Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Technicolor Acquiring Cinedigm's Digital Cinema Delivery Assets

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Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 08-18-2011, 12:10 AM:

Technicolor Acquiring Cinedigm's Digital Cinema Delivery Assets

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

quote:
In a sweeping digital cinema delivery deal, Technicolor is acquiring the assets of Cinedigm Digital Cinema that are specific to physical and electronic distribution of content to movie theaters in North America. The deal is expected to close in September; financial details were not disclosed.

With the deal, Technicolor continues to grow its footprint in both physical and satellite delivery. For Cinedigm, it allows the company to sell the assets of a "noncore" business while growing support of its key areas of alternative content and digital cinema operational software, chairman and CEO Chris McGurk told The Hollywood Reporter.

Technicolor already controls an estimated 58% of the North American market for mastering and digital cinema delivery, said Claude Gagnon, president of Technicolor Creative Services.

Technicolor will acquire Cinedigm's physical and electronic distribution assets, including replication equipment and hard-drive inventory as well as a minimum of 300 satellite roof rights in the U.S. and Canada, resulting in an increase of about 40% in Technicolor's North American satellite footprint, which now will include some 1,100 locations.

Technicolor will become Cinedigm's preferred content servicing partner for postproduction through distribution services. That now includes exclusive satellite distribution of Cinedigm's alternative content business.

"The market will migrate, probably quickly, to satellite distribution," Gagnon said. "It is much quicker, much easier for the studios, the exhibitors and the content providers. We are migrating from film to digital, and the physical to electronic distribution — both at the same time."

As part of the deal, Technicolor will work with Cinedigm to support the development by Cinedigm of entertainment industry software as well as license Cinedigm’s CineSuite digital production tool and CineXpress trailer distribution software.

"We’re really looking at the future of the company and its growth businesses," said McGurk, noting that its growth areas are alternative content and digital cinema operational software. He described the Technicolor agreement as the "perfect strategic deal" in that it allows Cinedigm to sell a noncore business and forge agreements that support its core business. He added that Technicolor's international reach is a plus.

With the Technicolor deal, Cinedigm effectively exits the physical digital cinema delivery business. "We were No. 3 behind Technicolor and Deluxe," he told THR. "And it is capital intensive.

In related news, Technicolor on Wednesday inked a deal to acquire Hollywood post house Laser Pacific. Technicolor also is selling its New York assets to PostWorks while entering into a licensing agreement with that company to effectively share resources in New York.

Last week, Technicolor and Deluxe entered into three-year subcontracting agreements related to film services. Per the agreements, Technicolor will subcontract its 35mm bulk release printing business to Deluxe in North America, while Deluxe will subcontract its 35mm print distribution business in the the U.S. to Technicolor. Additionally, Deluxe will subcontract its 35mm/16mm color negative processing business to Technicolor in London.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-18-2011, 02:15 AM:

This isn't surprising to me -- it seems that there has been less and less on the Cinedigm trailer drive lately, and it never was exactly jam-packed that I'm aware of.

What I find most interesting is the line about how the industry is moving to satellite distribution. I've heard that mentioned in passing here and there (and again here, in passing) but have never really understood how that would work.

I can see where the equipment to get the content off of satellite could have a fairly rapid payback due to the savings on freight costs, but that assumes "they" (the ubiquitous "they") don't nab theatres with download charges that eat up the saving.

Does anyone know how this works? Is it possible for independent theatres to download their content "today"? And if you buy the equipment to download your content, do you get to keep the savings?

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 08-18-2011, 09:12 AM:

Probably a very large server/drive will receive ALL digital content. Code key will unloack what you need.

Easy to pay for (by theatres) from shipping charges not needed. Louis

Posted by Melanie Loggins (Member # 6454) on 08-18-2011, 09:16 AM:

I know I'm new to this game, but this makes me smile with relief: I NEVER have problems with Technicolor or Deluxe, but a drive from Cinedigm means, easily, a half dozen phone calls or emails to make sure I have a drive AND a key, and that I have them before showtime. I dread those yellow cases.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-18-2011, 10:54 AM:

quote: Louis Bornwasser
Probably a very large server/drive will receive ALL digital content. Code key will unloack what you need.

Bingo, that's how it works. At the FT NOC this is our preferred method of content delivery. There is no need to deal with relying on a manager to dock a drive into the system. With the satellite download, we can leave them 100% out of the equation.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-18-2011, 12:13 PM:

...Crazy industry is just changing by leaps and bounds per each day....all for the purpose of cost cutting measures.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-18-2011, 12:49 PM:

Do they charge you a fee for the download? If your only cost is the equipment and electricity, then it's a lot more attractive than otherwise.

