DVS Showcases Hydra JPEG2000 Board At NAB 2007

"Hydra is a PCI-X board for uncompressed input and output of audio and video material as well as for decompression of JPEG2000 in real time. Hydra supports SD, HD, 2K, and further formats specified by DCI and offers 16 AES/EBU or embedded audio channels.

Hydra performs decoding and decompression of JPEG2000 material for Digital Cinema applications. These processes take place in real time from SD, HD and 2K material as well as several other formats specified by the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative). The data can be received as RGB, YUV or X’Y’Z’ data in MXF or JP2 and the hardware extracts the components from the MXF file when necessary.

Up to two dual-link 4:4:4 or three single-link 4:2:2 channels are supported simultaneously. The new I/O board is ideal for implementing stereoscopic display applications in Digital Cinema, multi-channel applications in broadcast or multi-screen applications in the presentation area."

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Kinoton and DVC Presented Digital 3D Workshop at "Insight Out"

"One of the many interesting issues at the "Insight Out" symposium of the renowned HFF Film and Television University "Konrad Wolf" Potsdam were the options and potentials offered by stereoscopic D-Cinema, emphasized by an impressive 3D presentation featuring a Kinoton DCP 70 L Digital Cinema Projector and a DVC ClipDisk 3D.

One of this year's workshops dealt with stereoscopic 3D projection. At the lecture held by Harald Naether (DVC Digitalvideo GmbH), several trailers and short films were presented so the audience could convince themselves of the excellent projection quality of stereoscopic D-Cinema.

The audience thought it very interesting that the DCP 70 L Digital Cinema Projector, which Kinoton had installed at the HFF a few weeks ago, can not only present normal digital cinema movies in DCI compliant 2K resolution, but stereoscopic content as well. All you need is a 3D server and a polarisation filter or shutter glasses system. At the "Insight Out" workshop, a DVC ClipDisk 3D server and an active NuVision 3D system were employed.

The NuVision system is composed of a sync box, an IR transmitter and active shutter-glasses. The sync box gets a signal from the projector which controls the shutter-glasses by infrared communication. The DCP 70 L gets two input signals from the 3D server, one for the right eye and one for the left eye, which are projected alternately at a high frequency. The right and left shutter-glasses are dimmed in turn so that only one eye at a time can look at the screen. If the picture for the left eye is projected, the right glass becomes opaque, and vice versa. The brain interprets these two different sights as a three-dimensional representation, experiencing an amazingly realistic 3D effect.

"This active 3D technique for D-Cinema projectors is cost-effective, easy to retro-fit and easy to use", states Kinoton's D-Cinema product manager Markus Naether. "In contrary to passive 3D cinema requiring a special silver screen, active 3D can be projected on every common cinema screen. Besides this, the prices for shutter-glasses have been cut severely, making this a cost-efficient and fast way for exhibitors to add an additional crowd puller to their theatres, independent of existing 3D license models"."
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Remarque : DVC ClipDisk 3D n'est pas un serveur conforme aux spécifications DCI, mais un serveur bi-canaux MPEG-2 HD. Il ne pourra donc pas jouer les principaux films 3D proposés par les Studios US ( "Chicken Little", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Monster House", "Meet the Robinsons", etc. ).

Réglage des projecteurs cinéma numérique

Luminosité :

Les normes SMPTE et AFNOR indiquent que la brillance de l’écran doit être de 48 cd/m² (14 fL). Il faut, pour faire ce réglage, tenir compte de la spécificité des images cinéma numérique. Contrairement aux formats vidéo connus jusque là, où le blanc est la somme des primaires RVB à 100%, dans l’espace X’Y’Z’ du cinéma numérique le blanc correspond à un triplet de valeurs bien précis. La Norme AFNOR ne précise pas ce point parlant d’un blanc 100% mais les documents de la SMPTE donnent les valeurs précises de chaque primaire : X’ = 3794 Y’=3960 Z’=3890. Dans l’espace X’, Y’, Z’ le Y’ représente la luminance. Pour pouvoir choisir différents points blancs (températures de couleur du blanc) il faut, dans certains cas, que X’ et (ou) Z’ soient supérieures à Y’. C’est pour cela que 48 cd/m2 ne correspond pas à la valeur maximum de Y’ (4095 sur 12 bits) mais a été ramené à 3960. La valeur 4095 correspondrait en fait à 52,37 cd/m2. Ces valeurs sont utilisées par tous les laboratoires de mastering dans le monde et doivent être appliquées dans les salles pour assurer la cohérence de la chaîne. Il faut donc faire le réglage avec une mire de blanc et non pas avec les mires internes du projecteur qui génèrent 100% de chaque primaire RVB du projecteur. Autrement dit avec les mires internes des projecteurs on génère un blanc plus blanc que blanc pour paraphraser une réplique célèbre ! Les mires internes restent parfaitement valides pour la calibration colorimétrique initiale du projecteur (mesure des x,y des primaires du projecteur). Le réglage de la luminosité avec les mires internes donne une luminosité effective plus faible que celle qui est prévue par la norme.

