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Dolby Vision and The Force of Darkness

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Hours before the 8PM Star Wars release time, AMC was able to open a Dolby Cinema | AMC Prime room in Century City. There was no official announcement but opening day tickets sold in minutes.   

Christie was also able to issue a press release the day before, announcing a dual-laser system with Dolby 3D at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. 

Two months ago the AMC 16 in Burbank announced the opening of their new Dolby Cinema | AMC Prime auditorium. Several industry and non-industry journals did well, explaining how the projectors and screen achieve 1,000,000:1 contrast, with more detail in the deeper, smooth blacks and the increase of light level from the normal 48 candela/square meter to 108. The demonstrations were every bit as jaw-dropping as they were when first publicly shown at CinemaCon 6 months earlier. The message of brighter colors and greater depth, matched with the great sound from the Atmos object oriented sound system and superb seating with low-end boost gave more tools for the author and the ultimate presentation to the audience.

The next big movie release was Spectre. It as then that several colorists who attended commercial showings of the movie found out the nuance in the message. Now we know that the client must be aware of whether the movie was mixed and color timed for Dolby Cinema. That is, was there a Dolby Vision million to one pass made for the movie and was there an object oriented mix. It could be both (as Star Wars and Mission Impossible are), or it could be neither, and it could be Atmos only. It is unlikely that it would be Dolby Vision without Atmos, though it is possible.

Why is this significant? First, Dolby’s point is that the AMC Prime, Dolby Cinema combination – even without a movie release made for their technologies – still delivers the ultimate in potential sound and image quality and comfort. They point out that their clients, in this case AMC, chooses to book the theater with the movies available and sometimes they will book movies that aren’t in Atmos and Dolby Vision. Which is a lot to put on a bumper sticker, or an asterisk at the bottom of the entry way sign that announces the Dolby Cinema room.

The three colorists who your author sat with watching and listening to Spectre all felt that something was wrong, but weren’t yet aware about this color timing thing. Everyone noticed artifacts in deep colors, in the deep blacks especially. It was obvious that this wasn’t color timed for a million to one. And as well done as the sound was, it was obvious that it wasn’t object oriented. There was one big scene when the sound music got louder in the front and reached out as far as it could…it should have/could have burst into the room in some clever way but it just stood there like an over inflated balloon, or an effect that could never do anything because the alternative was to enter into the arrays which would have been too much. Alas.

This is when the detective hunt came about. It took multiple emails and interviews to find out the situation. 

First, we are told that if a movie isn’t timed for million to one, the dual laser projectors get tamped down to 5000:1. Which is a lot, except that it is more than twice what it was ever seen in most any post production suite. The Dolby response was:

The fixed luminance gamma function defined by DCI supports over 7,500:1 contrast, and the Dolby Vision projection system faithfully map those fixed luminance codes to the proper luminance levels on the projector.  Dolby doesn’t alter what the content is representing.  Many post houses have projection systems in excess of 2,000:1 contrast and they grade under ideal conditions, which allows them to produce content in excess of 2,000:1.  We don’t believe there are any post houses with systems in excess of 5,000:1, and as such limit the darkest code there (i.e. anything over 5,000:1 is soft clipped to 5,000:1).   When post houses can grade on higher contrast systems then we can increase our levels to match. No matter the content format a Dolby Cinema is still the best place to see and hear a movie. 

Last sentence first, this makes sense. Most Atmos systems will have new audio equipment which can better handle high levels with low annoyance due to recent calibration and low THD from new equipment and components. Because the rooms have been tweaked a bit, they probably handle early reflections well. And because several individual speakers are delivering the sound, it is likely that the sound level can match the mixer’s level – by leaving the audio processor at ‘7’ – and deliver each of us a cleaner image that is apparently loud without being overbearing. 

The problem might come from the choice to clip at 5000:1. It is probably correct that most facilities are grading at around 2000:1. That is the spec for most of the TI projectors. Until the new release of Sony projectors (8500:1) and laser projectors, even 2000:1 is difficult to attain. In practice at the best post houses, a carefully tweaked 4K xenon bulb-based projector system is hard pressed to get to 2000:1 and a little over 2000:1 is the best a 2K will do. So most people seeing the movie at the final post stages are seeing it at 2000:1. Compression artifacts that don’t show at 2000:1 may show up at 5000:1…and this is what is posited.

It is possible that there are 5000:1 monitors in use at the post house, but they are not large screen. These screens, of which the Dolby Professional Reference Monitor PRM-4220 is the premier, are brilliant and have their place, but they could also hide something that looks ugly on the big screen. And thus it goes for the very areas that are, or are supposed to be the glory spots for the system. 

So either check the Dolby site before you go to the movies to see if your choice has the Dolby Vision and Atmos, or train your ears and eyes to stop waiting for the added dimensions and subtleties of those systems. As one colorist said, “At least we got comfortable chairs.”

Back to watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens with the purpose of evaluating the laser and object sound system.  So very unfair, as it is simultaneously a pleasure and disconcerting to have to break the wall of disbelief to pay attention to dark areas, to force oneself to notice nuance and smoothness in the dark during dark scenes. It was a pleasure to hear the objects going exactly where mixer Andy Nelson needed them to be, and a surprise to feel how well the low end was tied into the seats, even having directionality. It is still disconcerting at first, even having experienced it a few times, but once or twice done well it becomes an appropriate part of the mix.

So Dolby gets a Well Done for getting another group to implement two out of three of their important technologies without excess or neglect. The third technology – Dolby 3D, is no trifle. Having seen movies that have been timed for 3D at 48 candela, it is a shame that AMC has decided not to show 3D in their Dolby Cinema | AMC Prime rooms. The extra light brings a completely new aspect to a movie. All the cues that the human visual system uses for placing objects in space are enhanced. It is especially wonderful on a low-gain white screen eliminating all the vignetting and false contrast that a high-gain / dark silver screen delivers. And the AMC Prime rooms have that nice screen, in contrast – if you’ll excuse the expression – to the out of spec screens used with the other technologies. 

Dolby also gets a demerit for not thinking through the effect of allowing their name to be used in a manner that implies more than it can deliver. Telling their patrons that they must search through pages of PR on their cool but hardly searchable website to find as to whether a movie has the proper imprimaturs is not a good solution. Knowing Dolby for the good faith actors that they are, they will find the right solution.   

AMC also gets a Well Done for the excellent job they do physically. A.) Good marks for providing a nicely done room. The long-wavelength red accents throughout the room, especially on the speakers is technically terrific for pre-show eye accommodation, and aesthetically first rate. B) Good marks for the un-ostentatious, nicely protected alcove which, although removing several seats under the port glass, protects the miscreant patron who would be so stupid as to jump on a chair and look into the projector lens. This solution will be common in the world of laser projectors, which have to follow health code regulations based upon a ridiculous mis-application of logic and an anachronistic understanding of how lasers are used in the projector. (They’re treated as if there are coherent laser beams actually coming from the lens.) As if the light exiting the lens isn’t the same beam of divergent (non-laser coherent) photons that exit any projector’s lens, which is to say: A lot. 

In addition to all that wonderfulness, AMC still gets the same demerit as Dolby does for the poorly handled ‘hole’ they leave in a patron’s education. There must be some way to educate the audience member that they are purchasing tickets for a movie presentation that isn’t optimized for the equipment that is being highlighted in the room. They also get a demerit for not showing 3D presentations when the system they have would be the best presentation possible: No Silver Screen, No High Gain Screen, No Vignetting and dark patches, glasses that are as matched to the eyes as possible (including children’s glasses, a very important detail) and 48 candela/square meter displaying a movie in the way it is supposed to be seen. Presentations, like all engineering, is the art of balancing compromises. Dolby has gone all out to push with these three components to reduce as many of those compromises as possible. It would be nice to see them all working.

So now we have to go to the ArcLight Cinerama Dome to sample the Dolby 3D, but the PR – which is notoriously poorly written – says that the light levels will be at 27.5 cd/m2, an odd number (well, it is an even 8 when divided by pi when using the deprecated and unwieldy foot/lambert system) considering that it is still 10 cd/m2lower that the lowest limit of exhibition expectations (48 being the CalibratedWhite Luminance, center specification, with a Theatrical Tolerance of ±10.2 cd/m2 – or 14 fL ±3 in the old style). But this isn’t any theater. This is the theater that we saw movies from Mad Mad Mad Mad World to Apocalypse Now, Gone With The Wind to Out of Africa in. This Christie dual laser system should be giving us the max. More when that viewing happens.

Enough of the rant. Just as the new Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is the movie that needed to be made to launch us into a new future storyline, the new object oriented sound system(s) and laser projectors are the equipment for the next iteration of digital cinema. In addition to putting more shadows into the dark, and potentially more colors into the spectrum, we should look forward to better Live presentations, whether Event Cinema or Alternative Content. I look forward to a live presentation concert with a mixer in the center seats mixing bed channels and objects special to the auditorium.

Good luck to us all. 

Earlier similar articles:

The Spectre of Vision
Lessons of Spectre and the Force (WIP)

Exhibitor News

Dolby Vision and The Force of Darkness

Leave a comment

Hours before the 8PM Star Wars release time, AMC was able to open a Dolby Cinema | AMC Prime room in Century City. There was no official announcement but opening day tickets sold in minutes.   

Christie was also able to issue a press release the day before, announcing a dual-laser system with Dolby 3D at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. 

Two months ago the AMC 16 in Burbank announced the opening of their new Dolby Cinema | AMC Prime auditorium. Several industry and non-industry journals did well, explaining how the projectors and screen achieve 1,000,000:1 contrast, with more detail in the deeper, smooth blacks and the increase of light level from the normal 48 candela/square meter to 108. The demonstrations were every bit as jaw-dropping as they were when first publicly shown at CinemaCon 6 months earlier. The message of brighter colors and greater depth, matched with the great sound from the Atmos object oriented sound system and superb seating with low-end boost gave more tools for the author and the ultimate presentation to the audience.