Posted by Melanie Loggins (Member # 6454) on 08-18-2011, 03:35 PM:

(a few hours later) Did I say I never have problems with Technicolor? Oh. My. God. Just drove to a town an hour away to get a drive so I don't have a dark screen tonight. Have you called them today? Yeah, just in case you were thinking about it, they're not answering.

Posted by Emma Tomiak (Member # 1862) on 08-18-2011, 08:53 PM:

Tell me about it, Melanie. I loathe their hold music so much.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-18-2011, 09:07 PM:

They announced that today in the Class at Cinedigm. Cinedigm is going to become primarily a software only company.
Satellite is good but still slow and somewhat temperamental for down loading. Depends on many things, even sun spots. I believe Disney pulled the plug on their Satellite delivery a couple of years ago. No, the Disney dish was not shaped like Mickey's head!

Mark

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-18-2011, 09:55 PM:

Satellite delivery is faster, easier and more convenient. However, satellite bandwidth is not cheap. I wonder what the price difference is between shipping reusable hard discs to theaters versus renting enough time and bandwidth on a "bird" to stream a movie to d-cinema theaters.

If the pressure is not already being screamed down from the higher-ups at a deafening pitch, I definitely predict a lot of pressure for studios to squeeze DCP file sizes way way down to sizes far smaller than those found on portable hard discs. "A 200GB movie file? It doesn't need to be that big! Squeeze it down to 20GB so the theater can get it in 1/10th the amount of time!" I can even see them shifting away from deep color JPEG2000 and using Blu-ray quality encodes in AVC or VC1. It would save money on satellite bandwidth and increase those profit margins for share holders. Yet it would still be "DIGITAL."

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-18-2011, 11:12 PM:

What I've seen in the last 4 or so years has been pretty ho-hum. Sure it can be fasster... for a price. Neither end is going to pay that high price though. Typical time I see is overnight to download a movie if the uplink or down link don't get interrupted.

Mark

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-18-2011, 11:38 PM:

quote:
I believe Disney pulled the plug on their Satellite delivery a couple of years ago. No, the Disney dish was not shaped like Mickey's head!

You believe wrong. All of our locations get BV content via satellite.

Again, we have not had any problems. The satellite delivery has proven to be more reliable than a physical hard drive shipped across the country. Maybe we're just special though. [Wink]

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 08-19-2011, 09:21 AM:

The only possible downside to satellite is that it takes 8-hour or so, at present to download the typical title. So long as they make the titles available early enough to deal with problems, I don't see the problem with satellite. You wouldn't want to get your movie via satellite on the day of the show, however.

-Steve

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-19-2011, 09:46 AM:

This is another reason why I think bean counters, managers and other various non-techie people will demand DCP file sizes to be severely reduced. It takes a long time to download a 200GB movie file. A movie only 20GB to 50GB in size could be downloaded much faster, possibly fast enough to be downloaded the day the show opens. Post production can keep working and making changes literally up to the last minute.

It's a good bet many of the non-tech money people working in the movie industry don't know any of the quality differences between a JPEG2000-based DCP versus that of a severely compressed MPEG-4 HD video you can watch on pay per view via the cable/satellite TV provider.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 08-19-2011, 10:56 AM:

There is that whole DCI thing...it would be hard for the Studios to have made such demands for DCI compliance in order to get VPF deals and then spin on their heels and drop the JPEG2000 part and revert back to MPEG for the sake of download speeds. It seems that WB has been able to get their file sizes down!

-Steve

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-19-2011, 11:25 AM:

I'd like to know what WB is doing to shrink those DCP file sizes. It seems like 2 hour movies from most major Hollywood studios weigh upwards of 200GB or more. I saw one posting on Facebook about a Scarface DCP weighing in at 248GB. Yet WB sends out a Harry Potter installment with a file size almost small enough to fit on a 50GB Blu-ray disc.

The only thing I can figure is WB has turned the knob on JPEG2000 compression, possibly past levels that are truly DCI compliant. A couple of the technical things I remember seeing in the white paper involved specific limits on the number of transform blocks per movie frame. The master can have only 1. The DCP should have no more than 3. As compression levels increase more transform blocks are required. At a severe enough compression level issues like macro-blocking, mosquito noise on edge detail and general softening of image detail becomes more and more visible. I don't know how far one can take JPEG2000 compression levels before breaking rules in the DCI spec, but I have a feeling it doesn't take much.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-19-2011, 11:36 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
So long as they make the titles available early enough to deal with problems, I don't see the problem with satellite.