Vous pouvez télécharger dans ce répertoire la mire de blanc avec les valeurs précises du document SMPTE RP 431-2 « D-Cinema Quality Reference Projector and Environment » qui est en cours de validation finale. Cette mire peut être chargée directement dans la tête des projeteurs DLP Cinema pour faire les réglages ce qui évite d’avoir à raccorder un serveur et de faire l’ingest d’un DCP de test.

Cadrage :

Le groupe ISDCF qui étudie tous les aspects périphériques des normes SMPTE a publié sur son site des mires de cadrage pour vérifier le respect de formats 1,85 et cinémascope. Les mires au format PNG peuvent être chargées directement dans la tête des projeteurs DLP Cinema pour faire les réglages ce qui évite d’avoir à raccorder un serveur et de faire l’ingest d’un DCP de test. Elles sont aussi disponibles au format TIFF pour un éventuel encodage. Vous trouverez tous les fichiers dans le répertoire "mires".

Liens utiles sur ce sujet :

Les recommandations Cinéma Numérique de la CST

www.cst.fr/IMG/pdf/cst-rt-002-p-2001.pdf

La plate forme de test ISA

www.isa-dcinema.org

Le forum ISDCF (l’inscription est gratuite)

http://www.isdcf.com

L’AFNOR

www.afnor.org/portail.asp

La SMPTE

www.smpte.org

NEC announces newest addition to STARUS DLP Cinema projector family

"NEC Corporation of America, a premier provider of IT, network and storage solutions, today introduced the STARUS NC1600C DLP Cinema projector to its family of digital cinema projectors. NEC’s STARUS NC1600C ensures that midsize theatres with screens from 26 to 49 feet wide have a cost-effective, high quality projector with the latest technologies designed specifically for their requirements.

The complete family of STARUS digital cinema projectors also includes the STARUS NC2500S, the world’s brightest DLP Cinema projector for large-sized screens tested up to 82 feet wide, and the NC800C, the world’s smallest and lightest DLP projector for smaller theatres, screening rooms, and post-production facilities with screen sizes up to 28 feet wide.

The NC1600C will be available worldwide in September 2007."

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Muvico chooses SONY SXRD 4K projectors for conversion to digital technology

"Muvico Entertainment will build the world’s first theater complex with Sony’s 4K SXRD projectors in all its theaters. The projectors will be installed in Muvico’s new Chicago area entertainment complex, as the initial step in converting the chain’s 12 theaters (228 screens) across the United States to digital technology.

According to Muvico, the new 18-screen facility, scheduled to open this August in the suburb of Rosemont, Ill., will have all of its theaters equipped with SXRD projectors: a combination of the SRX-R210 unit, a 10,000-lumen model, and the SRX-R220 model, an 18,000-lumen unit, as well as Sony’s LMT-100 media block system.

Muvico said it also plans to follow this first installation with SXRD roll-outs in three more of its locations by 2008. The chain is now working with Sony to secure proper services for installation and maintenance of the systems."

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Christie’s new CP2000-ZX boosts company’s cinema leadership worldwide

"Christie, a global leader in visual solutions for entertainment, business and industry, expands its popular line of 2K resolution Digital Cinema projection solutions with the introduction of the Christie CP2000-ZX DLP Cinema projector. Setting a new industry benchmark for performance, value and flexibility, the Christie CP2000-ZX is up to 50% smaller by volume than its nearest competitors, yet brighter at 17,000 lumens. Exceptionally easy to operate and maintain, the ZX model offers maximum installation options for small to medium size theaters. It is also the perfect solution for post-production facilities seeking an advanced Digital Cinema system at a more affordable price.

The much-anticipated projector, with its integrated single-phase ballast, is significantly smaller and lighter than standard-size DLP Cinema projectors. All controls are at the rear of the projector, making it easy to install and easy to use in the most challenging environments. It utilizes a standard Christie CDXL lamp or the new high efficiency Christie CDXL SD lamp, which can be replaced by the same projectionist that operates the 35mm systems, with similar cost of ownership. Brightness levels can be customized from 9,000 – 17,000 lumens, for screens up to 45 feet wide (14 meters).

