Digital cinema refers to the use of
digital
technology to capture,
distribute, or
project
motion pictures. A movie can be distributed via hard drives, the
Internet, dedicated satellite links or optical disks such as DVDs
and Blu-ray Discs. Digital movies are projected using a digital
projector instead of a conventional
film projector. Digital cinema is distinct from
high-definition television and is not dependent on using television
or
high-definition video standards, aspect ratios, or frame rates. In
digital cinema, resolutions are represented by the horizontal pixel
count, usually 2K (2048×1080 or 2.2
megapixels) or
4K (4096×2160 or 8.8 megapixels).
History
Digital media playback of hi-resolution 2K files has at least a 20
year history with early
RAIDs
feeding custom frame buffer systems with large memories. Content was
usually restricted to several minutes of material.
Transfer of content between remote locations was slow and had limited
capacity. It wasn't until the late 1990s that feature length projects
could be sent over the 'wire' (Internet or dedicated fiber links).
There were many prototype systems developed that claim a first
in some form of digital presentation. However, few of these had a
significant impact on the advance of the industry. Key highlights in the
development of digital cinema would likely include: demonstrations by
TI of their
DMD technology, real-time playback of compressed hi-resolution files
by various vendors, and early HD presentations from
D5 tape
to digital projectors.
Standards
development
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers began work on
standards for digital cinema in 2000. It was clear by that point in time
that HDTV did not provide a sufficient technological basis for the
foundation of digital cinema playback. (In Europe and Japan however,
there is still a significant presence of HDTV for theatrical
presentations. Agreements within the ISO standards body have led to
these systems being referred to as Electronic Cinema Systems
(E-Cinema).)
Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) was formed in March 2002 as a joint
project of many motion picture studios (Disney,
Fox,
MGM,
Paramount,
Sony Pictures Entertainment,
Universal, and
Warner Bros. Studios) to develop a system specification for digital
cinema. In April 2004, in cooperation with the
American Society of Cinematographers, DCI created standard
evaluation material (the ASC/DCI StEM material) for testing of 2K and 4K
playback and compression technologies. DCI published their specification
in 2005.
Claims to significant milestones
The development of Digital Cinema was a broad-based industry project
involving many companies and development teams. Many instances of video
or digital playback occurred during the early 2000s and claims to
significance for the development of the industry vary.
Technology demonstrations and system prototyping
- On March 10, 1999, the first public demonstration of digital
cinema projection at ShoWest.
[1]
- On June 18, 1999, release of
Star Wars Episode 1 for digital cinema projection in
United States with Texas Instruments DLP Cinema technology.[2]
- On February 2, 2000, Philippe Binant, technical manager of
Digital Cinema Project at
Gaumont in
France,
realized the first digital cinema projection in
Europe[3]
with the Texas Instruments mark V prototype projector.[4]
In 2000,
Walt Disney,
Texas Instruments and
Technicolor with the cooperation of several U.S. and international
exhibitors, began to deploy prototype Digital Cinema systems in
commercial theatres. The systems were assembled and installed by
Technicolor using the TI mark V prototype projector, a special
Christie lamphouse, and the QuBit server (image compression :
wavelet)
with custom designed automation interfaces.[citation
needed]
Technicolor manufactured the DVDs for uploading on these test systems
and was responsible for sending technicians out to the locations for
every new feature film that was played. The technicians would typically
spend ten or so hours to load the files from the DVD to the QuBit, set
up the server to play the files, and then set up the projector. A full
rehearsal screening of the feature was mandatory as was the requirement
to have back up DVDs and backup QuBits available should something fail.
The systems were eventually replaced or upgraded after TI made
improvements to the projectors and Technicolor developed a purpose-built
digital cinema server in a venture with
Qualcomm. The new systems were called AMS for Auditorium
Management Systems and were the first digital cinema servers
designed to be user friendly and operate reliably in a computer-hostile
environment such as a projection booth, especially some union booths.[citation
needed] Most importantly, they provided a complete
solution for content security.[citation
needed]
The AMS was originally designed to leverage Technicolor's DVD
manufacturing and distribution arm but when the first feature came to
post production too late for reproduction Technicolor leveraged the AMS
removable hard disk drives to the transport the files. This eliminated
the time required to upload the
DVD ROMs to the local hard drives and provided the ability to switch
programs quickly. For security, the AMS used a media block type system
that placed a sealed electronics package within the projector console.