I've said it before and I will say it again. We get our satellite content at least a day before physical hard drives, and often 2 days ahead.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 08-19-2011, 11:37 AM:

I would think that satellite distribution would be a win for major releases, but I don't see how it could possibly make economic sense for smaller releases or repertory bookings. For titles that would open in only one or two (or even a handful) of theatres, physical media or Internet downloads would make more sense.

What size is the average DCP, anyway? Is it something that could be downloaded over a DS1 circuit (1.544Mbps), or is that still not practical?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-19-2011, 12:35 PM:

Satellite delivery sounds great. But two questions I never see answered:

1. How much does the equipment cost for a cinema?

2. How much does the average download cost?

I have a feeling it'll be $1000 worth of equipment that will cost $10,000. (Kind of like the servers.)

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 08-19-2011, 01:40 PM:

As a followup to Mike, does DCI address satellite standards? Would the theatre be subject to forced upgrades? Can the studios set proprietary software and hardware standards?

One of the problems in the non-DCI alternative digital world is the lack of standards and proprietary systems. I can see theatres being forced to buy more and more stuff just to appease the studios.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-20-2011, 12:11 AM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
It takes a long time to download a 200GB movie file.

~15 to 20 min. on the GDC. Longer if you're playing back at the time. You can also live play on the GDC and Dolby if the DCP happens to show up at the last min. or if there is a RAID issue on the GDC.

@ Mike... Good satellite gear IS expensive! HIgh bandwidth time on a satellite is even more expensive. Thats why it takes ~8 hours to download a 2 hour show. Studios are sending it over limited bandwidth but usually the download starts many days in advance of when it's actually needed. If you have a TMS it will automatically be placed in the content file when the down load is complete.

Mark

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 08-20-2011, 07:53 AM:

It has become complicated to judge on DCP sizes and stream bitrate. Because features very often contain additional tracks, so, a DCP may contain twice as much data than actually being played. As a matter of fact, it seems that most features I came across so far not nearly maxed out the allowed bitrate. Net sizes of 100-200GBytes seem to be common. 3D and 4k do not add to the size due to DCI bitrate restrictions.

The satellite distribution schemes I know of so far bring no additional cost to the cinemas - equipment is rent-free, and distribution companies usually lay out cost so that satellite costs the same as hard drive shipment. So the benefit for the cinema is just in reduced shipping and handling logistics, not directly in cash.

But as others mention - timeslots on the dishes are limited, and we all know that digital doesn't mean the studios get their bit's and pieces together in time. So with upcoming releases, it get's harder to find a slot for your feature. And what happens to second run houses - who will spent the money to retransmit a package 4 weeks after it's initial release? For the large multiscreens houses, no big deal, they will have a large NAS or TMS storage and grab everything that's on air.

Some service companies also sell the option to receive live broadcasts using the same equipment/dish, so that's another benefit.

One german service company I spoke to says, they have constant monitoring on the receiving end and if there is a problem with reception, they detect it early enough to send out a hard drive in time. Because if you find out too late that your DCP is corrupt, there is not enough time for a retransmit. Or to be more precise, something like 'retransmission' will not happen anyway due to cost/time constraints.

@Martin: DCI at least was smart enough to not specify ANY distribution scheme, not even the hard drives currently in use. With the satellite it seems to be rather easy - if a studio or service company forces you to comply with a single distribution scheme - they have to fulfill. As bandwith currently is more limited on the satellites than on the roads, it would not be wise to try something like that. The whole TMS, NOC, etc. business for the large chains of course is ideally suited for fully automatic distribution as well, so sooner or later, either by satellite or wire, it will be more and more common.

- Carsten

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-20-2011, 11:49 AM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
It takes a long time to download a 200GB movie file.

quote:
~15 to 20 min. on the GDC. Longer if you're playing back at the time. You can also live play on the GDC and Dolby if the DCP happens to show up at the last min. or if there is a RAID issue on the GDC.

Mark, this thread is about discussing satellite downloads. A CRU bay isn't really a "download" anyway, it is a transfer or ingest. Regardless, GDC is nothing special. A CRU drive is the same in ANY server. There is no increase in speed with GDC. Because of their 3 drive RAID, if you are doing other things with the server instead of letting it sit idle, the Dolby, Qube and Doremi DCP2K4 are FASTER than the Doremi DCP2000 or GDC anyway.

Posted by Jake Spell (Member # 5294) on 08-20-2011, 06:35 PM:

I know our local Carmike has 3 satalite dishes on their roof after the switch to digital. The first and largest is a movable dish with a polarizing filter (or so I was told) on the receiver. The other two came several months later and appear to be microwave receivers. They are much smaller and have red lightning bolts on them. They are also pointed very close to the horizon. I believe these smaller dishes are used for live broadcasts like wrestling and opera, and the larger dish is used for DCP distribution