To Accommodate New and Future Projectors
DCI Studios Approve 4K/2K Architecture

The pursuit of a hierarchical architecture approach for digital cinema – one defining a 4K delivery system that will be compatible with both 4K and 2K digital projectors – was approved unanimously Nov. 12 by the seven Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) member studios.

2K digital cinema projectors were introduced in March at ShoWest 2003; 4K projectors (utilizing a 4096 by 2160 pixel configuration) are still on the drawing board, but expected to join the digital cinema universe in the future.

DCI is also continuing to encourage manufacturers to develop related technology for DCI testing and evaluation.
This next phase of DCI’s testing program will undertake the review of a variety of hierarchical compression techniques and systems capable of both 4K- and 2K-image delivery.

“This new direction for DCI’s testing program is an important step toward providing a common specification that can be embraced by all the studios,” said DCI CEO Chuck Goldwater. “With this step forward we are still on track to deliver a final draft version of the DCI Technical Specifications in the spring of 2004.”

“NATO and its members are pleased that DCI’s Version 3.0 provides for backwards compatibility while accommodating both 2K and 4K capabilities,” said NATO president John Fithian. “NATO continues to support the development of technical specifications and standards that enable digital cinema systems to operate in a compatible and interoperable environment.”

Last year, DCI engaged the Digital Cinema Laboratory, a project of the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at USC, to be the facility and test-bed where DCI would evaluate the prescribed specification. “With this announcement today, DCI has taken a significant step forward in the development of digital cinema,” said ETC CEO Charles S. Swartz. “The lab was created specially for high-level testing and evaluation of digital cinema systems and it will play a critical role in the coming months.”

“We applaud DCI’s commitment to setting the highest possible standards for the future of the cinema,” said American Society of Cinematographers president Richard Crudo. “We believe the DCI Digital Cinema effort is a forward-looking venture which is headed down the right path to meeting the needs of the worldwide creative community.”

Details of DCI’s hierarchical architecture approach to digital cinema can be obtained in the DCI Technical Specifications by contacting DCI chief technology officer Walt Ordway.

DCI was created in March 2002 as a joint venture of the Disney, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. film studios, primarily to establish and document voluntary specifications for an open digital cinema architecture to ensure a uniform and high level of technical performance, reliability and quality control. DCI will also facilitate the development of business plans and strategies to help spur deployment of digital cinema systems in cinemas.