The next big movie release was Spectre. It as then that several colorists who attended commercial showings of the movie found out the nuance in the message. Now we know that the client must be aware of whether the movie was mixed and color timed for Dolby Cinema. That is, was there a Dolby Vision million to one pass made for the movie and was there an object oriented mix. It could be both (as Star Wars and Mission Impossible are), or it could be neither, and it could be Atmos only. It is unlikely that it would be Dolby Vision without Atmos, though it is possible.

Why is this significant? First, Dolby’s point is that the AMC Prime, Dolby Cinema combination – even without a movie release made for their technologies – still delivers the ultimate in potential sound and image quality and comfort. They point out that their clients, in this case AMC, chooses to book the theater with the movies available and sometimes they will book movies that aren’t in Atmos and Dolby Vision. Which is a lot to put on a bumper sticker, or an asterisk at the bottom of the entry way sign that announces the Dolby Cinema room.

The three colorists who your author sat with watching and listening to Spectre all felt that something was wrong, but weren’t yet aware about this color timing thing. Everyone noticed artifacts in deep colors, in the deep blacks especially. It was obvious that this wasn’t color timed for a million to one. And as well done as the sound was, it was obvious that it wasn’t object oriented. There was one big scene when the sound music got louder in the front and reached out as far as it could…it should have/could have burst into the room in some clever way but it just stood there like an over inflated balloon, or an effect that could never do anything because the alternative was to enter into the arrays which would have been too much. Alas.

This is when the detective hunt came about. It took multiple emails and interviews to find out the situation. 

First, we are told that if a movie isn’t timed for million to one, the dual laser projectors get tamped down to 5000:1. Which is a lot, except that it is more than twice what it was ever seen in most any post production suite. The Dolby response was:

The fixed luminance gamma function defined by DCI supports over 7,500:1 contrast, and the Dolby Vision projection system faithfully map those fixed luminance codes to the proper luminance levels on the projector.  Dolby doesn’t alter what the content is representing.  Many post houses have projection systems in excess of 2,000:1 contrast and they grade under ideal conditions, which allows them to produce content in excess of 2,000:1.  We don’t believe there are any post houses with systems in excess of 5,000:1, and as such limit the darkest code there (i.e. anything over 5,000:1 is soft clipped to 5,000:1).   When post houses can grade on higher contrast systems then we can increase our levels to match. No matter the content format a Dolby Cinema is still the best place to see and hear a movie. 

Last sentence first, this makes sense. Most Atmos systems will have new audio equipment which can better handle high levels with low annoyance due to recent calibration and low THD from new equipment and components. Because the rooms have been tweaked a bit, they probably handle early reflections well. And because several individual speakers are delivering the sound, it is likely that the sound level can match the mixer’s level – by leaving the audio processor at ‘7’ – and deliver each of us a cleaner image that is apparently loud without being overbearing. 

The problem might come from the choice to clip at 5000:1. It is probably correct that most facilities are grading at around 2000:1. That is the spec for most of the TI projectors. Until the new release of Sony projectors (8500:1) and laser projectors, even 2000:1 is difficult to attain. In practice at the best post houses, a carefully tweaked 4K xenon bulb-based projector system is hard pressed to get to 2000:1 and a little over 2000:1 is the best a 2K will do. So most people seeing the movie at the final post stages are seeing it at 2000:1. Compression artifacts that don’t show at 2000:1 may show up at 5000:1…and this is what is posited.

It is possible that there are 5000:1 monitors in use at the post house, but they are not large screen. These screens, of which the Dolby Professional Reference Monitor PRM-4220 is the premier, are brilliant and have their place, but they could also hide something that looks ugly on the big screen. And thus it goes for the very areas that are, or are supposed to be the glory spots for the system. 

So either check the Dolby site before you go to the movies to see if your choice has the Dolby Vision and Atmos, or train your ears and eyes to stop waiting for the added dimensions and subtleties of those systems. As one colorist said, “At least we got comfortable chairs.”

Back to watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens with the purpose of evaluating the laser and object sound system.  So very unfair, as it is simultaneously a pleasure and disconcerting to have to break the wall of disbelief to pay attention to dark areas, to force oneself to notice nuance and smoothness in the dark during dark scenes. It was a pleasure to hear the objects going exactly where mixer Andy Nelson needed them to be, and a surprise to feel how well the low end was tied into the seats, even having directionality. It is still disconcerting at first, even having experienced it a few times, but once or twice done well it becomes an appropriate part of the mix.

So Dolby gets a Well Done for getting another group to implement two out of three of their important technologies without excess or neglect. The third technology – Dolby 3D, is no trifle. Having seen movies that have been timed for 3D at 48 candela, it is a shame that AMC has decided not to show 3D in their Dolby Cinema | AMC Prime rooms. The extra light brings a completely new aspect to a movie. All the cues that the human visual system uses for placing objects in space are enhanced. It is especially wonderful on a low-gain white screen eliminating all the vignetting and false contrast that a high-gain / dark silver screen delivers. And the AMC Prime rooms have that nice screen, in contrast – if you’ll excuse the expression – to the out of spec screens used with the other technologies. 

Dolby also gets a demerit for not thinking through the effect of allowing their name to be used in a manner that implies more than it can deliver. Telling their patrons that they must search through pages of PR on their cool but hardly searchable website to find as to whether a movie has the proper imprimaturs is not a good solution. Knowing Dolby for the good faith actors that they are, they will find the right solution.   

AMC also gets a Well Done for the excellent job they do physically. A.) Good marks for providing a nicely done room. The long-wavelength red accents throughout the room, especially on the speakers is technically terrific for pre-show eye accommodation, and aesthetically first rate. B) Good marks for the un-ostentatious, nicely protected alcove which, although removing several seats under the port glass, protects the miscreant patron who would be so stupid as to jump on a chair and look into the projector lens. This solution will be common in the world of laser projectors, which have to follow health code regulations based upon a ridiculous mis-application of logic and an anachronistic understanding of how lasers are used in the projector. (They’re treated as if there are coherent laser beams actually coming from the lens.) As if the light exiting the lens isn’t the same beam of divergent (non-laser coherent) photons that exit any projector’s lens, which is to say: A lot. 

In addition to all that wonderfulness, AMC still gets the same demerit as Dolby does for the poorly handled ‘hole’ they leave in a patron’s education. There must be some way to educate the audience member that they are purchasing tickets for a movie presentation that isn’t optimized for the equipment that is being highlighted in the room. They also get a demerit for not showing 3D presentations when the system they have would be the best presentation possible: No Silver Screen, No High Gain Screen, No Vignetting and dark patches, glasses that are as matched to the eyes as possible (including children’s glasses, a very important detail) and 48 candela/square meter displaying a movie in the way it is supposed to be seen. Presentations, like all engineering, is the art of balancing compromises. Dolby has gone all out to push with these three components to reduce as many of those compromises as possible. It would be nice to see them all working.

So now we have to go to the ArcLight Cinerama Dome to sample the Dolby 3D, but the PR – which is notoriously poorly written – says that the light levels will be at 27.5 cd/m2, an odd number (well, it is an even 8 when divided by pi when using the deprecated and unwieldy foot/lambert system) considering that it is still 10 cd/m2lower that the lowest limit of exhibition expectations (48 being the CalibratedWhite Luminance, center specification, with a Theatrical Tolerance of ±10.2 cd/m2 – or 14 fL ±3 in the old style). But this isn’t any theater. This is the theater that we saw movies from Mad Mad Mad Mad World to Apocalypse Now, Gone With The Wind to Out of Africa in. This Christie dual laser system should be giving us the max. More when that viewing happens.

Enough of the rant. Just as the new Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is the movie that needed to be made to launch us into a new future storyline, the new object oriented sound system(s) and laser projectors are the equipment for the next iteration of digital cinema. In addition to putting more shadows into the dark, and potentially more colors into the spectrum, we should look forward to better Live presentations, whether Event Cinema or Alternative Content. I look forward to a live presentation concert with a mixer in the center seats mixing bed channels and objects special to the auditorium.

Good luck to us all. 

Earlier similar articles:

The Spectre of Vision
Lessons of Spectre and the Force (WIP)

Exhibitor News

Lessons of Spectre and the Force (WIP)

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They said that most mastering rooms are running at 5000:1. All those who know a xenon based projector that is running at more than 2500:1, please raise your hands. OK. Let’s make it easier. All those who have a mastering room with a cool and groovy 4K xenon-based projector who is getting better than 2000:1, please raise your hand. Ah! look, there’s that guy with the new Sony projector. Very nice sir. No one with a TI based projector…didn’t think so. Tweaking the iris and getting the nicest bulb will get you to 1750:1, but more brightness after that gives you brighter darks…but not more contrast.

This article is a work in progress.

And no Atmos? Wha? There was some great music build-up during one of the scenes…wow, those 5 sets of speakers in the front sure can sing. But it never left the front of the room.

This article decided to wait for the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so that the mystical art of watching the perfect movie in the perfect environment timed and mixed for the perfect audio and multi-mode dual laser system.

OK: That happened – Dolby Vision and The Force of Darkness  

Previous article: The Spectre of Vision

 

Exhibitor News

Lessons of Spectre and the Force (WIP)

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They said that most mastering rooms are running at 5000:1. All those who know a xenon based projector that is running at more than 2500:1, please raise your hands. OK. Let’s make it easier. All those who have a mastering room with a cool and groovy 4K xenon-based projector who is getting better than 2000:1, please raise your hand. Ah! look, there’s that guy with the new Sony projector. Very nice sir. No one with a TI based projector…didn’t think so. Tweaking the iris and getting the nicest bulb will get you to 1750:1, but more brightness after that gives you brighter darks…but not more contrast.

This article is a work in progress.

And no Atmos? Wha? There was some great music build-up during one of the scenes…wow, those 5 sets of speakers in the front sure can sing. But it never left the front of the room.

