ShoWest Report
Steve Sechrist

4.06.2005

In early March Insight Media Analyst, Steve Sechrist attended the ShoWest cinema trade show in Las Vegas. While the focus of this conference in the past has been on projection systems and upcoming films, this years' event marks a shift in emphasis. While plenty of new technology was in evidence, there is a new emphasis on advertising. It has now become an integral part of the digital cinema transition and its role will only increase in the future. Here's Steve's report:

Big display guns showed up at this year's ShoWest cinema trade show and conference in Las Vegas as the move from analog (i.e. film) into digital distribution and display marches onward. The digital "foot in the door," so to speak, began with pre-show advertising for the cinema industry, where high-end advertisers are willing to pay to get a high-value ad in the face of a well-defined, movie-going target demographic. You can't do that using a slide show projector - enter digital projectors into the movie house projection booth.

The Holy Grail for the film industry, of course, is transforming film distribution from costly film duplication and shipping heavy canisters via Fed-Ex, to those nifty ones and zeroes that are so easily ported via satellite and stored on massive hard drives. Getting projector display resolutions to match "film-quality" images has been one gating issue in the transition to digital cinema, perhaps until the 2K, and now 4K, projectors have come online. Enter Sony…

The new Sony projectors can display images at more than four times the resolution of current high-definition displays. The film images shown were some of the best these eyes have ever seen. In one clip, a re-mastered scene from the famous "Sound of Music" shot on the Austrian hillside, the fineness of detail was impeccable and distinct enough to reveal the coarse wool vest and individual threads sewn in button holes worn by a radiant Julie Andrews. The images were beyond stunning. Here's the specs on the re-mastered source material used by Sony:

Title: Sound of Music
Source: 65/5p Interpositive
Scan: 4096 x 2160 10 bit Cineon
Color Space: RGB 4:4:4 10 bit
GAMMA: DCDM 2.6

Think of every favorite movie you've ever seen and image it re-mastered for this display. That's a compelling enough business model to interest top entrepreneur de jour, Mark Cuban.

Coincidentally, the Sony press announcement at ShoWest included a video conference call with Cuban, who is co-owner of Landmark Theaters. The two companies announced that Landmark will begin its digital cinema rollout this summer with six SXRD projectors, when they become available in July, and plans to fully enable all of its 59 theaters (covering 22 markets) for digital projection, Cuban said.
The company claims it's the nation's largest theater chain devoted exclusively to art and independent film. The rollout of digital cinema by Landmark Theaters is part of the company's strategy to produce and distribute high-definition movies through HDNet Films, another of Cuban's holdings.

Christie Digital (Cypress, CA) (www.christiedigital.com) introduced at ShoWest the new Digital Cinema Projector, CP2000X. This is a 2K native pixel resolution (2048 x 1080) projector from three DMD chips. The solution also includes the Christie Cine-IPM 2K Image Processor.

The projector features 21K ANSI lumens at 2000:1 contrast and includes color processing at 15 bits per color. The company is calling it

a new total digital content display solution in a two-piece design. This includes the Cine-IPM 2K, an image processor that converts analog or digital signals for use with Christie's 2K Digital Cinema projectors. With this unit, the company is targeting cinema/exhibition, post-production, digital mastering, multimedia theatrical productions and digital intermediate work. Christie claims the projector's unique, separate projection head and lamp ballast design allow the 2000X to fit where space is a challenge. Its universal ballast gives maximum flexibility from low to high power and is easily configurable for use in any country. The projectors' graphic inputs include 2 SMPTE 292M; dual or single, 2 DVI interface and supports eight zoom lenses and an optional 1.26:1 anamorphic lens for scope format.

The company also used ShoWest to announce that its CP2000 series projector was chosen by the Arts Alliance Digital Cinema to be an integral part of the winning bid to realize the world's largest digital screen network for the UK Film Council. (For details on the UK Film Council, see related story in Projection Monthly, November 2004, p. 46). The digital screen network will provide up to 250 screens throughout the UK, and the solution will include Christie's CP2000 Digital Cinema projector. The Christie projector was named the prime digital projector for the project.

Christie also announced at ShoWest that it has collaborated with the InfoComm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, Singapore InfoComm Technology Federation Digital Media Chapter (SiTF DMC), US-based Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California (ETC-USC), and other leading industry players to enable cross-continent digital content delivery.

Known as the Cross-Continent Digital Content Transmission (CCTx), the digital distribution model was recently pilot tested and secured a seamless end-to-end delivery from the US to Asia, with successful playback from its official research site - Christie's Singapore-based digital screening facility. The recent CCTx pilot transmitted three digital movie trailers - "Elektra," "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie" and "Star Wars Episode III" - from US-based Digital Cinema Laboratory in Culver City, Los Angeles to Singapore-based 1-Net Data Center. This 3.3GB digital content file was then delivered via a managed ATM fiber structure to Christie's Singapore site and played back from a XDC Cinestore Solo Server with Omega Decoder through a Christie CP2000 Digital Cinema projector.

Managed out of Singapore, multiple industry players from processing to exhibition took part in this demonstration. Thomson's Technicolor Digital Cinema assumed a consultation role; GlobeCast, StarHub and 1-Net offered international and local circuits with data storage; and Christie, Dell, Texas Instruments and XDC were the main technology providers to enable playback.

