Digital Cinema Systems

Digital cinema refers to adoption of digital technologies in the film industry rather than the old traditional use of mechanical reels of film, like 35mm film. Digital cinema is the wave of the future and one which offer a lot of promise for filmmakers and fans of films. But what exactly is digital cinema? In this article we will explain what digital cinema is all about.

Digital distribution involves the process of capturing images from a digital motion picture source and then transferring them to a display device such as a plasma TV or LCD screen. It also involves the transfer of these images to a movie theatre auditorium for viewing. In digital cinema, the process is similar to that of conventional film distribution - the movie gets produced, the audience (people sitting in the movie theatre) sees it and only then the film is played out. The difference lies in the way the film is distributed to the audience. Digital distribution usually happens in the form of DVD or other digital media.

An example of digital cinema system would be the home theater system. Home theaters are now equipped with hi-fi plasma TVs, DVR (digital video recorder) and state-of-the-art home electronics such as digital projector and hard drives. These electronic devices are all part of the digital cinema system which ensures that the audience can enjoy the movies to their fullest. This is done by the digital cinema system using the digital distribution network (DDS).

Another example of digital cinema initiatives are the online distribution of digital content such as films and television shows. Digital distribution of digital media allows users to download digital content through the Internet and watch them on personal computers, game consoles, DVD players and even television sets. One advantage of digital content is that it can easily be changed as such that old versions of a film can be replaced by the latest episode without losing the entire content. Another digital initiative is the use of digital signage, which is a computer generated screen. The content displayed in digital signage can either be static (as in the case of advertisements) or dynamic (for a live program) allowing the user to interact with the content. In this case, it has been seen that the cost of running the digital signage is reduced as compared to the costs involved in the display of static content.

Digital projector and LCD projector are the two components used for digital cinema systems. A digital projector converts the analog signals into digital format using transistors and amplifiers. A computer then uses the chip installed in the projector to process the signals, digitize them and then send them to the theatre receiver.

Most of the digital cinema projects are in high dynamic range (highlighted objects appear bright) which is a special feature of LCD TVs. This feature enables the digital cinema projection to produce bright images even when lit from a different direction. Digital cinema projectors also allow the adjustment of contrast, brightness and sharpness at the command of the user. For the projection to come into effect one has to operate the theater receiver at a specific mode such as normal, movie, standard or 3D. Advanced digital cinema projectors have the capability to output high digital resolution scan lines.