An Early History of Digital Cinema Technology

1999 / 2000: Meeting the Challenge

Various forms of electronic cinema have been around for many years. Public demonstrations of modern day digital cinema, however, began in 1999 as an experimental effort privately funded by major motion picture studios. What better way to learn the many issues of a new technology than to jump in with both feet?

The block diagram below represents the typical trial digital exhibition system in the year 2000. Many of these systems are still in use today. (click to enlarge)

In the initial trial stage, the server used for storage and playout was a QuBit unit, manufactured by QuVis. The QuVis server is loaded with the digital movie from either discs or tape, compressed with a proprietary wavelet compression algorithm. Data is scrambled on the hard drive for protection. But digital image data sent to the projector was not protected. For early trial systems, no one seemed too concerned about the potential security risks of these systems, given that it would take a knowledgable person and a very expensive recorder to pirate the movie. (As it turns out, no digital thefts from the projection booth have ever been reported, and the patron with a digital camcorder has become the threat.) Security remained an issue, but one for a later phase.

Star Wars Episode I and An Ideal Husband were the first motion pictures to be released to the big screen in digital in June of 1999. Star Wars Episode I was displayed on four digital systems, two in Los Angeles, and two in New York. Two Hughes/JVC ILA-12K projectors, and two early prototype DLP-Cinema projectors from Texas Instruments were used for the Star Wars demonstrations. The digital demonstrations of An Ideal Husband were presented only on the Hughes/JVC ILA-12K. The ILA-12K produced a good looking picture, but was difficult to maintain in a day-to-day theatrical environment. The projector technology of choice quickly became DLP Cinema from Texas Instruments. In the early days, the only projectors available were prototypes built by TI. Today, TI has three licensees: Barco, Christie, and NEC/Digital Projection. TI is the only game in town today, but that could change in 2004. (More on the subject of projector technologies in our articles section).

The server provides digital audio as multiple AES/EBU (AES3) streams. Some cinema processors can be configured to directly accept digital audio, and digital audio can be converted to analog for legacy cinema processors. The server also has the ability to command "house controls", i.e., lights, masking, and curtains.

No improvements were made upon this system until the later half of 2001.

Next: 2001: Steps Forward