Digital Domain

Variety's Ben Fritz asks, "Is the future finally here?", in his article Digital on the docket…again He reports:

For nearly a decade, ShoWest attendees have heard endless talk from studio reps and techies about the coming revolution in d-cinema. But with the Digital Cinema Initiative -- the multistudio joint venture set up to create a common technology standard -- having finished its work last year and integrators Christie/AIX and Technicolor already starting to roll out systems, everyone agrees that 2006 marks a sea change in the industry.

"This is the first year we're saying it is finally happening," boasted National Assn. of Theater Owners [President] John Fithian. "It's the biggest technological revolution in this business since the advent of sound."

But with digital cinema ready to go, there are new questions to consider:

Should exhibs go with the Texas Instruments-powered 2K projectors, which are tested and proven, or Sony's not-yet-deployed but higher-quality 4K projectors?

Should they sign up with Technicolor or Christie/AIX to install d-cinema systems, or put together a plan on their own, as AMC, Cinemark, Regal and others are doing?

Which of the many companies selling servers -- which store digital movie files at theaters -- should they pick?

On panels, in elaborate floor displays and in fancy suites, companies are putting the hard sell on the exhib community to start signing up. And they have all come to ShoWest with announcements they hope will make them stand out. AccessIT is raising $51 million more to fund the rollout plan of Christie/AIX, its joint venture with Christie; NEC and Barco have both been selected to provide projectors for Technicolor's beta test of digital cinema systems; Dolby is beta testing its servers at a handful of theaters along with ones it already installed as part of Disney's 3-D projection of "Chicken Little"; and Sony has finally unveiled a complete d-cinema system to work with its 4K projectors.

But beneath the hype, insiders admit there's still plenty of reason for caution. While DCI finished its work in August, some technical details are still being finalized. Most notably, a content protection standard called Cinelink 2 was just completed, and TI has to make new chips for projectors that can decode it. Those aren't expected to be ready for a month.

Also still to be finalized: which security system will be used on digital prints to prevent pirates from using camcorders and other means to get copies onto the Internet and bootlegged DVDs within hours of screenings.

Many in the industry are waiting to find out just what equipment will be considered up to snuff by the major studios. DCI in February contracted with the Fraunhofer Institute out of Germany to produce a certification test plan. But the org hasn't even announced how it will test equipment, let alone started to certify anything.

"Right now we are searching for things to point to prove we are DCI compliant," said Tim Partridge, senior veep of Dolby's digital cinema group.

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that everyone needs to take a deep breath, before making any quick decisions. The piracy problem that plagues the industry needs to be taken care of for sure. But it also sounds like there are too many smaller details that still need to be worked out too.