The Christie CP2000-ZX features the same support for Digital Cinema and alternative content as the famed Christie CP2000. Unlike the competition, it also supports the processing of HDCP encrypted signals through its DVI inputs and various integrated input cards, allowing for optimum presentation flexibility. All controls are available from the compact, local user panel, Control Display Panel (CDP) or from any web browser on a networked computer. The feature-packed CP2000-ZX is the most affordable, flexible, and easy-to-use DLP Cinema solution on the market today."
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GDC Technology launches new generation of Digital Cinema server to meet DCI specifications

"GDC Technology, one of the leading solution providers of digital cinema, today unveiled new digital cinema product – SA-2100 DSR Digital Film Server which is 33% smaller in size and designed to meet DCI specifications such as Texas Instruments Cinelink 2, Hollywood’s approved forensic watermarking and FIPS-140 security features. The new SA-2100 server supports DCI defined DCP 2k and 4k digital cinema packages, and JPEG2000 and remains backward compatible with the MXF MPEG2 Interop format. GDC Technology is one of the founding members of MXF MPEG2 Interop group and its MXF MPEG2 format was selected by the studios as the transitional digital cinema format before the availability of DCI defined DCP format.

The new SA-2100 server is designed to work in cinema multiplex with Theater Management System (TMS) and Network Operations Center (NOC) which support operations such as scheduling of playlist, content rights management and collection of playout log information. The SA-2100 server is a cost-effective and flexible solution for digital cinema and alternative content sources to be playout in a seamless pipeline; various formats of content such as live interview, on-screen advertisement and feature films can be programmed to playout without the need to re-initialize the server and/or projector for different image formats. The server accommodates other image codec such as JPEG, MPEG2 and MPEG4 to support full suite of alternative content applications not found in other digital cinema servers. GDC Technology’s servers are well tested with different makes of DLP Cinema projectors since 2001. Since the servers are based on open architecture such as LINUX operating system, they can easily export the user interface and controls to DLP Cinema projectors equipped with high performance touch-panel PC. GDC Technology’s DCI-2000 Digital Cinema Integrated System is an answer to the exhibitors’ need of a fully integrated projector – server system with a single focal point of control."
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Dolby Previews Dolby 3D Digital Cinema at ShoWest 2007

"At ShoWest today, Dolby Laboratories unveiled details of its new Dolby 3D Digital Cinema technology, designed to provide consumers with an impressive 3D experience.

Dolby 3D provides exhibitors and distributors an efficient and cost-effective 3D solution. The ability to utilize a white screen gives exhibitors a cost advantage, as no special equipment associated with a “silver screen” is required. The ease of shifting from 3D to 2D as well as moving the film between different size auditoriums provides compelling flexibility.

Dolby 3D uses a unique color filter technology that provides a very realistic color reproduction. Dolby 3D also provides extremely sharp images thus delivering a great 3D experience to the audience from every seat in the house.

The Dolby 3D solution uses the white screens installed in most theaters today as well as standard digital cinema projectors, eliminating the need for a dedicated 3D auditorium. The solution simply adds a retractable color filter wheel accessory to the digital projector. Furthermore, the filter wheel automatically moves away from the light path when switching from 3D to 2D digital cinema presentations. Leveraging Dolby Digital Cinema technology, exhibitors easily can transfer movies down to a smaller auditorium later in the movie’s run.

Dolby 3D Digital Cinema works with comfortable and lightweight passive viewing glasses that require no batteries or charging. Initially, 3D glasses will be reusable, eliminating the need to reorder glasses and minimizing environmental impact. In the future, Dolby expects to offer the option of disposable glasses that the moviegoer can keep as a souvenir.

Unique to the Dolby 3D solution, the technology also simplifies the process of creating and distributing 3D movies. There is no need for extra color correction or other compensation processes in postproduction, as all processing is performed in the server. This innovative approach not only saves time and money, but it simplifies the overall process as the color correction is the same for both 3D and 2D digital cinema presentations."
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NEC announces advanced features for The STARUS Digital Cinema Screen Server

"NEC Corporation of America has announced enhancements to its STARUS screen server at ShoWest 2007, allowing theatre operators to easily build and manage playlists that support both JPEG2000 and MPEG2 files.

In addition to providing simple scheduling and playlist administration, the new screen server also incorporates an improved user interface to minimize training and accelerate adoption.

NEC's STARUS screen server supports 3D films and enables 2K and 4K playback. It also meets cinema industry standards providing enhanced security features, including CineLink II encryption and both Thomson's NexGuard and Philips' CineFence forensic watermarking technologies.

