How a Flexible Media Platform Supports the Goals of Digital Cinema Distribution

1
ITEA Seminar Series

• How a Flexible Media Platform Supports the Goals
  of Digital Cinema Distribution

Michael Bruns Principal Engineer Grass Valley
Group
23 June 2001
2
Goals of Digital Cinema Distribution

• Digital Technology provides
• A better viewing experience to the audience
• Lower distribution costs
• Theatres Become Entertainment Centers
• Blockbuster Movies
• Independent Films
• Alternative Content concerts, cultural or
  sporting
• Live Events
• Media Platform allows time shifting

3
Digital Cinema Distribution Chain

• Server helps to accomplish digital cinema goals
  by enabling
• flexibility in media distribution
• renewable and secure content protection
• renewable compression

4
Why Have A Modular Projection System?

• Enables Interoperability
• Free market business model depends on
• multiple manufacturers for servers and projectors
• multiple delivery options
• everything is interoperable
• Key to interoperability is a standards basis
• Modular system design emphasizes simple, clearly
  defined interfaces e.g. SMPTE 292M
• All real-time interaction functions from storage
  to decryption to decompression are contained
  within one unit for reliable, predictable
  performance

5
Flexibility in Media Distribution

• Media Platform allows you to ingest material from
  multiple, diverse sources
• Physical Media
• Virtual Private Network (VPN)
• Multi-cast Satellite distribution
• Playback of multiple media files following a
  script

insertion of Directors Cut scene for 23h00
showing
6
Flexibility in Compression

• Digital Cinema will have a future compression
  standard
• Wavelets
• Variable block size DCT
• DCT with motion compensation
• Standards are in early stage of development
• MPEG ad hoc group for Digital Cinema, core
  evaluation this week
• ITEA (Information Technology for European
  Enhancement)
• SMPTE DC-28
• Visually lossless, standards-based compression
  available today using the MPEG-2 set of
  compression tools
• MPEG
• Compatible with MPEG for alternative content
• Good for deployment up to 2k x 1k image
  resolution
• Need architecture to support renewable
  compression algorithm

7
Content Protection

• Image media on storage system is encrypted
• Image signal from server to projector is
  encrypted
• Standard symmetric and public key encryption
  technologies

8
Profile XP Media Platform Architecture

• Modular architecture supports renewable
  compression/encryption and multiple image formats

9
D-Cinema Media Platform Technology in Exhibition
10
Profile XP Media Platform

• Grass Valley Group introduced the video server
  category in the mid-1990s
• Awarded an Emmy
• Architected for emerging, high-growth
  image-content-driven markets
• Profile XP Media Platform is the market leader
  worldwide
• More than 1000 multi-channel units installed
  worldwide

11
http//www.grassvalleygroup.com