Digital Cinema

Movie Theater Supplies & Service. Digital Projection, Large Format Digital Theatre, & 35mm Film.

CLACO offers all aspects of Digital Cinema sales, installation, service, and repairs. Digital systems designed for the smallest POST PRODUCTION SCREENING ROOM,to SINGLE SCREEN THEATRES, MULTIPLEX'S, to LARGE FORMAT THEATRES looking to get rid of the high costs of their 8/70 or 15/70 equipment. We can help you design a high performance system to meet your needs be they 2D, 3D, Pre-Show or all three.

This page should help clarify what equipment will be required for your conversion to Digital Cinema. All of our recommendations come from extensive research and hands on experience of the different manufactures equipment available. Our recommendations are not just based on Cost Factors involved, but also Quality, Reliability, Parts availability, and the Customer Service offered by the manufacturer after the sale.

WHO ESTABLISHED THE EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS AND WHY:

The equipment specifications for Digital Cinema have been set forth by "Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers" (SMPTE) as well as "Digital Cinema Initiative" (DCI), which is comprised of the major studios. These requirements are in place to ensure consistent levels of picture quality, as well as to protect the content from being copied and distributed illegally. Compliance to the present DCI specifications regarding equipment utilized is required before any of the major studios will allow you to book content for presentation. Although the DCI Compliance specifications are still not quite nailed in place, most equipment manufacturers design and manufacture their equipment based on the requirements DCI has set so far. Most of this equipment, and all the equipment offered by CLACO, meets this requirement, or can be easily upgraded in the future to meet DCI compliance, should the present DCI specifications change.

WHAT IS 2K vs. 4K:

Sony Corporation and JVC are the only manufacturers offering 4K Projectors, the JVC being too small for actual theater usage. 4K stands for a picture quality of 4096 x 2160 pixels, or just over 8.8 million pixels in total.

All of the other manufactures, Christie Digital Systems, BARCO, and NEC are 2K resolution. Meaning that the DLP image area is 2048 x 1080pixels or just over 2.2 million pixels in total. All three 2K manufacturers utilize three T.I. (Texas Instruments) DLP "chips" to reproduce the picture on screen, while 4K systems are utilizing three LCOS "Chips". In both systems each chip represents a primary color... Green, Red, and Blue.

LENSES FOR DIGITAL CINEMA:

Before we dive into lenses, a little knowledge on how the scope and flat formats work for D-Cinema:

During this discussion keep in mind that the actual DLP chips are compromised of an area of 2048 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high, a little over 2.2 million pixels!

Flat, or 1:85 ratio, in D-Cinema is the higher resolution of the two formats and it covers an area of 1980 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high on the DLP Chips. Scope, or 2:35 ratio, on the other hand is the lower resolution format covering only 2048 pixels wide by 858 pixels high, so scope is in effect "letterboxed" on the DLP chip. This smaller letter boxed image must be magnified by 1.26X in order to fill a constant height scope screen. Some manufacturers use zoom lenses with long ranges in them, so one end of the zoom range can be set for flat and the other for scope, this sometimes works alright. For situations that a single zoom doesn't work out to cover both formats. Example being where you may land in the middle of a given range of two different zoom lenses. On these occasions it may be necessary to actually purchase two different zoom lenses at great expense!

All present lenses for Digital Cinema are currently manufactured by Konica-Minolta and are of the zoom type. Some lenses, for certain models of projectors, utilize zoom ranges that will cover both scope and flat formats only in specific ranges. Then there are a few models of lenses offered, for a few specific projectors, with overlapping zoom ranges. It seems that none of these ideas worked 100% of the time, so Christie had Konica Minolta developed a zoom converter lens or magnifier (also commonly called the WCL 'Wide Converter Lens') to take care of the task of magnifying that letterboxed scope image for constant height screens. This extremely high quality 1.26 magnifier lens (WCL) is an extremely sharp lens, corner to corner, with very high efficiency. The sole purpose of the WCL is to go in front of the existing zoom lens to magnify the scope image so it will fill your screen. It's our prefered way of handling a constant height screen situation, because it works in 95% of the situations, and also prevents you from having to purchase an extremely expensive second zoom lens.