This article decided to wait for the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so that the mystical art of watching the perfect movie in the perfect environment timed and mixed for the perfect audio and multi-mode dual laser system.

OK: That happened – Dolby Vision and The Force of Darkness  

Previous article: The Spectre of Vision

 

Exhibitor News

The Spectre of Vision

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Nonetheless, they basically are pumping up the bright by 2 – and getting the studios to create and distribute a custom master print – but it is the dark that Dolby wants you to concentrate on. Want to or not, you will notice it. If there were black masking drapes to compare the screen to, the screen may be darker than the drapes, which is truly a terrific phenomena after a decade and a half of getting better and better digital cinema but, until now, no great blacks. They will not give a measured amount of darkness in nits or candela, nor will they tell you how the magic is done. But they will give a curiously round number of a million to one as the contrast ratio being presented. Isn’t it great when the laws of physics give round numbers? Let’s see. Move the decimal to the left a few times and a few times more and viola~! Less than 0. 0001 nits is the amount of dark that the Dolby Vision system is able to present. High Dynamic Range.

Let’s be clear about what that means, since there is a great demo associated with the system. A circle in a field of black is presented and we are told that this is the standard 48 candela/meter2 against a black field that the typical digital cinema projector is delivering at your cinema. What they are presenting is a 2000:1 ratio circle of white to field black, which they say is a test pattern for the standard. They are being very kind when saying that this is the contrast of the typical cinema. In fact, the specification in the SMPTE and ISO standards (or is that a Recommended Practice?), the one that requires a nominal 2000:1 value is the Sequential Contrast test. This standard actually allows 1500:1 for a review room and no less than 1200:1 for a Theatrical room. But they are making the point without confusion because of what they are going to do next, which is increase the light output and decrease the dark output. Let’s slide into that with a little tangent.

First, a white circle on a black field is a test pattern, but it isn’t a sequential test pattern. The Sequential Test doesn’t need a pattern since you just shoot the room with the projector blazing all white (RGB 4096,4096,4096 while putting 106 nits on the screen), then when the projector is blazing as close to black as it can translate the R, G, B values of 0,0,0 you grab a measurement and divide it into the measurement of the previous slide and call it a ratio of something to 1. Alluding to this as an industry standard test pattern is still a valid way to show their point, and just because it is condensing science and art to communicate a point that might otherwise take minutes to show doesn’t make it wrong. On the other hand, it also isn’t a test if you only give one score of the game. Wasn’t there a George Carlin routine where he only gave half the baseball scores for games? Dolby is giving the dividend (106) and the quotient (a million~!) and saying, “Find your own divisor. ” There were 14 runs in the game and the winning team had 2 more than the other team. Or as they said in a recent public demo when being asked for that number, “That is rather difficult. ” Yes. Science is difficult. Communicating science is even more difficult.  

So, let’s do this. Just because that is what was recommended at the Press Demo – Divide 106 by a million. Pencils for photons as pixels.

  • 106 is one to one.
  • 10. 6 is ten to one.
  • 1. 06 is a hundred to one.
  • 0. 106 is a thousand to one.
  • 0. 0106 is ten thousand to one.
  • 0. 00106 is a hundred thousand to one.
  • 0. 000106 is a million to one. 1,000,000:1 – Seven orders of magnitude.

The first statement that many engineers make is “Perhaps that low end number can’t really be measured, maybe?” 

Yes. Individual photons can be detected if need be. Not with typical industry tools of course since they aren’t designed to measure in the range required. Tools in the same families as the high end tools will get close, and there are specialty companies that go even deeper. Length of time and number of measurements and repeatability all become a mirage that needs to be approached with caution, and if a marketing person were in the room they would say, “Look at that!!! Let’s say Infinity to One. ” Or, they can say that the score is 106 to a million.

Before we go back to the absolute awesome next step in the demo. . . and that is said with no hyperbole. . . , one more point to clear up the last detail of ‘test pattern’. The spot on the black field is closer to what is called the Intra-frame spec. This is a technique for measuring the projector’s ability to produce simultaneous light and dark. Usually this is done with a checkerboard grid of black and white and the spec is not anywhere close to 2000:1. The nominal number is 150:1, and both review and theatrical are allowed to hit 100:1 minimum.  

This is only interesting because measuring (and mis-measuring) grey level and black and white levels were a huge point of contention in the consumer market and yet again the market is being saturated with number noise (and marketing bits) due to a concept called HDR. In the past, a number would be made up and then the science would be made to fit it. Not by Dolby, of course. . . they be science people. But as an example of bad actors in the past, for one common spec the marketeers would define black as 90% grey and white as 10% white and measure from those. There were projector manufacturers who would use a clever technique of dynamic irising to increase their contrast ratio. There is currently one large screen system which uses a variation on this by using a faster and anamorphic lens and a dark, high gain screen. The re-reflection of a bunch of gold filigreed wall decorations in an auditorium with that system and everything takes on a green cast.  

But seriously, from a fanboy viewpoint, it may not matter if it is a million or 10 thousand to one if the entire system isn’t adjusted for the movie environment. We can’t have a lot of light in the darkened theater, or we’d be blinded every time there is an actual multi-thousand nit explosion of light. The eyes protective bleaching will kick in and it will be another 30 minutes before we get the benefit of all that dark again. . . or color at all. This is the HVS’s (human visual system’s) magic of accommodation, and Dolby’s design and AMC’s implementation try to take every advantage possible to make it work for us in our seats.

The Dolby Vision entrance announces with an inviting corridor of slowly moving scenes from the coming movie which get your eyes going into dark right away. The auditorium itself is black on black with highlights of deep red. You know that red. . . it is the long wavelength that you remember from scenes of a darkroom. Some magic allows the eyes to use the red without making all the other internal parts get stimulated. In a nice touch, each of the speakers. . . and there are a lot of them on the walls and in the ceiling for this Atmos system. . . each of them is lit with enough red light to see the details of the cones in the arrays or hanging boxes.  

Very cool. If only they lit up the speakers behind the screen. Wonder if they tried it. Did the red show through the micro-perfs of the screen and look cool or did that show the screen shaking devices? We’ll probably not find out. There might be interest in dynamic irising, but there is just as much interest in how one keeps a screen tight when the room changes with humidity and temperature. Will it be an invitation for some smartass to come up with a term like the Aurora Borealis effect when the frequencies get out of balance and the waves make a pattern across parts of the sheet? Or did Dolby nail this problem already? Will have others who are in the big-screen-with-laser-equipment business, those who still need to use screen shakers to keep the speckle down? 

OK; back to the test pattern. After a few seconds of letting the eyes get used to the 2000:1 contrast of white to grey/black, suddenly there is a visual pop. The white does something, but the eyes really see the grey drop several levels to black black black. The intensity of the black is matte on matte. . . or is it that the matte on matte takes on its own kind of intensity vacuum? It is somewhat, that the existence of non-existence that gets triggered. As in, you look at a dark pair of pants in a scene and if you have some contrast you can see that it isn’t just dark but there can be shadows in the dark. With more contrast there will be texture in the faintly lit parts of the fabric that may be darker or lighter than the shadows, and so on. This is the opposite. You notice that there is no subtle shade darker than what you are ‘seeing’, but that you sense that you would have the ability to see a range if it weren’t so dang perfectly black.

What does all this contrast mean? We don’t watch black and white movies. And color is. . . well, color. They’re different parts of the physiological input system. Cones and rods and the twain where they meet. And that cones-based color system gathers data from only 40% of your field of vision, give or take 10% or so. To ‘see’ this, put your hands at 90° from each other, then cut that in half for 45°. Place that in front of your eyes. In the center angle is what the color wavelength sensitive cones are ‘seeing’. Outside of that is what the black and white sensing rods are receiving. Any colors you ‘see’ there is either made up or residual memory from the last time your eyes scanned that part of your field of vision. . . . or something like that.  

A peripheral representation of the peripheral vision

When studying light and color, there is a lot of math and quite a bit of science. But when dealing with light and color perception, suddenly all the papers come from the psychology department. Another thing that is quickly noticed is that no matter what you knew 10 years ago, all the new papers will contradict or refine that data. How all this contrast affects the color images is difficult to discuss because it approaches magic. So, case in point, it was thought that we don’t see color outside of a cone that is 30° of our vision. Now it might be 40 or with certain colors, up to 60°. Everything else is perceived in blacks and greys and white, but the point is that what one knew is no longer true and not only from an empirical (more or less) vantage. The new data comes from a tangent. It isn’t colors from cones, but colors from a mental opposing color mechanism unique to one branch of the evolutionary chain. Opponent colors? That is so 1890’s and Goethe. Wherever it comes from, there is a richness to the color and Dolby has been great with seminar papers and web seminars trying to up our game.

Well, you might ask – those who have upped their game, perhaps the richness comes from laser’s capability to indulge us in a wider set of primary colors, a bit deeper blues and slightly deeper reds and a bit more green (and thereby brightness. ) But we were told at the AMC/Dolby Press Briefing that this extra color space capability – known as Rec. 2020’s color gamut – is entirely a Creatives’ decision and that thus far only one scene of one movie has used the extended gamut (that being the monster scene in Inside/Out. ) We were also told that using 2020 had no negatives, including no extra energy draw. Turns out that this is because the laser diodes happen to be at frequencies that are conducive to 2020 and need no more encouragement to deliver that gamut. . . and that every manufacturer is drawing from the same set of parts. But, that isn’t the reason for the extra pop.

In fact, we are so used to seeing colors in terms of horseshoes that we forget that there is a range of lightness and darkness for all the colors that we are aware of. Just as with understanding sound, we sense quite a lot more than we often understand, then we realize that there is not only much more nuance but much more complication like ‘squares of the distance’ and reflections at certain frequencies, and physical things that happen at some harmonics more than it happens at others.  

