Compression schemes take screen test for digital cinema

[W_Eagle]

http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18700038

As many as eight compression schemes will face screen tests in April as they vie for inclusion in the final U.S. specification for digital cinema. The Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI), an effort of seven top U.S. studios, expects to choose one technology by the end of April.

[flaninacupboard]

Some digital cinema backers hope the technology helps curb piracy of first-run movies.

All i can say is


Why do they feel the need to switch to digital - the system works well and has done for decades?

Studios could save as much as $800 million a year distributing movies over satellite or terrestrial nets, said Julian Levin, an executive vice president for Twentieth Century Fox, speaking at the Digital Hollywood conference here Tuesday (Match 30).

Ah. there you go. i don't see why they can't use hard drives containing the movie, easier to keep track of a physical object than a satellite transmission (because O J Simpson will be intercepting it for sure) and then you could use a decent format rather than MPEG. don't get me wrong, MPEG is very useful, but not what i want to see at the cinema.

[Skynet107]

This is going to give a whole new dimension for piracy. Hackers will get a hold of the digital stream or some version of it and encode it down etc.

I have mixed feelings about digital cinema, but it makes more and more sense when you realize the number of digital effects in a lot of movies. The digital image is transfered to film, why take the extra step.