WHAT IS A SERVER, AND WHICH ONE IS RIGHT FOR ME:

A Server is a storage device for the Digital Content. It contains the Server Storage Software as well as the Show Manager Software. It's where the files you receive on a hard drive are "ingested" and also where you build up your show by adding the previews, automation cues, etc. to the feature. Once you have ingested the content to the Server, you then create your show.

Also called an LMS, the Library Server is a specialized server that can do quite a few different tasks. Among them the LMS can store film, preview, header files, etc. and move these files either by scheduled means or manually to the individual auditorium Show Servers. An LMS is used when the new films start arriving in the middle of the week, and when shows are moved between auditoriums. These new films can be ingested into the LMS and then moved to an appropriate auditorium during off hours, utilizing a simple time schedule. When you come in the next morning all your shows will be in their proper auditoriums. This is very handy as some servers can not ingest content and play back at the same time.

WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS WHEN CHOOSING MY 3D, AND DO I HAVE TO INSTALL A SILVER SCREEN:

So far there are 4 different options when it comes to 3D Digital Cinema.

One way to present 3D would be a "Stacked" Two Projector System, requiring the use of 2 Digital Projectors, but utilizing one server. Since each HDSDI link can transport 10 bit data streams one projector is fed from the "A" HDSDI Data Output and the other projector is fed from "B" HDSDI Data output. This system does require the installation of a Silver Screen, and the system can utilize either linear or circularly polarized filters and glasses. Circular polarization normally provides the higher quality image, free of the artifacts found in the linear polarization system. In the Stacked system you would be able to use inexpensive (non-reusable) glasses. The Polarization takes place in front of the lens of each projector by using optical quality glass polarizing filters. Light loss is one of the biggest concerns with 3D and can be on the order of 50% loss due to the filters and glasses. With the Stacked system, your light loss would be less due to doubling the light out put when using two projectors. To use the stacked system, you would be able to buy the less expensive Doremi Server to run it. Also with this system, there are no Re-Occurring fees, or licenses, paid to anyone once you have purchased the system. So far almost all of the studios have approved the Stacked 3D System, but there is still one major studio (Disney) that has NOT yet approved it for 3D.

The Dolby Digital 3D Playback unit and the Dolby 3D Color filter wheel system. This system does run on only one Digital Projector and is reported to be compatable with all popular servers in use. Dolby 3D projects alternating color images for the left eye/right eye that are not identical with respect to their color frequencies. The viewer wears the special Dolby Glasses with filtering lenses that have been exactly trimmed to these color frequencies. This way the left eye sees only the left eye image and the right eye sees only the right eye image. Because it's based on color frequency, the Dolby System does not require a silver screen to function, just a normal white surface 1.8 gain screen.

The Dolby 3D system does require that you use their Dolby brand 3D Glasses. In order to keep re-using these glasses, you are required to supply an Industrial washing-sterilizing (Dishwasher type) machine that will keep the glasses up to Health Department standards. This machine can also be quite expensive and requires space to set up. Please note that you would need to have on hand at least double the amount of glasses per seats available in the auditorium. This allows you to be washing a complete set, and be showing the next movie with the freshly washed set. Dolby has also embedded an RFID tag into each pair of glasses so that the theatre can purchase an Electronic Detection system, similar to like a record store entrance, to help deter theft of the glasses. With this system, there are no Re-Occurring fees (Licenses) paid to anyone once you have purchased the system.

Another option is the Master Image 3D System that has recently been approved by all studios. It is a Single Projector 3D system that will work with ANY Model and Brand of DCI Compliant Digital Projector. With this system, you will be required to install a Silver Screen. It is a Circular Polarity System and you would be able to use inexpensive (non-reusable) glasses. Master Image can also supplies the 3D Glasses that will work on their system. You can purchase the system outright, or Master Image had a Extended Payment Program. The Extended Payment Program has you put forth an initial down payment, then over a 5 year period they collect fee from every ticket sold to the 3D presentations. At the end of the 5 years you own the equipment and the fees stop. The unit comes with a 1 full year warranty, but additional years can be purchased to extend the warranty and maintenance on the unit for an additional 4 years (required if on the Extended Payment Plan, and Highly recommended if buying the unit outright).