Unraveling magic is all we’re left with. Nothing wrong with that. How contrast affects color perception is a great field of study. All we know for certain is that the HVS wants to have a white point to hang its hat on and will let the gooiest brown be white if that is the best it can get. And it will then use that spot as the reference for everything else. We also know that while we can see a range of 14 orders of magnitude of light (ten million to one), at any one time we can only grab about 5 orders of magnitude (10 thousand to one) – again, not so different from our sound capabilities.

Using sound as an example, we might be able to make amplifiers and speakers that could create sound pressure levels that are beyond 2 or 3 multiples of the loudest we have now, but we cannot use it. The ears would clamp down, using its versions of chemical and electrical desensitising, just like the vision system shuts down to protect itself. We’re limited at the top. This being the case, instead of cranking up the amount of light we want bouncing off the screen, refining down into the blacks makes sense. You get the mind thinking that the sun light level is correct and the orders of magnitude of depth are the luxury it craves.

Now that we have learned entendu, (if only the French had a word for it), and how that affects the efficiency of using light and power at the DLP in the projector, we get to learn the human analog, the land of Mr. and Mrs. Troland’s son Leonard. What can go efficiently and effectively into the eye? This isn’t nano stuff, but the iris of the eye makes it is square millimeter stuff and single nits and steradians that actually can be allowed to get into the eye. . . What Mr. Troland has to say about whether there is special magic in a million to one or whether 10 thousand to one would serve just as well will be the musings of a future article.

Fortunately and notwithstanding, we have our tickets to see Spectre in a Dolby Vision room, and we’ll have our Suspension of Disbelief set onto 11, ’cause that’s one more. . . or as the case may be, -11, ’cause that’s one less. Impressions later.  

 

Oh, and to be certain, there is no pretense at extra super secret knowledge in any of the above. After the Press event your author sent a dozen questions or so to the press and engineering people at Dolby and got no response. More on those questions later as well – suffice to say that this system is the high end of the format wars, and it will be a closed system boutique and nuanced experience for a long time. They don’t need to show us no stinking badges, or tell us about multiple DLPs talking to other DLPs so that no light slips into the cracks.  

Other articles on tangential topics:
Dolby Vision and The Force of Darkness
Lessons of Spectre and the Force (WIP)

Exhibitor News

The Spectre of Vision

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Nonetheless, they basically are pumping up the bright by 2 – and getting the studios to create and distribute a custom master print – but it is the dark that Dolby wants you to concentrate on. Want to or not, you will notice it. If there were black masking drapes to compare the screen to, the screen may be darker than the drapes, which is truly a terrific phenomena after a decade and a half of getting better and better digital cinema but, until now, no great blacks. They will not give a measured amount of darkness in nits or candela, nor will they tell you how the magic is done. But they will give a curiously round number of a million to one as the contrast ratio being presented. Isn’t it great when the laws of physics give round numbers? Let’s see. Move the decimal to the left a few times and a few times more and viola~! Less than 0. 0001 nits is the amount of dark that the Dolby Vision system is able to present. High Dynamic Range.

Let’s be clear about what that means, since there is a great demo associated with the system. A circle in a field of black is presented and we are told that this is the standard 48 candela/meter2 against a black field that the typical digital cinema projector is delivering at your cinema. What they are presenting is a 2000:1 ratio circle of white to field black, which they say is a test pattern for the standard. They are being very kind when saying that this is the contrast of the typical cinema. In fact, the specification in the SMPTE and ISO standards (or is that a Recommended Practice?), the one that requires a nominal 2000:1 value is the Sequential Contrast test. This standard actually allows 1500:1 for a review room and no less than 1200:1 for a Theatrical room. But they are making the point without confusion because of what they are going to do next, which is increase the light output and decrease the dark output. Let’s slide into that with a little tangent.

First, a white circle on a black field is a test pattern, but it isn’t a sequential test pattern. The Sequential Test doesn’t need a pattern since you just shoot the room with the projector blazing all white (RGB 4096,4096,4096 while putting 106 nits on the screen), then when the projector is blazing as close to black as it can translate the R, G, B values of 0,0,0 you grab a measurement and divide it into the measurement of the previous slide and call it a ratio of something to 1. Alluding to this as an industry standard test pattern is still a valid way to show their point, and just because it is condensing science and art to communicate a point that might otherwise take minutes to show doesn’t make it wrong. On the other hand, it also isn’t a test if you only give one score of the game. Wasn’t there a George Carlin routine where he only gave half the baseball scores for games? Dolby is giving the dividend (106) and the quotient (a million~!) and saying, “Find your own divisor. ” There were 14 runs in the game and the winning team had 2 more than the other team. Or as they said in a recent public demo when being asked for that number, “That is rather difficult. ” Yes. Science is difficult. Communicating science is even more difficult.  

So, let’s do this. Just because that is what was recommended at the Press Demo – Divide 106 by a million. Pencils for photons as pixels.

  • 106 is one to one.
  • 10. 6 is ten to one.
  • 1. 06 is a hundred to one.
  • 0. 106 is a thousand to one.
  • 0. 0106 is ten thousand to one.
  • 0. 00106 is a hundred thousand to one.
  • 0. 000106 is a million to one. 1,000,000:1 – Seven orders of magnitude.

The first statement that many engineers make is “Perhaps that low end number can’t really be measured, maybe?” 

Yes. Individual photons can be detected if need be. Not with typical industry tools of course since they aren’t designed to measure in the range required. Tools in the same families as the high end tools will get close, and there are specialty companies that go even deeper. Length of time and number of measurements and repeatability all become a mirage that needs to be approached with caution, and if a marketing person were in the room they would say, “Look at that!!! Let’s say Infinity to One. ” Or, they can say that the score is 106 to a million.

Before we go back to the absolute awesome next step in the demo. . . and that is said with no hyperbole. . . , one more point to clear up the last detail of ‘test pattern’. The spot on the black field is closer to what is called the Intra-frame spec. This is a technique for measuring the projector’s ability to produce simultaneous light and dark. Usually this is done with a checkerboard grid of black and white and the spec is not anywhere close to 2000:1. The nominal number is 150:1, and both review and theatrical are allowed to hit 100:1 minimum.  

This is only interesting because measuring (and mis-measuring) grey level and black and white levels were a huge point of contention in the consumer market and yet again the market is being saturated with number noise (and marketing bits) due to a concept called HDR. In the past, a number would be made up and then the science would be made to fit it. Not by Dolby, of course. . . they be science people. But as an example of bad actors in the past, for one common spec the marketeers would define black as 90% grey and white as 10% white and measure from those. There were projector manufacturers who would use a clever technique of dynamic irising to increase their contrast ratio. There is currently one large screen system which uses a variation on this by using a faster and anamorphic lens and a dark, high gain screen. The re-reflection of a bunch of gold filigreed wall decorations in an auditorium with that system and everything takes on a green cast.  

But seriously, from a fanboy viewpoint, it may not matter if it is a million or 10 thousand to one if the entire system isn’t adjusted for the movie environment. We can’t have a lot of light in the darkened theater, or we’d be blinded every time there is an actual multi-thousand nit explosion of light. The eyes protective bleaching will kick in and it will be another 30 minutes before we get the benefit of all that dark again. . . or color at all. This is the HVS’s (human visual system’s) magic of accommodation, and Dolby’s design and AMC’s implementation try to take every advantage possible to make it work for us in our seats.

The Dolby Vision entrance announces with an inviting corridor of slowly moving scenes from the coming movie which get your eyes going into dark right away. The auditorium itself is black on black with highlights of deep red. You know that red. . . it is the long wavelength that you remember from scenes of a darkroom. Some magic allows the eyes to use the red without making all the other internal parts get stimulated. In a nice touch, each of the speakers. . . and there are a lot of them on the walls and in the ceiling for this Atmos system. . . each of them is lit with enough red light to see the details of the cones in the arrays or hanging boxes.  

Very cool. If only they lit up the speakers behind the screen. Wonder if they tried it. Did the red show through the micro-perfs of the screen and look cool or did that show the screen shaking devices? We’ll probably not find out. There might be interest in dynamic irising, but there is just as much interest in how one keeps a screen tight when the room changes with humidity and temperature. Will it be an invitation for some smartass to come up with a term like the Aurora Borealis effect when the frequencies get out of balance and the waves make a pattern across parts of the sheet? Or did Dolby nail this problem already? Will have others who are in the big-screen-with-laser-equipment business, those who still need to use screen shakers to keep the speckle down? 

OK; back to the test pattern. After a few seconds of letting the eyes get used to the 2000:1 contrast of white to grey/black, suddenly there is a visual pop. The white does something, but the eyes really see the grey drop several levels to black black black. The intensity of the black is matte on matte. . . or is it that the matte on matte takes on its own kind of intensity vacuum? It is somewhat, that the existence of non-existence that gets triggered. As in, you look at a dark pair of pants in a scene and if you have some contrast you can see that it isn’t just dark but there can be shadows in the dark. With more contrast there will be texture in the faintly lit parts of the fabric that may be darker or lighter than the shadows, and so on. This is the opposite. You notice that there is no subtle shade darker than what you are ‘seeing’, but that you sense that you would have the ability to see a range if it weren’t so dang perfectly black.

What does all this contrast mean? We don’t watch black and white movies. And color is. . . well, color. They’re different parts of the physiological input system. Cones and rods and the twain where they meet. And that cones-based color system gathers data from only 40% of your field of vision, give or take 10% or so. To ‘see’ this, put your hands at 90° from each other, then cut that in half for 45°. Place that in front of your eyes. In the center angle is what the color wavelength sensitive cones are ‘seeing’. Outside of that is what the black and white sensing rods are receiving. Any colors you ‘see’ there is either made up or residual memory from the last time your eyes scanned that part of your field of vision. . . . or something like that.  