The server output only
Triple DES encrypted data and the media block did the decryption at
the point just before playout.[5]
On 2002, the first secure encrypted digital cinema feature was
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones by Cinecomm Digital
Cinema (then led by Russell J. Wintner).[6][7]
This first digital delivery and exhibition of a full-length feature film
to paying audiences is widely considered to be the defining moment for
digital cinema's commercial viability. The film was transmitted and then
shown digitally in theaters both in
Paramus, New Jersey and
Los Angeles, California. The system functioned well but was
eventually replaced because of the need to create a standard data
package for D-cinema distribution.
The First Digital Cinema Network enabling digital delivery directly
to the theaters was built by Digital Cinema Solutions in 2002. The
company was founded by James Steele. The network was built as a vehicle
to play the BMW Film Series
The
Hire in movie theaters
[1]. In a partnership with Microsoft
[2], Steele connected 28 of the top Independent Art Houses in the
United States including many Landmark Theaters, The Angelikas in New
York and Houston, The Charles in Baltimore and many others. The first
film to be distributed through the network was Artisan Entertainment's
STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN.[8]
MOTOWN had its digital debut at the historical Apollo Theater in New
York City
[3]. Following MOTOWN, Digital Cinema Solutions electronically
distributed over a virtual private network close to 100 films until it
was sold in 2005.
The first DCI-compliant
DCP to be delivered was created by
FotoKem
on a
Doremi Laboratories, Inc. DMS2000 mastering system for the
Universal Pictures film
Serenity. After previews at the
FotoKem
screen room on the
Doremi Laboratories, Inc. DCP2000 cinema server, the movie was shown
to an audience at a remote theater, although it was not distributed this
way to the public.
Inside Man was their first DCP cinema release, and was
transmitted to 20 theaters in the
United States along with two
trailers.
Stereo 3-D images
In late 2005, interest in digital 3-D
stereoscopic projection has led to a new willingness on the part of
theaters to co-operate in installing a limited number of 2K stereo
installations to show Disney's
Chicken Little in
3-D film. Six more digital 3-D movies were released in 2006 and 2007
(including Beowulf,
Monster House and
Meet the Robinsons). The technology combines a single digital
projector fitted with either a polarizing filter (for use with
polarized glasses and silver screens), a filter wheel or an emitter
for LCD glasses. RealD uses a "ZScreen" for polarisation and MasterImage
uses a filter wheel that changes the polarity of projector's light
output several times per second to alternate quickly the
left-and-right-eye views. Another system that uses a filter wheel is
Dolby
3D. The wheel changes the wavelengths of the colours being
displayed, and tinted glasses filter these changes so the incorrect
wavelength cannot enter the wrong eye. XpanD makes use of an external
emitter that sends a signal to the 3D glasses to block out the wrong
image from the wrong eye.
Technology
To match or improve the theater experience of movie audiences, a
digital cinema system must provide high-quality image and sound.
Additionally, theater managers require
video server controls for managing and displaying content in
multiple theaters, and
movie studios want their content
encrypted with secure delivery, playback, and reporting of
playout
times to the
film distribution company.
Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), a joint venture of the six
major studios, published a system specification for digital cinema.[9]
Briefly, the specification calls for picture encoding using the ISO/IEC
15444-1 "JPEG2000"
(.jp2) standard and use of the
CIE XYZ color space at 12 bits per component encoded with a 2.6
gamma applied at projection, and audio using the
"Broadcast Wave" (.wav) format at 24 bits and 48 kHz or 96 kHz
sampling, controlled by an
XML-format
Composition Playlist, into an
MXF-compliant file at a maximum data rate of 250 Mbit/s. Details
about encryption,
key management, and logging are all discussed in the specification
as are the minimum specifications for the projectors employed including
the
color gamut, the
contrast ratio and the brightness of the image. While much of the
specification codifies work that had already been ongoing in the Society
of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE),
the specification is important in establishing a content owner framework
for the distribution and security of first-release motion picture
content.
