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Topic: News item: UK pioneers digital film network

Paul Gordon
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 580
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Aug 2005

posted 10-07-2005 04:20 PM

Gotta, thats not to bad then. You just have to hope your server dosen't crash during a show, specailly if its serving several screens. Will the Servers be running on a stable OS like Linux/UNix/ or OS X boxes or on Windows!

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-09-2005 04:49 AM

quote: Peter Hall
The Curzon Soho has two machines however they have not been used yet.

I don't understand this; I would have thought they'd be keen to show off their new 'toys' as soon as possible. Why haven't they been used yet, Installation not yet complete? Installation completed earlier than expected, so they had already programmed films not available on digital? Staff not trained yet? Lack of any suitable material in that format? Licencing issues to sort out? Any ideas?

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 10-09-2005 09:11 AM

Lack of suitable material in a compatible format would be my guess. Assuming that these machines have gone in as part of the Digital Cinema Network scheme, one of my misgivings about it is, as far as I can see, £15 million of public and/or lottery money is being spent on the hardware, but no steps have been taken to guarantee that a steady stream of films will be HD-encoded in a compatible format. From what I gather, this now costs £10-15k a feature plus the cost of a specially graded interneg for HD scanning. That's nothing for a Hollywood studio, but if you're talking about an arthouse or rerelease title that would currently be distributed on two or three 35mm prints at £2-3k each, those costs are going to have to come down a lot, or the market for these films in going to have to vastly increase, before HD projection becomes viable.

I wonder how long it'll be before cinemas simply start projecting bogstandard DVDs using these things?

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Peter Hall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 314
From: London, UK
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 10-10-2005 05:00 AM

Leo

Already done. I believe that the first permanent install was put in earlier in the year and that they are running only DVD content. Sort of like the effect you get looking through the AV department of John Lewis's. Isnt public money great (!)

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Mark Hajducki
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 500
From: Edinburgh, UK
Registered: May 2003

posted 10-10-2005 07:07 AM

quote: Peter Hall
Sort of like the effect you get looking through the AV department of John Lewis's.

With half of the screens set to the wrong aspect ratio and cropping or stretching the image?

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 10-10-2005 08:51 AM

quote:
Will the Servers be running on a stable OS like Linux/UNix/ or OS X boxes or on Windows!

Kodak's Digital Cinema system is LINUX based:

http://www.kodak.com/go/dcinema

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/products/digital/operatingSystem.jhtml

quote:
This is a KODAK-designed in-theatre network of pre-show projectors and LINUX System-based servers. It is driven by unique KODAK Software and supported by Kodak's worldwide service team—with content managed and delivered by Kodak.

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/products/digital/software.jhtml

quote:
KODAK Software is the internal driving force of every KODAK Digital Cinema solution; it provides the unique capability to your in-cinema network in ways that can keep you confidently—and automatically—in control.

Because this is a Java-based application running on the robust LINUX Operating System, the system has all the attributes associated with the LINUX System—including stability, security, and reliability—and is hardware agnostic. The system uses standard components so, as it evolves, Kodak will incorporate those components that offer the best balance of price and performance.

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-10-2005 10:19 AM

quote: Mark Hajducki
With half of the screens set to the wrong aspect ratio and cropping or stretching the image?

Maybe we'll have to start a 'Digital done wrong' thread.

How are different aspect ratios handled by the digital systems, bearing in mind that the sort of films which it is proposed to show in the UK Film Council scheme will probably come in at least four different ratios. What is the native ratio of the DLP chips? How are other ratios handled, by cropping or by anamorphic optics?

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