A peripheral representation of the peripheral vision

When studying light and color, there is a lot of math and quite a bit of science. But when dealing with light and color perception, suddenly all the papers come from the psychology department. Another thing that is quickly noticed is that no matter what you knew 10 years ago, all the new papers will contradict or refine that data. How all this contrast affects the color images is difficult to discuss because it approaches magic. So, case in point, it was thought that we don’t see color outside of a cone that is 30° of our vision. Now it might be 40 or with certain colors, up to 60°. Everything else is perceived in blacks and greys and white, but the point is that what one knew is no longer true and not only from an empirical (more or less) vantage. The new data comes from a tangent. It isn’t colors from cones, but colors from a mental opposing color mechanism unique to one branch of the evolutionary chain. Opponent colors? That is so 1890’s and Goethe. Wherever it comes from, there is a richness to the color and Dolby has been great with seminar papers and web seminars trying to up our game.

Well, you might ask – those who have upped their game, perhaps the richness comes from laser’s capability to indulge us in a wider set of primary colors, a bit deeper blues and slightly deeper reds and a bit more green (and thereby brightness. ) But we were told at the AMC/Dolby Press Briefing that this extra color space capability – known as Rec. 2020’s color gamut – is entirely a Creatives’ decision and that thus far only one scene of one movie has used the extended gamut (that being the monster scene in Inside/Out. ) We were also told that using 2020 had no negatives, including no extra energy draw. Turns out that this is because the laser diodes happen to be at frequencies that are conducive to 2020 and need no more encouragement to deliver that gamut. . . and that every manufacturer is drawing from the same set of parts. But, that isn’t the reason for the extra pop.

In fact, we are so used to seeing colors in terms of horseshoes that we forget that there is a range of lightness and darkness for all the colors that we are aware of. Just as with understanding sound, we sense quite a lot more than we often understand, then we realize that there is not only much more nuance but much more complication like ‘squares of the distance’ and reflections at certain frequencies, and physical things that happen at some harmonics more than it happens at others.  

Unraveling magic is all we’re left with. Nothing wrong with that. How contrast affects color perception is a great field of study. All we know for certain is that the HVS wants to have a white point to hang its hat on and will let the gooiest brown be white if that is the best it can get. And it will then use that spot as the reference for everything else. We also know that while we can see a range of 14 orders of magnitude of light (ten million to one), at any one time we can only grab about 5 orders of magnitude (10 thousand to one) – again, not so different from our sound capabilities.

Using sound as an example, we might be able to make amplifiers and speakers that could create sound pressure levels that are beyond 2 or 3 multiples of the loudest we have now, but we cannot use it. The ears would clamp down, using its versions of chemical and electrical desensitising, just like the vision system shuts down to protect itself. We’re limited at the top. This being the case, instead of cranking up the amount of light we want bouncing off the screen, refining down into the blacks makes sense. You get the mind thinking that the sun light level is correct and the orders of magnitude of depth are the luxury it craves.

Now that we have learned entendu, (if only the French had a word for it), and how that affects the efficiency of using light and power at the DLP in the projector, we get to learn the human analog, the land of Mr. and Mrs. Troland’s son Leonard. What can go efficiently and effectively into the eye? This isn’t nano stuff, but the iris of the eye makes it is square millimeter stuff and single nits and steradians that actually can be allowed to get into the eye. . . What Mr. Troland has to say about whether there is special magic in a million to one or whether 10 thousand to one would serve just as well will be the musings of a future article.

Fortunately and notwithstanding, we have our tickets to see Spectre in a Dolby Vision room, and we’ll have our Suspension of Disbelief set onto 11, ’cause that’s one more. . . or as the case may be, -11, ’cause that’s one less. Impressions later.  

 

Oh, and to be certain, there is no pretense at extra super secret knowledge in any of the above. After the Press event your author sent a dozen questions or so to the press and engineering people at Dolby and got no response. More on those questions later as well – suffice to say that this system is the high end of the format wars, and it will be a closed system boutique and nuanced experience for a long time. They don’t need to show us no stinking badges, or tell us about multiple DLPs talking to other DLPs so that no light slips into the cracks.  

Other articles on tangential topics:
Dolby Vision and The Force of Darkness
Lessons of Spectre and the Force (WIP)

Integrator News

Dolby Subtly Sings Seattle

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The new Vimeo presentation, The Transformation of Seattle’s Cinerama Theatre, is 5 minutes of Chapter Headings for an unwritten series. It serves to highlight several points of technology, each that could/should be described in 30 minutes or more.

The coming CinemaCon will be one that exposes loudly some of the technology areas that were allowed to stay “under-served” in the past. Alluded to in the video is how much better a picture is when it is properly exposed and how much better audio is when not so subtle points are accommodated for.

How to extol the many virtues of doing things right without pointing out how horrid some decisions have been in the past– and not smearing anyone who didn’t have access to unavailable choices – will be interesting. It may make this one of the great CinemaCons for the technology crowd.

Hat tip to Mel Lambert for pointing out the piece.

Integrator News

Dolby Subtly Sings Seattle

Leave a comment

The new Vimeo presentation, The Transformation of Seattle’s Cinerama Theatre, is 5 minutes of Chapter Headings for an unwritten series. It serves to highlight several points of technology, each that could/should be described in 30 minutes or more.

The coming CinemaCon will be one that exposes loudly some of the technology areas that were allowed to stay “under-served” in the past. Alluded to in the video is how much better a picture is when it is properly exposed and how much better audio is when not so subtle points are accommodated for.

How to extol the many virtues of doing things right without pointing out how horrid some decisions have been in the past– and not smearing anyone who didn’t have access to unavailable choices – will be interesting. It may make this one of the great CinemaCons for the technology crowd.

Hat tip to Mel Lambert for pointing out the piece.

Societies

[Update]Pierce, Jerry, Award, CinemaCon

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Regardless, Jerry did assert a few points. Overarching was a point later made by Dolby at their Atmos launch:

  • Don’t make the cinema experience like a glorified home experience.

His insinuation seemed to be that the exhibitors shouldn’t be caught up in the false premise that they are in a battle with the consumer field. He also encouraged exhibitors to experiment, giving as as example the idea of an up-charge for a “no ads” showing.

Finally he bridged into the area that one is sure he would have liked to give a Master’s Course for Exhibitors: Quality of Exhibition. Instead he only had two minutes, so he went provocative. He said that he would have preferred that he had never seen Avatar in a theater with only 3 footLamberts, declaring that the DVD at home with proper light levels was better. With that he encouraged that the audience members get “full bright plus 10 light levels” for 3D movies so that they will be stellar.

Original Article with Press Release

The Inter-Society for the Enhancement of Cinema Presentation, Inc. (the Inter-Society), in concert with CinemaCon, announced today that Jerry Pierce, former Senior Vice President of Technology at Universal Pictures and Founder/Chairman of the Inter-Society’s Digital Cinema Forum (ISDCF), will receive the Inter-Society’s “2012 Ken Mason Award.”  The award will be presented at CinemaCon, which will be held April 23 – 26, 2012 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. CinemaCon, the official convention of The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), is the largest and most important gathering of cinema owners and operators from around the world.

The Ken Mason Award, named after the Inter-Society’s founder, will be presented to Pierce during the Breakfast and Industry Awards Presentation on Tuesday, April 24 by SVP of Technicolor Curt Behlmer, on behalf of the Inter-Society. The annual award honors an individual who has made outstanding long-term contributions leading to the overall improvement of the motion picture experience.  Previous recipients include: Ken Mason, Barry Reardon, Al Shapiro, Bud Stone, Ioan Allen, Mark Christiansen, Sid Ganis and Gary Weaver.

“Jerry epitomizes the purpose of the Ken Mason award – he has been an instrumental leader toward excellence in the cinema experience,” noted John Fithian, President and CEO of NATO. “His guidance of the ISDCF has enabled the significant industry collaboration to address critical digital cinema-related issues. Exhibitors are undoubtedly grateful for his tremendous service to our industry.”

“From the foundation of DC28, through DCI and the ISDCF, Jerry’s singular vision has been one of the central pillars supporting today’s digital cinema technology,” said Ioan Allen, SVP Dolby Laboratories.

Jerry Pierce came to the film technology industry by way of a master’s degree in electrical engineering-laser optics at Stanford, and 14 years of engineering developments at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft and Stanford Research Institute. He joined Universal in 1995 and immediately began work developing the DVD format, as part of the Universal/Panasonic/Warner Bros./Toshiba team that moved the format from concept to launch – he and Panasonic were recognized with an Emmy award in 1999 for their efforts.

In 2000, Jerry joined the Theatrical Division of Universal Pictures and was at the ground floor of the launch of Digital Cinema.  He was active within The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) DC28, where the initial industry-wide objectives were formulated. He also served as chairman of SMPTE DC28.2, the digital cinema mastering group.  Following the initial SMPTE work, Pierce became a founding member of Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), and served on both the management and technical committees. He also was a board member of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California that hosted the Digital Cinema Theater in Hollywood, where the early testing for DCI was held and many of its standards first tested. His close working relationship with NATO and the Inter-Society was recognized as one of the bridges between the organizations.

Pierce, together with Wayne Anderson and John Fithian, described and initiated the Inter-Society Digital Cinema Forum in 2006 to create a group for cross-industry open discussions on the real-world evolving practices for digital cinema. This has become the de-facto location to bring up critical technical issues for digital cinema.  Jerry has served as its chairman, webmaster and negotiator since its inception. It is widely recognized as the best users forum in the industry.

CinemaCon will attract upwards of 5,000 motion picture professionals from all facets of the industry –from exhibition and distribution, to the equipment and concession areas – all on hand to celebrate the moviegoing experience and the cinema industry. From exclusive Hollywood product presentations highlighting a slate of upcoming films, to must-see premiere feature screenings, to the biggest stars, producers and directors, CinemaCon will help jumpstart the excitement and buzz that surrounds the summer season at the box office. CinemaCon 2012 will be held from April 23-26, 2012 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In returning to Caesars Palace, CinemaCon is able to offer its delegates a modern and upscale conference facility and a one-of-a-kind moviegoing experience in The Colosseum, the 4,200 seat theatre and crown jewel of Caesars Palace.

