Economic and other considerations for Digital Cinema

Abstract

The Motion picture industry began transitioning from celluloid-based distribution and projection to digital distribution and projection several years ago. The initial deployments have been considered experiments for movie distributors, theater owners and theater patrons. Digital Cinema offers an enhanced viewing experience for audiences, content flexibility for theater owners, and distribution cost savings for distributors. Digital Cinema also presents an opportunity to provide increased flexibility and increased security against movie piracy. Content distribution via electronic means to theaters is unlike any of the traditional applications for video compression. The transition from physical media to electronic media represents a paradigm shift in video compression techniques and applications that is being driven by economic reasons.