From the monthly archives:

September 2009

Executive Summary

September 2009

  • Press jumps the gun with DCIP. Hollywood Reporter publishes wrong information in an unauthorized article on DCIP.
  • NATO members restless with CBG, Kendrick Macdowell exits. In spite of the healthy box office, NATO members fret over digital deals at recent NATO meeting. Independently, Kendrick Macdowell, VP and General Counsel, leaves.
  • ISDCF update. SMPTE DCP upgrade schedule gets nod. Forensic marking issues come to light.
  • SMPTE update. Closed captions move forward as standards. ASM issues for Series 2 projectors remain unresolved.
  • 3-D update. Technicolor’s competition comes out of the woodwork, and 3-D Blu-ray products a year away.
  • Venice Film Festival hosts SMPTE Italy, and reveals the challenges ahead.
  • Sony brings Playstation to theatres.
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DCIP – The Wrong Press

September 2009

Perhaps because this was one of the slower months for new developments on the digital cinema front, the Hollywood Reporter jumped the gun with DCIP and reported that the financing deal was done and that digital cinema was ready to rollout.  Bloomberg followed within days with a better researched article.  But oddly, there were no [...]

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NATO and CBG

September 2009

NATO held its annual members meeting this month.  This was the first time that NATO’s new Advisory Board met.  In the past, the entire membership was on the Board of Directors, which made it complicated to get things done.  A reorganization took place this past year, with the general membership now populating the new Advisory [...]

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ISDCF Update

September 2009

ISDCF met this month, with a growing agenda.  The hotter topics addressed include the field upgrade schedule, ghost busting, forensic marks, and of course, security key delivery.
The latest field upgrade schedule for SMPTE DCP can be downloaded at http://mkpe.com/digital_cinema/isdcf.  The schedule has been widely circulated among the studios.  It was reviewed and accepted by the [...]

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SMPTE Update

September 2009

SMPTE 21DC also met this month, making significant progress with several standards.  Voted to move forward for publication are:

429-13 DCP Operational Constraints for Alternative Frame Rates,
430-10 Aux Content Synchronization Protocol, and
430-11 Aux Resource Presentation List.

The 430-10 and 430-11 documents are the last in a suite of four standards, two of which are already published, for [...]

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3-D Update

September 2009

Technicolor’s announcement of its 3-D for film technology has caused the other two developers of similar technology to come out of the woodwork.  Lenny Lipton, former CTO of RealD, has been discussing his process, which is a twist, a 90˚ twist in fact, of the over/under technique used by Technicolor.  Also out shopping its wares [...]

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Venice Film Festival

September 2009

The Venice Film Festival was in fine form this year, complete with government police, Hugo Chavez, no shortage of digital screenings, and weather at the beach so enticing that the Pixar execs cancelled a scheduled panel session (much to the dismay of those who were waiting in line).  A great setting for the annual Italian [...]

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Other News

September 2009

Sony is staging Playstation games in theatres in October. The “sneak peek” events will take place in the US on October 5 and 6, 6-11 p.m., at the following theaters:

Landmark Embarcadero, San Francisco, Calif.
Muvico Theaters, Rosemont, Ill.
Muvico Theaters, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Lincoln Square Cinemas, Bellevue, Wash.

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