CinemaCon is delighted to have both the International Cinema Technology Association (ICTA) and National Association of Concessionaires (NAC) as its tradeshow partners. Cinemacon is also delighted to have as its official presenting sponsor, The Coca-Cola Company, one of the industry’s greatest and highly regarded and respected partners in the world of the movies. Additional information on CinemaCon, the Official Convention of NATO, can be found at www.cinemacon.com.

About the Inter-Society – The Inter-Society for the Enhancement of Cinema Presentation, Inc (the Inter-Society), promotes interactive dialogue and information exchange between cinema-related entities with the goal of resolving issues affecting the overall cinema presentation.  Founded in 1978 by Eastman Kodak VP Ken Mason, membership is composed of its five charter trade organizations: the Association of Cinema and Video Labs (ACVL), the International Cinema Technology Association (ICTA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)—along with over 40 member companies, made up of trade organizations, motion picture studios, exhibition companies, manufacturers, technical consultants and other industry stakeholders. Previous activities include playing a major role in the implementation of cyan (silverless) soundtracks for 35MM film and procedures for controlling excessive loudness on trailers and feature films. Current committees include the Inter-Society Digital Cinema Forum (ISDCF) which is focused on resolving issues affecting the global digital cinema deployment, and the Inter-Society Environmental Committee (ISEC) which promotes green conservation and awareness within the cinema industry.

About NATO

The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is the largest exhibition trade organization in the world, representing more than 30,000 movie screens in all 50 states, and additional cinemas in 50 countries worldwide. NATO’s membership includes the largest cinema chains in the world and hundreds of independent theatre owners, too.

Media Contacts:

Heather Lewandoski                                                      Jessica Erskine

Rogers & Cowan                                                               Rogers & Cowan

310.854.8147                                                                      310.854.8129

[email protected] [email protected]

Societies

[Update]Pierce, Jerry, Award, CinemaCon

Leave a comment

Regardless, Jerry did assert a few points. Overarching was a point later made by Dolby at their Atmos launch:

  • Don’t make the cinema experience like a glorified home experience.

His insinuation seemed to be that the exhibitors shouldn’t be caught up in the false premise that they are in a battle with the consumer field. He also encouraged exhibitors to experiment, giving as as example the idea of an up-charge for a “no ads” showing.

Finally he bridged into the area that one is sure he would have liked to give a Master’s Course for Exhibitors: Quality of Exhibition. Instead he only had two minutes, so he went provocative. He said that he would have preferred that he had never seen Avatar in a theater with only 3 footLamberts, declaring that the DVD at home with proper light levels was better. With that he encouraged that the audience members get “full bright plus 10 light levels” for 3D movies so that they will be stellar.

Original Article with Press Release

The Inter-Society for the Enhancement of Cinema Presentation, Inc. (the Inter-Society), in concert with CinemaCon, announced today that Jerry Pierce, former Senior Vice President of Technology at Universal Pictures and Founder/Chairman of the Inter-Society’s Digital Cinema Forum (ISDCF), will receive the Inter-Society’s “2012 Ken Mason Award.”  The award will be presented at CinemaCon, which will be held April 23 – 26, 2012 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. CinemaCon, the official convention of The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), is the largest and most important gathering of cinema owners and operators from around the world.

The Ken Mason Award, named after the Inter-Society’s founder, will be presented to Pierce during the Breakfast and Industry Awards Presentation on Tuesday, April 24 by SVP of Technicolor Curt Behlmer, on behalf of the Inter-Society. The annual award honors an individual who has made outstanding long-term contributions leading to the overall improvement of the motion picture experience.  Previous recipients include: Ken Mason, Barry Reardon, Al Shapiro, Bud Stone, Ioan Allen, Mark Christiansen, Sid Ganis and Gary Weaver.

“Jerry epitomizes the purpose of the Ken Mason award – he has been an instrumental leader toward excellence in the cinema experience,” noted John Fithian, President and CEO of NATO. “His guidance of the ISDCF has enabled the significant industry collaboration to address critical digital cinema-related issues. Exhibitors are undoubtedly grateful for his tremendous service to our industry.”

“From the foundation of DC28, through DCI and the ISDCF, Jerry’s singular vision has been one of the central pillars supporting today’s digital cinema technology,” said Ioan Allen, SVP Dolby Laboratories.

Jerry Pierce came to the film technology industry by way of a master’s degree in electrical engineering-laser optics at Stanford, and 14 years of engineering developments at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft and Stanford Research Institute. He joined Universal in 1995 and immediately began work developing the DVD format, as part of the Universal/Panasonic/Warner Bros./Toshiba team that moved the format from concept to launch – he and Panasonic were recognized with an Emmy award in 1999 for their efforts.

In 2000, Jerry joined the Theatrical Division of Universal Pictures and was at the ground floor of the launch of Digital Cinema.  He was active within The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) DC28, where the initial industry-wide objectives were formulated. He also served as chairman of SMPTE DC28.2, the digital cinema mastering group.  Following the initial SMPTE work, Pierce became a founding member of Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), and served on both the management and technical committees. He also was a board member of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California that hosted the Digital Cinema Theater in Hollywood, where the early testing for DCI was held and many of its standards first tested. His close working relationship with NATO and the Inter-Society was recognized as one of the bridges between the organizations.

Pierce, together with Wayne Anderson and John Fithian, described and initiated the Inter-Society Digital Cinema Forum in 2006 to create a group for cross-industry open discussions on the real-world evolving practices for digital cinema. This has become the de-facto location to bring up critical technical issues for digital cinema.  Jerry has served as its chairman, webmaster and negotiator since its inception. It is widely recognized as the best users forum in the industry.

CinemaCon will attract upwards of 5,000 motion picture professionals from all facets of the industry –from exhibition and distribution, to the equipment and concession areas – all on hand to celebrate the moviegoing experience and the cinema industry. From exclusive Hollywood product presentations highlighting a slate of upcoming films, to must-see premiere feature screenings, to the biggest stars, producers and directors, CinemaCon will help jumpstart the excitement and buzz that surrounds the summer season at the box office. CinemaCon 2012 will be held from April 23-26, 2012 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In returning to Caesars Palace, CinemaCon is able to offer its delegates a modern and upscale conference facility and a one-of-a-kind moviegoing experience in The Colosseum, the 4,200 seat theatre and crown jewel of Caesars Palace.

CinemaCon is delighted to have both the International Cinema Technology Association (ICTA) and National Association of Concessionaires (NAC) as its tradeshow partners. Cinemacon is also delighted to have as its official presenting sponsor, The Coca-Cola Company, one of the industry’s greatest and highly regarded and respected partners in the world of the movies. Additional information on CinemaCon, the Official Convention of NATO, can be found at www.cinemacon.com.

About the Inter-Society – The Inter-Society for the Enhancement of Cinema Presentation, Inc (the Inter-Society), promotes interactive dialogue and information exchange between cinema-related entities with the goal of resolving issues affecting the overall cinema presentation.  Founded in 1978 by Eastman Kodak VP Ken Mason, membership is composed of its five charter trade organizations: the Association of Cinema and Video Labs (ACVL), the International Cinema Technology Association (ICTA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)—along with over 40 member companies, made up of trade organizations, motion picture studios, exhibition companies, manufacturers, technical consultants and other industry stakeholders. Previous activities include playing a major role in the implementation of cyan (silverless) soundtracks for 35MM film and procedures for controlling excessive loudness on trailers and feature films. Current committees include the Inter-Society Digital Cinema Forum (ISDCF) which is focused on resolving issues affecting the global digital cinema deployment, and the Inter-Society Environmental Committee (ISEC) which promotes green conservation and awareness within the cinema industry.

About NATO

The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is the largest exhibition trade organization in the world, representing more than 30,000 movie screens in all 50 states, and additional cinemas in 50 countries worldwide. NATO’s membership includes the largest cinema chains in the world and hundreds of independent theatre owners, too.

Media Contacts:

Heather Lewandoski                                                      Jessica Erskine

Rogers & Cowan                                                               Rogers & Cowan

310.854.8147                                                                      310.854.8129

[email protected] [email protected]

The Future Holds...

Lasers…somebody knows…Barco? RED???

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The basic exception was Laser Light Engines (LLE), who have a deal with IMAX to put lasers into the big room cinemas. If ever there were a nice niche to start this adventure with, this is it. Specialized, contained to dozens and hundreds instead of 10’s of thousands, able to absorb any exceptional pricing, able to evolve. Delivery was scheduled to begin in Spring 2012.

Then the film maker turned digital imaging specialist Kodak shows a system that they clearly are not productizing. But they are playing in the game. They helped set up the organization which is working (throughout the world?) to take projection booth laser systems out of the field of laser entertainment systems, which require a special technology variance for every set-up. Kodak was able to get one by themselves, but the Laser Illuminated Projection Association – LIPA – includes Sony and IMAX, plus LLE and Kodak in this effort. In the US, the over-riding entity is the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which is in charge of ensuring laser equipment safety.

This spring, LLE showed up in Hollywood at that chapter’s SMPTE meeting with Sony and Barco giving powerpoint presentations. Sony had made a couple of public remarks previously, but one had to be culling their online tech papers to notice. And until this point Barco had been quiet…except that the week before they did a demo at the RED Studios Hollywood lot. Nice splash.

Then nothing. No remarks from anyone at CineExpo or CineEurope. The idea has gelled that digital laser projection is 2 years away, or more.

Then this week. The RED user group message board lit up after two pre-viewer comments placed at the head of a thread by RED owner Jim Jannard: Mark L. Pederson of OffHollywood and Stephen Pizzo, Co-Founder of Element Technica and now partner of 3ality Technica, make remarks about having watched a demo of RED’s laser projector. “Vibrant”, “clean”, “never seen projection so …”, etc. Then a few non-answers to poorly phrased guesses (for example, that 4K is a benchmark, and passive 3D did leak out, but both could mean several things) and that was that…25 pages of wasted time thereafter. [Can anyone please vouch for the merits of Misters Pederson and Pizzo as to their ability to discern whether the technology they viewed is comparibly better than what has been seen otherwise?)

