens spread across China's 30 provinces. dMs estimated that the system would expand to 40,000 screens in 2009.[17] In 2005 the UK Film Council Digital Screen Network launched in the UK by Arts Alliance Media creating a chain of 250 2K digital cinema systems. The roll-out was completed in 2006. This was the first mass roll-out in Europe. AccessIT/Christie Digital also started a roll-out in the United States and Canada. By mid 2006, about 400 theaters were equipped with 2K digital projectors with the number increasing every month. In August 2006, the Malayalam digital movie Moonnamathoral, produced by Benzy Martin, was distributed via satellite to cinemas, thus becoming the first Indian digital cinema. This was done by Emil and Eric Digital Films, a company based at Thrissur using the end-to-end digital cinema system developed by Singapore-based DG2L Technologies.[18]

In January 2007, Guru became the first Indian film mastered in the DCI-compliant JPEG 2000 Interop format and also the first Indian film to be previewed digitally, internationally, at the Elgin Winter Garden in Toronto. This film was digitally mastered at Real Image Media Technologies in India. In 2007, the UK became home to Europe's first DCI-compliant fully digital multiplex cinemas; Odeon Hatfield and Odeon Surrey Quays (in London), with a total of 18 digital screens, were launched on 9 February 2007. By March 2007, with the release of Disney's Meet the Robinsons, about 600 screens had been equipped with digital projectors. In June 2007, Arts Alliance Media announced the first European commercial digital cinema Virtual Print Fee (VPF) agreements (with 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures). In March 2009 AMC Theatres announced that it closed a $315 million deal with Sony to replace all of its movie projectors with 4K digital projectors starting in the second quarter of 2009; it was anticipated that this replacement would be finished by 2012.[19]

AMC Theatres former corporate headquarters in Kansas City, prior to their 2013 move to Leawood, Kansas.

In January 2011, the total number of digital screens worldwide was 36,242, up from 16,339 at end 2009 or a growth rate of 121.8 percent during the year.[20] There were 10,083 d-screens in Europe as a whole (28.2 percent of global figure), 16,522 in the United States and Canada (46.2 percent of global figure) and 7,703 in Asia (21.6 percent of global figure). Worldwide progress was slower as in some territories, particularly Latin America and Africa.[21][22] As of 31 March 2015, 38,719 screens (out of a total of 39,789 screens) in the United States have been converted to digital, 3,007 screens in Canada have been converted, and 93,147 screens internationally have been converted.[23] At the end of 2017, virtually all of the world's cinema screens were digital (98%).[24]

Despite the fact that today, virtually all global movie theaters have converted their screens to digital cinemas, some major motion pictures even as of 2019 are shot on film.[25][26] For example, Quentin Tarantino released his latest film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 70 mm and 35 mm in selected theaters across the United States and Canada.[27]

Elements

In addition to the equipment already found in a film-based movie theatre (e.g., a sound reinforcement system, screen, etc.), a DCI-compliant digital cinema requires a digital projector and a powerful computer known as a "server". Movies are supplied to the theatre as a digital file called a Digital Cinema Package (DCP).[28] For a typical feature film, this file will be anywhere between 90 GB and 300 GB of data (roughly two to six times the information of a Blu-ray disc) and may arrive as a physical delivery on a conventional computer hard drive or via satellite or fibre-optic broadband Internet.[29] As of 2013, physical deliveries of hard drives were most common in the industry. Promotional trailers arrive on a separate hard drive and range between 200 GB and 400 GB in size.

Regardless of how the DCP arrives, it first needs to be copied onto the internal hard drives of the server, usually via a USB port, a process known as "ingesting". DCPs can be, and in the case of feature films almost always are, encrypted, to prevent illegal copying and piracy. The necessary decryption keys are supplied separately, usually as email attachments and then "ingested" via USB. Keys are time-limited and will expire after the end of the period for which the title has been booked. They are also locked to the hardware (server and projector) that is to screen the film, so if the theatre wishes to move the title to another screen or extend the run, a new key must be obtained from the distributor.[30] Several versions of the same feature can be sent together. The original version (OV) is used as the basis of all the other playback options. Version files (VF) may have a different sound format (e.g. 7.1 as opposed to 5.1 surround sound) or subtitles. 2D and 3D versions are often distributed on the same hard drive.

The playback of the content is controlled by the server using a "playlist". As the name implies, this is a list of all the content that is to be played as part of the performance. The playlist will be created by a member of the theatre's staff using proprietary software that runs on the server. In addition to listing the content to be played the playlist also includes automation cues that allow the playlist to control the projector, the sound system, auditorium lighting, tab curtains and screen masking (if present), etc. The playlist can be started manually, by clicking the "play" button on the server's monitor screen, or automatically at pre-set times.[31]

Technology and standards

Digital Cinema Initiatives

Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), a joint venture of the six major studios, published the first version (V1.0) of a system specification for digital cinema in July 2005.[32] The main declared objectives of the specification were to define a digital cinema system that would "present a theatrical experience that is better than what one could achieve now with a traditional 35mm Answer Print", to provide global standards for interoperability such that any DCI-compliant content could play on any DCI-compliant hardware anywhere in the world and to provide robust protection for the intellectual property of the content providers.

The DCI specification calls for picture encoding using the ISO/IEC 15444-1 "JPEG2000" (.j2c) standard and use of the CIE XYZ color space at 12 bits per component encoded with a 2.6 gamma applied at projection. Two levels of resolution for both content and projectors are supported: 2K (2048×1080) or 2.2 MP at 24 or 48 frames per second, and 4K (4096×2160) or 8.85 MP at 24 frames per second. The specification ensures that 2K content can play on 4K projectors and vice versa. Smaller resolutions in one direction are also supported (the image gets automatically centered). Later versions of the standard added additional playback rates (like 25 fps in SMPTE mode). For the sound component of the content the specification provides for up to 16 channels of uncompressed audio using the "Broadcast Wave" (.wav) format at 24 bits and 48 kHz or 96 kHz sampling.

Playback is 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.

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