Barco (Kortrijk, Belgium) (www.barco.com) announced a range of four E-Cinema projectors at ShoWest 2005 in Las Vegas. Two are from the RML mercury lamp-based Performer series (H5 and R6+) and two from the Xenon lamp-based SLM series (R9+ and R12+). The projectors have been repositioned for e-cinema from the rental and staging market, and are meant to serve the A-cinema (A for "advertising" and "alternative content") with primary functions in digital pre-show display, advertising and special event viewing - not really targeting the high content digital cinema viewing of first-run features with these boxes.

NEC claims the iS25 is the lightest in its class at 90 Kg (198 pounds) and features a contrast ratio of 2000:1. The projector also boasts a motorized focus and zoom, with memory that enables a perfect image size in theaters utilizing top-movable masking screen systems. NEC also added other important features like in-field bulb replacement consisting of a user re-loadable bulb cartridge, an optional lamp auto alignment tool, motorized turret, and a built-in multimedia switcher (MMS) interface with image-on-touch panel display for easy operation.

The projector is just one component in the NEC cinema solution, which boasts complete system integration for multiplexes. The company established a media solutions division that will install and maintain all projection, storage and display systems, and developed a digital cinema process that includes image compression, encryption, packaging, transport, theater system storage, play-out, decryption via security keys, and interface with theater operations. The company calls this an all-encompassing, practical digital cinema solution.

Panasonic used the event to show off its PT-DW7000U 3chip DLP projector first announced in June of 2004. The company was positioning the device as an affordable WXGA model for pre-show and alternative viewing events. Ease of instillation (sub-50 pounds and uses a 110 V power supply) and inexpensive to own ($25K MSRP) and run were the key points Panasonic was driving home to independent theater owners. Beyond projector manufacturers at ShoWest, a new company, BigScreen Digital (Thornton, CO) (www.bigscreendigital.com), introduced a new business plan enticing theater owners to jump into digital cinema on their dime. That's right, BigScreen announced to theater owners that it will "grow your business at no cost" by providing exhibitors with pre-show digital content using Barco HD projectors and HD-resolution content along with 5.1 digital audio… with nothing to buy.

The company is paying for the equipment via ad dollars and also covering incidentals like service fees to bring uniquely branded pre-show entertainment into the theater and lobby.

What's the catch? Well, the company requires a minimum number of screenings per month to qualify for the program. It needs this to guarantee a sufficient number of eyeballs will be seeing their ads to satisfy BigScreen's advertisers who are footing the bill. The company promises no interruptions of daily operations while the digital cinema equipment is being installed and 800 phone support to a 24-7 NOC. It all seems too good to be true, but the service was announced at ShoWest and presented to theater owners and the press on the first day.
BigScreen Digital generates revenue by deploying the equipment necessary to create a Digital Theatre Network (DTN) and, subsequently, wants to create the largest digital video and communications network among domestic exhibitors. BigScreen Digital intends to use the DTN to generate revenue from onscreen communications services, such as conferencing, product introductions and distance learning.

Additionally, the company also hopes to develop the largest independent film distribution network in the world. The company works with content partners, providing entertainment to be sponsored by advertisers including: national advertisements, documentary short subjects, entertainment short subjects, brand building segments for each theater chain, and special guest hosts. According to the company, BigScreen is working to bring digital content to 6000-10,000 screens in over 600 theaters in top US markets, offering advertisers a new medium to build brands and sell products and services to targeted audiences across the US. It seems to be a compelling business model that can help bridge the transition to digital cinema - if advertisers and cinema owners sign on. We'll be watching this one closely.

The most unique technology seen at ShoWest was a new interactive digital display from a company called Reactrix (San Carlos, CA) (www.reactrix.com), shown in the Coke booth. This consisted of a Christie projector mounted about 40 feet above the booth, displaying a layered image on the show floor below, tied into an interactive infrared sensor.

	Attendees could interact with the display by waving a hand over the image, or simply walking through the display space being lit from over head. One swipe of a hand across the image would reveal a second (buried) image. For example, a picture of a large gift-wrapped birthday present could be displayed, and with the swipe of the hand, reveal a new BMW M5 Sports Sedan. The company dubs the technology "Reactrix Interactive Media" and says it can become an integral part of brand marketing and product promotion campaign, creating a fun and compelling in-store (or in-theater) experience. At ShoWest, several school-age kids were "playing" with the display that continually cycled between images of the new lime-flavored Coke buried underneath a wallpaper of cut limes.
The company uses medium and large LCD projectors from the Christie product line, and has operated with projectors ranging in lumens from 4100 (the LX 41) to 10,000 (the LX-100), based on the different ambient light levels at the installation site. The company said the standard floor display is 6-8 feet from an XGA resolution screen. The Reactrix box contains both a camera and a computer. The camera is near-infrared and captures data at 30 frames per second.
	The camera is accompanied by near-infrared LED clusters, which invisibly illuminate the screen, even in dark rooms. The computer is equivalent to a mid-range desktop computer that a consumer might buy. The system's weight and size will vary significantly, based on what projector is used. Reactrix said the solution provides quantitative measures of consumer interaction for clients and advertisers. By focusing on delivering a great on-location experience, consumers will have a memorable interaction with the brand and the venue, while advertisers and retailers can measure the results. Consumers have already shown that they will tell friends and family and come back to a venue again and again to enjoy the unique and dynamic experience.

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