The last option for 3D is the Real D 3D system. This system requires a Silver Screen, but you can utilize the Cheaper Disposable (non-reusable) glasses. Real D will also supply the Circular Polarized Glasses that will work on thier system. The Real D system can run on one Projector and mounts in front of the Lens for the Polarization effect. Theaters interested in Real D have to contact Real D directly and negotiate their own contract.
Real D would normally charge you an upfront fee, then they also require a certain amount of Each Box Office Ticket Sale price per 3D Showing and possibly also a yearly fee. You must also sign an exclusivity agreement (contract) for a 5 or 10 year period with them to get their system during which no other brand of 3D system may be installed. Real D does maintain and upgrade their systems when necessary as part of the contract. The exact fees, agreements, or contracts must be worked out directly between the theatre and Real D, and my not reflect complelty the above descriptions.

The audio output of most servers is pure 24 bit uncompressed 5.1 channel digital sound offering the best quality sound presentation that our industry has ever heard. Almost all of the existing Sound Processors already in use are not capable of accepting this AES balanced digital signal. If your processor does not, then you will need to have a Digital to Analog audio converter such as the DMA8Plus by Dolby Laboratories. Or USL, Inc. offers the DAX-602 Basic Model or ECI-60 Multi Input Advanced Interface Model to convert the signal into a usable 5.1 channel analog format.

WHAT IS CONSIDERED ALTERNATIVE CONTENT, AND HOW DO I PLAY IT:

Alternative content is any content that is not a regular release feature. It consists of On-Screen advertising, Blue Ray DVD Players, Satellite feeds, HDTV, and Computer inputs such as business presentations etc. Most of this content is in a format well below the 2048 X 1080 output of the projector, so the addition of an image processing and reformatter unit will be needed to put the content into usable signal at the highest quality possible. There are a myrad of format converters available, from single definite purpose converters, to 'all in one' boxes that can deal with almost any type of signal you want to feed in. Your needs and budget will dictate which one will work best for your situation.

CLACO recommends the Christie Digital Systems line of projectors. Not because over 80 percent of the existing installations are using their projectors. Not because they have the best light output and contrast ratio over their competitors. However both of those aspects are good reasons in their own right. We recommend them because they offer the highest overall performance, highest reliability, and because they offer the best service before, during, and after the initial purchase of your equipment. They have proven themselves over the years to be the most reliable, best built, and most user friendly of all the projectors out there.

CLACO recommends two different systems, both the Dolby Laboratories Server, and the Doremi Server. Which Server to use depends on the customers requirements vs. the servers capabilities. Including factors such as what type of 3D system, if any, you will be utilizing.
The Dolby Server consists of two parts. The DSP100 Show Player, and the DSS100 Show Store.
The Doremi Server is a single unit system Model DCP 2000.

Dolby Laboratories offers the DSL100 Show Library that works with their DSP/DSS100 system.
Doremi offers the SSR212MC2 Intel Storage Server.
CLACO recommends using the system that matches your Server.

DIGITAL TO ANALOG CONVERTERS:

Dolby Laboratories offers the DMA8Plus Digital Media Adapter.
USL, Inc. offers the DAX-602 Basic Model or the ECI-60 Electronic Cinema Interface for much greater input selections.
CLACO recommends any of the above units, they are all excellent.

ALTERNATIVE CONTENT FORMATTER:

CLACO recommends the Christie CINE-IPM 2K Digital Cinema Image Processing Module for the overall multi-format input capabilities that it offers. Additional Option cards can be added for even more flexability. The CIN-IPM 2K reformats the input signal into a 2048 X 1080 resolution.

AUTOMATION CONTROLLERS:

Dolby Laboratories offers the NA10 Network Automation Interface.
Christie Digital Systems offers the the ACT Digital Cinema Automation Control.
CLACO recommends either unit.