Digital cinema conforming to the DCI Standard is referred to within
the film industry as D-Cinema while all other forms of digital cinema
are referred to as E-Cinema.[citation
needed] Thus, while D-Cinema is a defined standard,
though one that is still partly being framed by SMPTE as of 2007,
E-Cinema may be anything, ranging from a
DVD player
connected to a consumer projector to something that approaches the
quality of D-Cinema without conforming to some of the standards. Even
D-Cinema itself had evolved over time before the DCI standards were
framed. However, the current DCI standards were made with the intention
of standing the test of time, much like
35
mm film which has evolved but still retained compatibility over a
substantial part of a century.
In addition to DCI's work, the National Association of Theatre Owners
(NATO) released its Digital Cinema System Requirements.[10]
The document addresses the requirements of digital cinema systems from
the operational needs of the exhibitor, focusing on areas not addressed
by DCI, including access for the visually impaired and hearing impaired,
workflow inside the cinema, and equipment interoperability. In
particular, NATO's document details requirements for the Theatre
Management System (TMS), the governing software for digital cinema
systems within a theatre complex, and provides direction for the
development of security key management systems. As with DCI's document,
NATO's document is also important to the SMPTE standards effort.
Digital capture
As of 2009[dated
info], the most common acquisition medium for
digitally projected features is
35
mm film scanned and processed at 2K (2048×1080) or
4K (4096×2160) via
digital intermediate.[citation
needed] Most digital features to date have been
shot at 1920×1080 HD resolution using cameras such as the Sony
CineAlta,
Panavision
Genesis, or Thomson Viper. Cameras such as the
Arri Alexa can capture 2K resolution images, the
Red Digital Cinema Camera Company's
Red One and
Red Scarlet can record 4K, the
Red Epic 5K, and Sony's F65 CineAlta camera can record 4K
down-sampled from 8K. The marketshare of 2K projection in digital
cinemas is over 98%. Development of the 4K Dalsa Origin was terminated
by Dalsa Corporation in 2008.
Digital
post-production
In the post-production process, camera-original film negatives (the
film that physically ran through the camera) are scanned into a digital
format on a scanner or high-resolution
telecine. Data from digital motion picture cameras may be converted
to a convenient image file format for work in a facility. All of the
files are 'conformed' to match an edit list created by the film editor,
and are then color corrected under the direction of the film's staff.
The end result of post-production is a
digital intermediate used to record the motion picture to film
and/or for the digital cinema release.
Digital mastering
When all of the sound, picture, and data elements of a production
have been completed, they may be assembled into a Digital Cinema
Distribution Master (DCDM) which contains all of the digital
material needed for projection. The images and sound are then
compressed, encrypted, and packaged to form the
Digital Cinema Package (DCP).
Digital
cinema projection
Early
DLP Cinema projectors, which were deployed primarily in the
U.S., used limited 1280×1024 resolution or the equivalent of 1.3 MP
(megapixels). Digital Projection Incorporated (DPI) designed and sold a
few DLP Cinema units when TI's 2K technology first debuted but then
abandoned the D-Cinema market while continuing to offer DLP-based
projectors for non-cinema purposes. Although based on the same 2K TI
"light engine" as those of the major players they are so rare as to be
virtually unknown in the industry. They are still widely used for
pre-show advertising but not usually for feature presentations.
There are currently two types of projectors for digital cinema that
meet DCI specifications: TI's Digital Light Processing (DLP) and Sony
SXRD.
Digital
Cinema Initiatives
The
Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) specification for digital
projectors calls for two levels of playback to be supported: 2K
(2048×1080) or 2.2 MP at 24 or 48
frames per second, and 4K (4096×2160) or 8.85 MP at 24 frames per
second.
DLP Cinema
Projectors
Three manufacturers have licensed the DLP Cinema technology developed
by
Texas Instruments (TI):
Christie Digital Systems,
Barco,
and NEC.
- Christie, long established in traditional film projector
technology, is the maker of the CP2000 and CP4000 (4K) line of
projectors—the most widely deployed platform globally (approximately
20,000 units in total).
- Barco designs and develops visualization products for a variety
of selected professional markets including digital cinema. Their
DP2K-32B digital cinema projector holds a Guinness World Record for
the brightest projector with a brightness of 43,000 center lumens.
Next to the DP series of 2K digital cinema projectors, Barco has a
range of 4K digital cinema projectors, including the DP4K-32B (for
screens up to 32 meters), the first DCI-compliant enhanced 4K DLP
cinema® projector on the market.