The new STARUS screen server offers selected multiplex functionality, allowing multiplex control at the screen server level so that the theatre operators can remotely monitor all servers within the multiplex from any one server. It also enables screen servers to continue running scheduled playlists, even in the case of a network outage."
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TI dévoille ses nouvelles puces DLP Cinéma

Durant le salon SHOWEST, Texas Instrument a annoncé la disponibilité des ses puces DLP Cinéma 0,98 pouces.
Ces puces, d'une surface inférieure à la génération précédente (1,2 pouces), nécessitent une puissance lumineuse inférieure, et surtout des optiques plus petites, et donc moins coûteuses. Toujours de résolution 2K, elles permettent aux fabricants de projecteurs de réaliser des modèles plus compacts, et sans doute à des tarifs plus compétitifs.

Barco a d'ores et déjà annoncé le renouvellement de sa gamme, avec l'apparition du DP1500 (pour les écrans jusqu'à 15m), le DP2000 (jusqu'à 20m) basés sur ces nouvelles puces, ainsi que le DP3000 pour les écrans jusqu'à 30m, utilisant les anciennes puces. Le tarif de ces nouveaux modèles n'est pas encore connu.

Nouvelle page de liens et bibliographie

La page de liens a été actualisée :
http://amato.ovh.org/dcinema_links.html

Une bibliographie est également désormais accessible :
http://amato.ovh.org/dcinema_bibliography.html

intoPIX launches single chip 4K JPEG 2000 decoder

"Fully compliant with DCI standards the IPX-JP4K is a single chip IP providing single tile processing of up to 4096x2160 pixel resolution at 24 fps, 12 bit per component. Based on a mid-sized Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGA platform the IPX-JP4K promises all the efficiency, security, control and reprogramming benefits so far associated with intoPIX single chip 2K processor. Moreover, it significantly lowers 4K decoding cost and enables the potential for a single chip 4K Mediablock, including AV processing and subtitles."

source: www.dcinematoday.com/dc/pr.aspx?newsID=727

Kodak to Unveil First “Universal” and Fully Integrated Digital System at ShoWest

"Kodak will unveil and demonstrate its comprehensive digital cinema solution, the Kodak Theatre Management System (TMS), to exhibition and distribution managers at the 2007 ShoWest Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas next week.

Kodak also announced that in April it will begin installing prototypes of the Kodak Theatre Management System at multiple sites throughout the United States. The Kodak TMS will be the exhibition industry’s first ever ‘universal’ digital system designed to manage all content from all suppliers and bring new workflow efficiencies to the cinema.

The Kodak Theatre Management System includes a server driven by unique and proprietary Kodak-written software connected to the cinema’s ticketing system. Directed by the theatre’s ticketing system, the fully integrated TMS will automatically load all content from multiple suppliers via hard drive or satellite and distribute it to targeted screens over the in-cinema network. Decryption keys are also loaded, migrated and managed over the network. The Kodak TMS is at the heart of the fully-integrated Kodak solution, which includes all networked content players and feature projectors, as well as Kodak service and support.

Kodak intends to support the solution with an innovative Business Plan. “Our plan is aimed at exhibitors intending to convert at least half the screens in their complex,” Mayson says, “because we believe a commitment of that scope is necessary for them to experience the benefits of a network solution – and to have the same ‘print movement’ flexibility they now enjoy with analog.”
The term of payback for TMS is expected to be seven years, after which the exhibitor will own the system.

Mayson emphasizes that there are no hidden obligations in the Kodak Plan. “There are no requirements that customers buy lamps from Kodak, no hidden usage charges for exhibitors, and there is no limitation on their sources of content. Those choices are up to the exhibitor; we respect the ways they need to run their business.”

source: www.dcinematoday.com/dc/pr.aspx?newsID=723

intoPIX JPEG 2000 decoder compatible with Philips CineFence watermarking solution

"Following tests of its single chip FPGA decoding core intoPIX has announced the full compatibility of its DCI compliant IPX-JP2K JPEG 2000 decoder with the advanced Philips CineFence digital cinema watermarking solution.

Tests, which comprised of a 2K screening of the demanding animated short movie ‘Elephants Dream’ produced by the Open Orange Movie Project, were first made to confirm the absence of any visible artifacts on the screen. These were then followed by a recording of the projected image using a consumer grade camcorder to successfully identify the server, projector, location and date codes using Philips CineFence watermarking detector."

source: www.dcinematoday.com/dc/pr.aspx?newsID=718