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Newco Digital Cinema: Technical Issues Come Home by Michael Karagosian On April 2, 2002, the seven major Hollywood studios issued a joint press release announcing the formation of an organization to jointly address the technical issues of digital cinema. Dubbed Newco Digital Cinema, this coalition of studios represents a significant step forward for the standardization of digital cinema. In the press-generated excitement that surrounds digital cinema, rarely are the technical issues brought to front and center stage. The different digital cinema systems on the market today may appear as competing for future market share, but they share the much greater problem of no consensual support from Hollywood. Today, an exhibitor can buy a 35mm projector and be assured that content produced by the seven majors and the many independents will play on their system. Not so with digital cinema. Some studios today claim that the current set of prototype systems are below their presentation standards. This situation makes it difficult for any system provider to play in the digital cinema market. Which in part explains why there hasn't been a successful digital cinema venture to date. Have the efforts to launch digital cinema been premature? Possibly. If we define digital cinema, or "d-cinema", as the technology for the digital presentation of first release movies, then it's very likely that today's technology isn't mature enough for prime time. The issue of exactly what does constitute sufficient quality for digital cinema is best left to Newco and its business partners, which includes cinematographers and exhibitors. Newco represents a significant users group, which can not only evaluate technologies, but balance the benefits of one technology versus another in terms of a business model. Contrast this to standards committees, which, due to their legal structure, can only base technology choices on technical performance. In practice, user groups and standards committees go hand-in-hand. User groups need standards committees to provide the legal umbrella for the standardization of technology, and standards committees need user groups to provide joint real-world input that they could never obtain through the mechanisms available to the committee. It can be safely said that one of the major reasons technology agreements have not been reached in the SMPTE DC28 Technology Committee is because broad user input, based on significant user agreement, has not been received. Without such agreement today, we have a manufacturer-driven market, where each manufacturer hopes to gain sufficient market share in an effort to claim they are a de-facto standard. The Newco press release doesn't hint at the potential roles the company can play, but since we aren't constrained by attorneys, we can speculate all we want. Consider the complexity of digital cinema systems. To simply claim that Brand X compression is used with Brand Y decryption and with Brand Z projector would not take into account the abundance of problems that have to be solved to insure interoperability among different makes of equipment. Thus, some sort of qualification process is needed for equipment to be labeled interoperable. Newco has the potential of forming or at least supporting that qualification entity. Similarly, equipment isn't secure simply because it can successfully decode a movie. What if it decodes the movie in an insecure manner that still allows theft? Who will certify that the equipment exhibitors install will be sufficiently secure? Here again, Newco has the potential of forming or at least supporting such a security certification entity. More to the heart of theatre owners, consider the brand that will be advertised to establish your theatre as a high quality digital cinema venue. Equipment brands have been used in the past, but with the plethora of equipment brands expected for digital cinema, it may not be effective to advertise them to a confused consumer. However, Newco has the potential to establish a brand for digital cinema that stands above the brands of manufacturers. A Newco Digital Cinema brand could be positioned as having a quality level above other forms of cinema entertainment, allowing the theatre owner to differentiate the content to be presented through its advertisements. Newco is not without its challenges. Getting any group of seven to agree to something is no small task, and there are lots of agreements to be reached. To add to the complexity of the task, many expect display technologies to advance significantly over the next few years, which could turn agreement into a moving target. While some speculate that Newco can settle the technical issues in short order, don't be surprised if this process takes awhile. And of course, let's not forget that there are business issues to be sorted out…somebody's got to pay. All of which leads to the conclusion that while the formation of Newco is a very welcome and necessary step in the process of standardization, it may be quite a few years before digital cinema is truly ready for rollout. |