- NEC currently manufactures the Series II NC1200C, NC2000C and
NC3200S 2K projectors for large, medium and small screen
respectively, and the NC3240 in 2011 to represent the first
generation 4k NEC DCI projector. NEC's Starus Digital Cinema Server
system, as well as other equipment, is used to connect PCs,
analog/digital tape decks and satellite receivers, DVD, and off-air
broadcast, and so on, for pre-show and special presentations.
Other manufacturers have been developing digital projector
technology, but these have not yet been deployed into cinemas and are
not commercially available in versions that conform to the DCI
specification.
While NEC is a relative newcomer to Digital Cinema, Christie is the
main player in the U.S. and Barco takes the lead in Europe and Asia.[citation
needed] As of January 2009, there are more than
6,000 DLP-based Digital Cinema systems installed worldwide, of which 80%
are located in North America.[11]
Sony (SXRD)
The other technology is made by
Sony and is
labeled "SXRD".
The projectors, SRXR220 and SRXR320, offer 4096×2160 (4K) resolution and
produce four times the number of pixels of 2K projection. Included in
the system is a playback server (LMT-300) along with the ability to show
alternative content through the system's 2 input options. Sources could
be anything from a Blu-ray Disc player to satellite feeds, yet Sony's
systems are priced competitively with the lower resolution 2048×1080
(2K) or 2.2 MP (megapixels) DLP projectors.
Digital cinema and telecommunication
Telecommunication
Realization and demonstration, on October 29th, 2001, of the first
digital cinema transmission by
satellite in
Europe[12]
of a
feature film[13]
by Bernard Pauchon, Alain Lorentz, Raymond Melwig, Philippe Binant.[14]
Live
broadcasting to cinemas
Digital cinemas can deliver live
broadcasts from performances or events. For example, there are
regular
live broadcasts to movie theaters of Metropolitan Opera performances.
In February 2009, Cinedigm screened the first live multi-region 3D
broadcast through a partnership with
TNT. Previous attempts have been isolated to a small number of
screens.
In December 2011, the series finale of the BBC dance competition
series
Strictly Come Dancing was broadcast live in 3D in selected cinemas.[15]
Economics
Impact on
distribution
Digital distribution of movies has the potential to save money for
film distributors. To print an 80-minute feature film can cost US$1,500
to $2,500,[16]
so making thousands of prints for a wide-release movie can cost millions
of dollars. In contrast, at the maximum 250 megabit-per-second data rate
(as defined by
DCI for digital cinema), a feature-length movie can be stored on an
off the shelf 300 GB
hard drive for $150 and a broad release of 4000 'digital prints' might
cost $600,000. In addition hard drives can be returned to distributors
for reuse. With several hundred movies distributed every year, the
industry saves billions of dollars.
The film industry has been
dominated by a small number of distributors for many years due to a
high barrier of entry for new competition. This is caused by high
costs and a lack of access to well-established production and
distribution networks. By replacing film prints with hard disks the
barrier to entry is significantly reduced, opening the market to
competition.
The digital cinema rollout was stalled (as can be seen by major
equipment purchases and future commitments to new equipment during this
time); exhibitors acknowledged that they would not purchase equipment to
replace projectors since the savings would be seen not by themselves but
by distribution companies. The Virtual Print Fee model was created to
address this (some claim by Frank Stirling at Boeing - Boeing was
involved in digital cinema deployment at that time) and this was
successfully done, accelerating the rollout of this technology and with
it the reduction of the barrier to entry. Given that digital projectors
make low volume distribution at last an economic possibility it is the
studios' support of the VPF model that has accelerated the introduction
of competition, both in terms of alternative distributors and also
alternative content including cinematic series.
Alternative
content
An added incentive for exhibitors is the ability to show alternative
content such as live special events, sports, pre-show advertising and
other digital or video content. Some low-budget films that would
normally not have a theatrical release because of distribution costs
might be shown in smaller engagements than the typical large release
studio pictures. The cost of duplicating a digital "print" is very low,
so adding more theaters to a release has a small additional cost to the
distributor. Movies that start with a small release could scale to a
much larger release quickly if they were sufficiently successful,
opening up the possibility that smaller movies could achieve
box
office success previously out of their reach. Alternate content is
also finding a market in 3rd world countries in which the higher costs
and quality of DCI equipment are not yet affordable.