Barco, on the hand (and yet similarly) have made an announcement that 9 and 10 January will be their big days. – D3D Cinema to Present Giant Screen 4K 3D Laser Projection Demo at 2nd Annual Moody Digital Cinema Symposium – Well, actually, no. Barco only said, “We’re fully committed to providing the highest quality solutions for giant screen theaters” and some similar non-relevent info about how wonderful their partner is. Basically though, their name is on a press release announcing that they will butterfly laser driven digital cinema light against 15 perf 70mm and 4 other “revolutions”:

  • The FIRST demonstration of Barco’s revolutionary laser light engine on a giant screen
  • The FIRST demonstration of true DLP 4K resolution 3D on a giant screen
  • The FIRST 4K 3D comparison of ‘ultra-reality’ 48 frame/sec & 60 frame/sec content
  • The FIRST giant 3D 500 mbps comparison, nearly double the current cinema bit rate standard

Not withstanding the lack of filtering for marketing bits, and regardless of how some of the terms have been ill-defined in the past (4K 3D, for example), this is still a pretty good line-up.

Prediction: 2012 will be the year that several studios tell their exhibition partners a final date for film distribution (in 2013) and 2012 will have more than one commercial laser system in the field.

Prediction 3 – there may not be more than one DCI compliant system in the field though. RED might find that, if they thought bringing a small camera to market was a difficult trick, supporting projectors is a whole different matter…even if it is only to post-houses and their owners.

Regardless, this is mostly good news. That the RED is using passive doesn’t exactly mean silver screen passive. Perhaps Dolby passive, which would certainly be good news. If it is silver screen passive, that is bad news. Since silver screens don’t comply with SMPTE standards, they may end up on the scrap heap of history. But that is a different story for another article.

Connectivity

3Questions: OpenDCP – Now with GUI

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Open Source tools are described throughout the DCI specifications, and the nuance of using them is detailed in the myriad SMPTE (and ISO) documents of Digital Cinema. The Digital Cinema Package (DCP) is a complex joining of various video and audio standards coupled with several security protocols that make the transport, local storage and playout of entertainment able to be used by any combination of the available ‘compliant’ media players and projectors.

Since official compliance is a new part of the dcinema world, this hasn’t been an easy task. It is made more complicated by the several transitions that the equipment is going through; Series One and Series Two projectors, external to internal media blocks (IMBs), InterOp to SMPTE compliant systems are a few of the major examples.

For the last 10 years packages have been made by the classic companies, Technicolor and Deluxe, and more recently by some of the integrators such as Cinedigm, ArtsAlliance and XDC. Dolby has long had a separate group making packages.

There are several manufacturers who make package creation systems. The two most popular are from Doremi (CineAsset) and Qube (QubeMaster Pro and Xpress). Fraunhofer makes a package named EasyDCP. All of these systems cost in excess of $5,000. All are using somewhat user-cuddly front ends to steer the user through the many details and choices available. It is well known in the field that any product that pops out the other side needs to be tested on each variation of cinema player and projector to make certain that it will play when needed.

OpenDCP is no different2, but until now its interface was by command line (CLI), which added a layer of complexity to the learning curve. This month a new release was posted on the open source code site http://code.google.com/p/opendcp/.

The package roadmap tells of some of the features that hold it back from being the perfect tool for all users. One item not listed is that the GUI version will only create single reel packages (though the CLI will create multi-reel packages). And like all DCP creation packages, the user needs to test the package on the target system.

This brings up the point of “Why”, which becomes easily understood if one searches the net for requests by film-makers and directors who want their product played at film festivals and local cinemas that use digital projection systems. These artists commonly have eaten their relatively small budgets getting the entertainment shot and edited, where there is enough format and standards confusion. Often the festival site doesn’t know the answers either since this is yet another technical area in flux, manned by volunteers who only get fragments of data to pass on to their constituents. The topics of using DVDs or Blu Ray discs comes up. There is a commonality of panic as each question brings up further confusion. The nuance of multi-track audio and going from TV-centric HD standards to truly HD cinema standards (wider color space, 4:4:4 color depth instead of 4:2:0 and different White Points for example) brings up more decision points that can’t be universally answered.

Thus, one more complication in the road to cinema salvation by Alternative Content. While there are many good arguments that these details are best handled by pros who have experience with permanently set-up and maintained professional tools, the reality is that many of these artists just don’t have the money (or rather, they have time that they are forced by circumstances to value at less per hour.) One recent local film festival worked with a patron who charged a flat 200€ fee for the transfers, while the Venice Film Festival transfers materials gratis (in exchange for publicity, which Qube and D2 have taken advantage of for the last two years.)

There is also a need at cinemas to create and package local commercials or theater policy trailers for insertion into the pre-show of the movies and sport and concerts that they show through their digital projection systems. This might be easily handled in larger cities where there are companies who can make economies of scale work in their favor. But spending thousands getting a DCP made will eat all the profits from a quickly shot local pizza parlor ad. New tools such as the RED Scarlet, the Canon 5D MkII, GoPro or Drift cameras and easy to use editing software make this a nice adjunct to a clever facility…only held up by the expense and ease of creating the DCP.

With this background, we spoke to Terrence, the lead programmer for the OpenDCP project. He is a cinema owner of a 7 theater cinema facility which was one of the first independent complexes in the US to go completely digital. He has had extensive experience in the computer field as well, and it was just this need for making local commercials that got him on the project. After listing some of the features of this new DCP creation system with the Graphical User Interface, we’ll ask our Three Questions.

Features

  • JPEG2000 encoding from 8/12/16-bit TIFF images
  • Supports all major frame rates (24,25,30,48,50,60)
  • Cinema 2K and 4K
  • MPEG2 MXF
  • XYZ color space conversion
  • MXF file creation
  • SMPTE and MXF Interop
  • Full 3D support
  • DCP XML file creation
  • SMPTE subtitles
  • Linux/OSX/Windows
  • Multithreaded for encoding performance
  • XML Digital signatures
  • GUI

One last point – Open Source does not necessarily imply free. There is a lot of nuance in just this point, but for example, the EasyDCP system of Fraunhofer also uses tools that follow Open Source standards within its structure, yet it is a highly priced (and highly valued) package. More detail can be found at: GNU, Free Software, and Open Source Software – Linux 101

Hello Terrence. For all the great and required features of the OpenDCP software, what in reality should a user expect as they dive into its use? Without knocking any other package, what advantages and disadvantages will one see when using OpenDCP?

OpenDCP: Let’s continue on the conversation about Open Source tools to illustrate some points. In the current version of the OpenDCP package we use an open source encoder named “openjpeg” that does the work of encoding from the TIFF images to JPEG2000 package. The commercial products can afford to license much faster encoders. Their highend tools might create packages at 15 frames per second (fps) while the OpenDCP packages are converted at 3fps. On long-form projects this can make a significant difference in time. Not quality, of course, and for the short commercial or under 20 minute project this would be an acceptable compromise.

Another advantage that open source projects seem to take better advantage of is the methods of communication with their users. Where commercial entities have to beware of odd statements that live forever on the internet, as well as hackers and spammers and the like, our control issues are not as great and so the OpenDCP user forum can be more open and vibrant. It fits our spirit of cooperation to point to the work of an independent expert in the digital signatures field like Wolfgang Woehl of Filmmuseum Munich whose github digital_cinema_tools social coding site is filled with practical and historical information. He, as a support board monitor, and others of his skill are able to help guide the product and test it in ways that build on the fundamentals of Open Source. People can look through the code and make certain that the standards are kept, and that we don’t do things that commercial entities are often tempted to do.

It isn’t out of the question that we could license a faster JPEG 2000 encoder. We’ve discussed ways to do this on the site – there is a yearly cost of $10,000 to meet. Maybe we could do this with a Pro version, spreading the cost over a number of users. Or maybe we can help spur the OpenJPEG programmers along…anyone out there who is a math genius that wants to help?

DCTools: That’s out of our league, but hopefully there’s someone out there who can apply their genius to the task. How did you decide to take on this OpenDCP task?

OpenDCP: The origins of OpenDCP started in Oct 2010. I had wanted to create a policy trailer for my movie theater. Unfortunately, the cost to have one converted was around $2000 and the cost of the commercial DCP software was in the $5000 range. After some research I came across some people that were attempting to create DCPs using various open source tools. They had success, but the process was a bit involved. It required a half dozen tools, some knowledge of the DCI specifications, compiling of tools. I had some programming experience, so I decided I could take what I had learned and create a tool everyone could use. The first version had a command line interface and it’s feature set grew over a few months. It simplified the process a lot, but I really wanted to add a GUI and last month I released the first GUI version of the tool.

There is certainly a lot of interest in film festivals. A couple have floated the idea of an OpenDCP Film Festival. Unfortunately, I have neither the time or knowledge to plan that sort of thing.

DCTools: There is a great deal of interest toward the inclusion of the hard of hearing and the hearing and visually impaired audience into the great culture known as “Going To The Movies”. Indie producers who I’ve spoken to point out that there are thousands of professional movies shot but only hundreds get finished. Of those, only a small percentage get distribution. So added features like closed captions, narrative tracks and even sub-titles for other markets gets put on the “If List”.

On the other hand, the US Department of Justice will be handing down their directives or rulings soon on how many open and closed caption movies should be played in the commercial cinemas, and the EU is walking toward that path with the recent inclusion of the UN Human Rights documents being used as the basis for inclusion of people’s with handicaps in the marketplace.

How does OpenDCP handle these things, and what else is on your road map?

OpenDCP: Right now, we handle one narrative track per DCP. [DCTools: Many HI/VI equipment manufacturers can switch up to 4 narrative tracks per DCP.] Thus far the typical user hasn’t been doing anything too complex in those regards. OpenDCP will create SMPTE subtitle tracks. But we’ll get there with more options. For example, the GUI currently limits you to one reel per DCP. The command line allows multiple reels and the GUI will as well, just didn’t get done for the first release.

