Low-Cost
Electronic Cinema Projectors May Build Delivery Infrastructure
Backing Into Digital Cinema
by Michael Karagosian
NATO Digital Cinema Consultant
Despite the
attention paid in the press, major motion pictures are not the killer
application for electronic cinema. Several factors dictate this:
the high cost of projectors and servers, the lack of a new compelling
audience experience, and the increase in production/distribution
costs in the early years of the technology. For digital movies to
become the standard for exhibition, these three basic issues must
be addressed, none of which will be solved overnight. While the
industry waits for digital movies to make better economic sense,
the infrastructure for digital cinema will be built, but not in
the order that one might expect.
The digital rollout of Hollywood movies may have some big hurdles
to cross, but electronic cinema stands to blossom in 2002. Granted,
there are bound to be some new digital screens opening this year,
each equipped with $150,000 projectors and showing the latest and
greatest from Hollywood. But digital cinema — where I distinguish
digital cinema as having a quality-level capable of replacing film
— will not represent the growth market in electronic cinema.
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Significantly,
the creation of secure methods for handling business data
online becomes the first step in creating an infrastructure
for digital cinema.
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The simple fact
is that the killer application for electronic cinema is advertising.
As the market for television advertising becomes less attractive,
new venues for moving picture advertising are being actively sought.
It seems obvious that the cinema is a natural home for motion ads,
but it has not always been so attractive. The high cost of distributing
ads on film and the lack of automatic methods to report head count
were deterrents. But today we have the potential of electronic distribution,
enabled by the introduction of electronic projection, putting the
theatre on the radar screen of more advertisers. For the exhibitor,
the low cost of the ad playback systems, coupled with a new source
of revenue, makes advertising an attractive investment.
There are two forms of electronic advertising being introduced:
“video non-sync” and “rolling video.” “Video
non-sync” is designed to replace the slide projector and audio
non-sync combination found in most theatres today. A single video
server, PowerPoint™ slide server, or Flash™ animation
server in the cinema complex plays a rolling loop of advertisements,
which is then projected onto each screen sometime after the end
of a movie. When it’s time for the next movie to start, the
system looks for the end of an ad, and then allows the film projector
to begin rolling.
Video non-sync is shown prior to the beginning of the show, in half-lit
auditoriums while patrons find their seats. The dim ambient lighting
creates a viewing condition that is less than ideal, but tests have
shown that low-cost video projectors can provide an adequate picture
under these conditions. Simple systems make use of a single video
server per complex, and are not capable of targeting ads to a particular
screen. More complex systems require multiple servers to target
ads to a particular audience, with up to one server per screen.
As video non-sync is only viewed as the audience is entering the
theatre, head counts are not so important, and an electronic log
of the number of ad plays provides sufficient information for advertising
brokers.
Once the electronic projector is in place, the video replacement
of rolling-stock advertisements becomes very attractive. Rolling
stock advertising is popular in Europe today, and the electronic
replacement of rolling-stock ads is already due to take off within
the European exhibition industry. “Rolling video” advertising,
by its very nature, requires one server per screen. As with video
non-sync, this server could be a PowerPoint™ or a Flash™
animation server, but more likely it’s a video server. With
one server per screen, ads can easily be targeted to the audience,
making this a very lucrative form of advertising. Projector requirements
remain much less demanding than those of digital movies, so low-cost
electronic projectors can still be used with very satisfactory results.
Both video non-sync and rolling-video applications rely upon the
regular electronic delivery of ad content to create new business
opportunities and to keep distribution costs down. Many systems
will rely upon the public Internet network for the delivery of content.
While this may not sound secure, ad content doesn’t require
encryption or secure delivery. Unlike the situation with movies,
no advertiser will be upset if their ad is pirated and played elsewhere.
(If you’re planning to do this, billing the advertiser is not
recommended.)
Secure systems, however, are required of the exhibition side. The
exhibition system must be capable of keeping hackers out of the
system, of validating that the right ads are being played (avoiding
the potential of hacked ad content), and of securely handling all
business transactions online. Since business transactions include
the handling of sensitive ticketing data necessary for rolling-video
ads, secure online handling of business data is a must. Significantly,
the creation of secure methods for handling business data online
becomes the first step in creating an infrastructure for digital
cinema.
As low-cost electronic projectors land firmly in place for advertising,
other types of content will gravitate to the theatre. Typically
called alternative content, this could include independent films,
Broadway plays, sporting events, pop concerts, or interactive games
designed for cinema. Some or all of this content may be encrypted,
requiring a decryption-key management system to be installed. Here
again, another significant step towards building necessary infrastructure
for digital cinema will be taken. The installation of the decryption-key
management system, coupled with the secure on-line handling of business
data, will become the foundation for exhibiting the high-value digital
content that is the basis of digital cinema.
Eventually, affordable high-quality projectors and servers will
become available, dramatically lowering system costs. As the infrastructure
for digital cinema grows, the opportunity to reduce movie distribution
costs will become a reality. Once the digital business relationship
between distributors and exhibitors is sorted out, the green light
will be on for digital cinema.
The opportunity to build an infrastructure for digital cinema will
result from the business opportunities to be found in advertising
and alternative content. These applications when introduced will
not require high cost projectors and servers, providing the time
and incentive needed to reduce the equipment cost for presenting
digital movies. Rather than charge into digital cinema head-on while
trying to figure out the business plan, it’s far more likely
that exhibitors will back into digital cinema by first implementing
all other forms of electronically projected entertainment.