Greater protection for content
A last incentive for copyright holders for digital distribution is
the possibility of greater protection against
piracy. With traditional film prints, distributors typically stagger
the film's release in various markets, shipping the film prints around
the globe. In the subsequent markets, pirated copies of a film (that is,
a
cam) may be available before the movie is released in that market. A
simultaneous worldwide release would mitigate this problem to some
degree. Simultaneous worldwide releases on film have been used on
The Da Vinci Code,
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and
Mission: Impossible III amongst others. With digital
distribution, a simultaneous worldwide release would not cost
significantly more than a staggered release.
Costs
On the downside, the initial costs for converting theaters to digital
are high: $100,000 per screen on average. Theaters have been reluctant
to switch without a cost-sharing arrangement with
film distributors. A solution is a temporary
Virtual Print Fee system, where the distributor (who saves the
money of producing and transporting a physical copy) pays a fee per copy
to help finance the digital systems of the theaters.[17]
While a theater can purchase a film projector for US$10,000 and
expect an average life of 30–40 years, a digital cinema playback system
including server/media block/and projector can cost 7-10 times as much,
and is at higher risk for component failures and technological
obsolescence. Experience with computer-based media systems show that
average economic lifetimes are only on the order of 5 years with some
units lasting until about 10 years before they are replaced.[citation
needed]
Archiving digital material is also turning out to be both tricky and
costly. In a 2007 study, the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences found the cost of
storing 4K digital masters to be "enormously higher - 1100% higher -
than the cost of storing film masters." Furthermore, digital archiving
faces challenges due to the insufficient temporal qualities of today's
digital storage: no current media, be it
optical discs, magnetic
hard drives or digital tape, can reliably store a film for a hundred
years, something that properly stored and handled film can do.[18]
List
of digital cinema companies
- Arri
— digital cinema camera manufacturer
- Barco
— digital projector manufacturer
-
Blackmagic Design — digital cinema camera manufacturer, digital
production and television technology
-
Christie — digital projector manufacturer
-
Deluxe Digital Studios — distributor and theater system
integrator
-
Dolby Laboratories — theater system integrator
-
Doremi Laboratories, Inc. — Digital server and theater
management system manufacturer
- GDC Tech — Digital server and theater management system
manufacturer
- IMAX
— digital projector manufacturer
-
Kodak — theater system integrator
- NEC —
digital projector manufacturer
-
MasterImage 3D — 3D cinema and mobile display technology
-
Panavision 3D — 3D cinema display technology
-
Qube Cinema — Digital Cinema mastering, distribution and server
products manufacturer
-
RealD Cinema — 3D cinema display technology
-
RED Digital Cinema Camera Company — digital cinema camera
manufacturer
-
Silicon Imaging — digital cinema camera manufacturer
- Sony
— manufacturer of 4K digital projector, cinema camera manufacturer
and digital cinema servers and theater system integrator
-
Technicolor — distributor and theater system integrator
-
Texas Instruments — developers of
DLP Cinema projector technology
- XDC —
theater system integrator & digital server manufacturer
Development and deployment milestones
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Late-90s,
early 2000s
On June 18, 1999 DLP CINEMA projector technology was publicly
demonstrated for the first time on two screens in
North America (Los Angeles and New York) for the release of
Lucasfilm's Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. On January
19, 2000 the
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, in
North America, initiated the first standards group dedicated towards
developing Digital Cinema.[19]
On February 2, 2000 : Philippe Binant (Gaumont)
realized the first digital cinema projection in
Europe
(Paris) with DLP CINEMA technology for the release of Toy Story II.[11]
In December 2000, there are 15 digital cinema screens in North
America, 11 in Western Europe, 4 in Asia, and 1 in South America.[20]
2002–2004
Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) was formed in March 2002 as a joint
project of many motion picture studios (Disney,
Fox,
MGM,
Paramount,
Sony Pictures Entertainment,
Universal and
Warner Bros. Studios) to develop a system specification for digital
cinema.
In April 2004, in cooperation with the
American Society of Cinematographers, DCI created standard
evaluation material (the ASC/DCI StEM material) for testing of 2K and 4K
playback and compression technologies. DCI selected JPEG2000 as the
basis for the compression in the system the same year.
