DCI Breakdown

Intermittent Issues:
Digital Projection (Finally) Gets A Standard
go to original article part 1 go to original article part 2 ... or email me for article text

"Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI -- http://www.dcimovies.com/), an organization that was founded in 2002 by the major Hollywood studios, released their standards document for digital cinema in late July 2005. It outlines the essential elements of a digital projection package, from post-production at the studio to controling the lights and curtains in the theater. The document can be found at: http://www.dcimovies.com/DCI_Digital_Cinema_System_Spec_v1.pdf. This article will attempt to summarize key items from the DCI document, and try to put them into the larger context of what it means for the moviegoing public."

This article delivers as promised. I wouldn't do it justice to try to summarize it here, but if you're interested in how the DCI standard will impact the exhibition industry and don't want to read through the entire spec, this piece does the trick.

I did come up with one question while reading the article which I sent off to it's author. I'll let you know how he responds to:

"One thing that wasn't mentioned in the article was if there were any considerations in the spec for producers that don't work in the studio system -- i.e. independent film makers. How much access will the need to specialized equipment and postproduction facilities in order to participate in this digital standard? I'm not a filmmaker myself, but I think having content producers that can compete with the big studios will be better for the moviewatching economy as a whole."