The problem with digital cinema is that the movie distributors can save a hell of a lot of money by not having to produce so many reels of film, but it is at the expense of theater owners who are having to buy the projectors. The technology is not the problem. Those who have complained about terrible digital pictures haven’t seen some of the 2K demonstrations I have. As with film, the projectionist has to know what they’re doing – and of course the source material is important too. It has been estimated that the money distributors could save in seven years would be enough to completely re-eqiup every theater in the USA for D-Cinema. However, at the moment they’re dragging their feet (the fact that an exact technical standard hasn’t been agreed yet is also a problem).
Many countries are setting up D-Cinema test sites, but the majority are being funded indirectly by government rather than the distributors (eg, the Film Council’s £13 million investment in the UK). An additional problem now is that the industry seems to be switching from the idea of 2K projection to 4K projection. Believe me, 4K will be as good as any projected film you see, but the equipment will be even more expensive. Distributors will push the idea to theatres that with digital they can access additional revenue streams (eg, major live sporting events or private conference/projection hire – the source material of which is of course digital). However, if the distributors want the process speeded up, chances are they’ll have to reach into their own pockets and subsidise it themselves (unless they can use their influence to lobby government to pay for it on their behalf).
The problem with digital cinema is that the movie distributors can save a hell of a lot of money by not having to produce so many reels of film, but it is at the expense of theater owners who are having to buy the projectors. The technology is not the problem. Those who have complained about terrible digital pictures haven’t seen some of the 2K demonstrations I have. As with film, the projectionist has to know what they’re doing – and of course the source material is important too. It has been estimated that the money distributors could save in seven years would be enough to completely re-eqiup every theater in the USA for D-Cinema. However, at the moment they’re dragging their feet (the fact that an exact technical standard hasn’t been agreed yet is also a problem).
Many countries are setting up D-Cinema test sites, but the majority are being funded indirectly by government rather than the distributors (eg, the Film Council’s £13 million investment in the UK). An additional problem now is that the industry seems to be switching from the idea of 2K projection to 4K projection. Believe me, 4K will be as good as any projected film you see, but the equipment will be even more expensive. Distributors will push the idea to theatres that with digital they can access additional revenue streams (eg, major live sporting events or private conference/projection hire – the source material of which is of course digital). However, if the distributors want the process speeded up, chances are they’ll have to reach into their own pockets and subsidise it themselves (unless they can use their influence to lobby government to pay for it on their behalf).