2005–present
DCI published their v1.0 specification in 2005. In February 2005,
Arts Alliance Media was selected to roll out the UK Film Council’s
Digital Screen Network (DSN), a $20M contract to install and operate
Europe’s largest 2K digital cinema network. By March 2007, 230 of the
241 screens had been installed on schedule, with the remaining 11 to be
installed later in 2007 when cinemas have completed building works or
construction. In China, an E-Cinema System called "dMs" was established
on June 2005, and is used in over 15,000 screens spread across China's
30 provinces. dMS estimates that the system will expand to 40,000
screens in 2009.[21]
Chicken Little from Disney, with its experimental release of the
film in digital 3D, increased the number of projectors using the 2K
format. Digital projectors capable of 2048 pixels of horizontal
resolution began deploying in 2005.[citation
needed]
In mid 2006, about 400 theaters were equipped with 2K digital
projectors with the number increasing every month. Several digital
3D films surfaced in 2006 and several prominent filmmakers have
committed to making their next productions in stereo 3D.[citation
needed] In August 2006, the
Malayalam digital movie
Moonnamathoral, produced by Mrs. Benzy Martin, was distributed
via satellite to cinemas, thus becoming the first Indian digital cinema.
This was done by Emil and Eric Digital Films, a company based at
Thrissur using the end-to-end digital cinema system developed by
Singapore-based DG2L Technologies.[22]
In 2007 the UK became home to Europe's first DCI-compliant fully
digital multiplex cinemas. Odeon Hatfield and Odeon Surrey Quays
(London) have a total of 18 digital screens and were both launched on
Friday 9 February 2007. As of March 2007, with the release of Disney's
Meet the Robinsons, about 600 screens have been equipped with 2K
digital projectors that feature
Real D Cinema's stereoscopic 3D technology, marketed under the
Disney Digital 3-D brand. In June 2007, Arts Alliance Media
announced the first European commercial digital cinema VPF (Virtual
Print Fee) agreements (with
Twentieth Century Fox and
Universal Pictures). As of July 2007, there are some cinemas in
Singapore showing digital 4K films to public using Sony's 4K digital
projector. They are located at Golden Village Cinema in
Vivocity (Hall 11), Eng Wah Cinema in Suntec (Hall 3), Shaw Cinema
in Bugis (Hall 1 & 3) and at Cathay Cineplex (Hall 7). In September
2007, Muvico Theaters Rosemont 18 in
Rosemont, Illinois became the first theater in North America to have
Sony's 4K digital projectors for all 18 screens. In January 2007, "Guru"
became the first Indian movie mastered in the DCI compliant Jpeg2000
Interop format and also the first Indian film to be previewed digitally,
internationally, at the Elgin Winter Garden in Toronto. "Guru" was
digitally mastered at Real Image Media Technologies, India. As of
October 2007, there are over 5,000 DLP-based Digital Cinema Systems
installed.[23]
In March 2009
AMC Theatres announced that it closed on a $315 million deal with
Sony to
replace all of its
movie projectors with 4K digital projectors starting in the second
quarter of 2009 and completing in 2012.[24]
As of June 2010, there are close to 16,000 digital cinema screens,
with over 5000 of them being stereoscopic setups. Considering an article
written by David Hancock (http://www.isuppli.com/media-research/marketwatch/pages/digital-screen-numbers-and-forecasts-to-2015-are-finalised.aspx),
the total number of d-screens worldwide came in at 36,242, up from
16,339 at end 2009 or a growth rate of 121.8 percent during the year.
There were 10,083 d-screens in Europe as a whole (28.2 percent of global
figure), 16,522 in North America (46.2 percent of global figure) and
7,703 in Asia (21.6 percent of global figure). As regards digital 3D
screens, there were a total of 21,936 3D screens, which equals 60.5
percent of all d-screens. This is a rise from the 55 percent in 2009 but
is expected to drop slightly in 2011 to 57.5 percent.
In 2011 SMPTE published a full set of standards for Digital Cinema.[citation
needed] By the end of 2011, 72% of UK cinema
screens had been converted to digital projection.[25]
It has been estimated that, by the end of 2012, 80 percent of
worldwide cinema screens would be converted to digital.[26]
The first movie to be exhibited digitally in 48
frames per second will be
The Hobbit.[citation
needed] According to
Screen Digest, 75 percent of worldwide cinema screens would be
converted to digital by the end of 2012 and almost all of the rest would
be converted by the end of 2014.[26]
In 2012,
Screen Digest predicted that almost all cinema screens worldwide
would be converted to digital by 2015.[26]