Subtitles are probably the biggest thing people want support for. OpenDCP can handle SMPTE subtitle tracks, but it doesn’t do anything with MXF Interop/Cinecanvas. For my own personal needs, I don’t use subtitles, they are pretty rare in the U.S. However, it seems almost everyone outside the U.S. really needs that support. The problem is that the majority want the Cinecanvas because they mention that SMPTE compliant packages are still not in the field. Most cinemas think that they aren’t going to upgrade their software until InterOp stops working, which is another challenge for SMPTE in general. My issue is that I don’t really want to spend my limited development time implementing features that will be deprecated.

As different packages are usable in the field it seemed like the DCPs that OpenDCP generated wouldn’t play on different sets of equipment all the time. Some media players seemed finicky while others would accept anything. It took several weeks of trying, but it finally worked. It was good because it helped find some slight differences between the MXF Interop and SMPTE packages and flushed out some bugs in my code.

I actually wasn’t even all that aware of how closed caption support in DCPs was handled until a month or so ago. Most of the information I used building OpenDCP came from the DCI 1.2 specification and sort of reverse engineering countless DCPs I had collected from my theater. Then when somebody was having trouble getting a DCP working on the player they were using, they donated a set of SMPTE documents to the project. Reading through the various documents really helped and thats when I learned about the CC stuff.

We hope to have material at the next ISDCF Plugfest. That will hopefully give us more feedback from the professional users.

I’ve gotten feedback from people of all different skill sets that have been able to use OpenDCP to create DCPs. Some have been using it for preshow/commericals, a few are using it for archiving, and independent film makers are quite happy with the results. The current version takes a tiff image sequence and does the jpeg2000 and XYZ color conversion for the picture track. The audio track is created from 24-bit 48/96khz PCM wav files. It supports pretty much supports the entire DCI specification – 3D, 2K/4K, 24, 25, 30, 50, 60fps, digital signatures, etc.

Future features including being able to convert more image types, read directly from video files, image resizing, and simplify the process even more.

Developing OpenDCP has been a great process, first just trying to meet the needs I had as a cinema owner, then really putting my EE degree and programming skills to use. One of the neatest things has been meeting and discussing digital cinema with all kinds of people. I’ve been lucky enough to see some really excellent independent short films and learn so much along the way.

1 GNU GPL v3

2 The OpenDCP author wants to be clear that the project is still considered beta, and that the user should expect some issues depending on different factors. For example, while reading the forum this article’s author noticed that one user had difficulties with an older computer with a slow processor – changing the number of threads in the set-up let the build complete successfully. Thus, the recommendation is to start the DCP process with a small with 5-10 second clip. Get a successful workflow and then do a full conversion.

Audio Processing

Art of Mixing Motion Pictures

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‘Our primary rerecording format remains 5.1-channel soundtracks,’ considers ‘Doc’ Goldstein, VP of post-production engineering at Universal Studios Sound. ‘But we can accommodate other multichannel formats and always have our eye on the future requirements of filmmakers.’ The ubiquitous 5.1-channel format involves three screen channels (left, centre, right) plus separate surround channels beside and behind the audience (labelled left-surround and right-surround) in addition to a low-frequency extension/LFE channel that carries reduced-bandwidth material (hence the ‘0.1’ label).

Read the rest of this fine Mel Lambert/ProAudio Asia article at:
The art of mixing motion pictures – Pro Audio Central

Part 2 of article, speaks about the Iosono Sound Audio System: 
Iosono Surround Sound – a perfect companion to 3D releases?

Such material is carried to audiences on analogue film using one of three data-compressed formats: Dolby Digital, which optically prints the digitised audio between the sprocket holes; DTS, which uses a time code track on the film to synchronise a companion CD-ROM that carries the multichannel audio; and SDDS – Sony Dynamic Digital Sound – which uses a similar technique to Dolby but, as we shall see, can accommodate additional screen channels.

Dolby Digital premiered in 1992 with Batman Returns, while DTS launched a year later with Jurassic Park …

Meanwhile, reacting to a need for a more immersive soundtrack experience and to provide additional panning options …

The first Digital Surround EX release, in May 1999, was for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Earlier this year Dolby unveiled …

There is however another 7.1-channel format that offers extra behind-the-screen loudspeakers. …

According to Gary Johns, SVP of Sony’s Digital Cinema Solutions, there are roughly 7,000 screens worldwide equipped for SDDS 5.1 playback, with fewer than 1,000 screens outfitted for SDDS 7.1. ‘…

‘Of the formats beyond 5.1, we have seen some 7.1-channel mixes,’ Universal’s Mr Goldstein offers. …

All current analogue film releases also carry a two-channel optical Dolby Pro Logic soundtrack that contains…

In addition to the IMAX presentation format that uses a 70mm film or digital file…

Tomlinson Holman, formerly with Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Ranch and now president of TMH Corporation, has been advocating several playback formats, including a 10.2 configuration. Co-developed with Chris Kyriakakis of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and first demonstrated …

‘The difference is not the placement of the speakers,’ Mr Holman stresses, ‘but rather the type of speakers and the information sent to them. 12.2 would use both surround-diffuse and surround-direct channels.’ …

Multichannel Mixes for digital cinema

The advent of digital projection with playback from hard-disk servers rather than analogue film …

‘Beginning in April 2011,’ points out Charles Flynn from the DCinemaCompliance Group, …

The ability to carry uncompressed audio to audiences at enhanced bit rates and sample rates will extend filmmakers’ creative options, …

Sony Pictures Studios’ postproduction complex features five state-of-the art dubbing stages that are ‘capable …

The Future Holds...

DCI Talks NIST

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There are many FIPS standards, since they are the codification for the use of all non-military computers allowed by the US government, which spans many fields. The security standards referenced by SMPTE and the DCI group are the 140 series which were passed in May of 2001 known as 140-2. There are four levels defined in this series beginning with Level 1, ascending with higher components of physical security to Level 4. Level 2 defines physical tamper evidence and role-based authentication, Level 3 adds tamper resistance, identity authentication and different physical and logical separations between different interfaces as data goes between them, complicated with security going back and forth. Level 4 adds more physical security, and focuses on attacks coming from the environment such as Side Channel and Cache attacks. 

Currently, Digital Cinema uses Level 3 of FIPS-2. But FIPS has begun the final steps of their process to supersede FIPS-2 with FIPS-3, expected to be finalized for implementation in 2011 or 2012. DCI specifications (and SMPTE and ISO (the International Standards Organization which incorporated the DCinema SMPTE standards note for note) require that DCI Compliant equipment move with the current FIPS standard. What came as a surprise though was an “Annex A” that was changed in advance of FIPS-3 which changed 3 salient points of the way that keys are utilized in the process.

There has been a DCI statement recently that allows a “grandfathering” of equipment that has passed compliance under the “old” rules. (Compliance Test Plan Change Policy Statement) But manufacturers are still preparing equipment for compliance that will not make it under the old rules. As of now there are several manufacturers of projectors who have passed through the DCI Compliance process, but there are no servers (though some have FIPS compliance already.)  

Michael Karagosian of MKPE Consulting points out: 

A surprise was introduced in January of this year when NIST changed Annex A of FIPS 140-2, the NIST specification for which DCI currently requires compliance.  The transition period for this revision is taking place right now, in this calendar year.  NIST says that after December 31 of 2010, it will no longer accept test results from products that comply with the older version of FIPS 140-2.  

There are some notable exceptions to this deadline that benefit the digital cinema community.  But one very significant issue remains regarding dual use of the asymmetrical key-pair in the media block, for which the December 31 deadline is still intact.  The primary use of the media block key-pair is to encrypt and decrypt the KDM.  But the DCI spec calls for other uses of this key-pair, as well.  The dilemma presented by FIPS 140-2 is discussed in my report in the September issue of the SMPTE Journal, which is online at http://mkpe.com/report/.

To summarize the problem:  SMPTE 430-5, one of the standards that establishes the DCI-compliant Security Log, requires that the media block certificate (public key) be used to digitally sign the media block security logs.  This behavior is mandated by the DCI specification, in addition to other DCI-specified uses. The older version of FIPS 140-2 allows this multi use of the media block key-pair through its normative reference to FIPS 186-2.  However, the newer FIPS 186-3 forbids the multi-use case.  FIPS 140-2 Annex A was updated in January 2010 to now require conformance with FIPS 186-3.  Further, a NIST discussion paper on their website requires compliance to FIPS 186-3 after December 31, 2010.

Below is the relevant text taken from SMPTE 430-5, FIPS 186-3, and the NIST discussion paper:

* From SMPTE 430-5 Security Log Event Class and Constraints, Section 6.2:
“Each Signature shall be signed with the Digital Cinema Certificate of the Security Device that generates the Log Record or sequence of Log Records.”
(A copy of SMPTE 430-5 can be purchased from the SMPTE web site at http://store.smpte.org/product-p/smpte%200430-5-2008.htm.)  Note that the other uses mandated in the DCI spec of the media block’s Digital Cinema Certificate is to create the KDM and to establish a TLS session between media block and projector.

* From FIPS 186-3, page 11 (http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips180-3/fips180-3_final.pdf):
“However, a key pair used for digital signature generation and verification as specified in this Standard shall not be used for any other purpose.”

* From NIST DISCUSSION PAPER: The Transitioning of Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Sizes (http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/ST/key_mgmt/documents/Transitioning_CryptoAlgos_070209.pdf):
“New implementations designed to conform to FIPS 186-2 may be tested by the labs until December 31, 2010, after which only implementations claiming conformance to FIPS 186-3 will be tested for validation.”

If no action is taken by DCI, the result will be that the DCI specification will be in conflict with itself after December 31.  The DCI spec will call for compliance to FIPS 140-2, which will no longer allow the media block key-pair applications that are also required by the DCI specification, including the KDM as it is defined today.

That was written to the InterSociety Digital Cinema Forum on 3 October 2010.

Against that background, DCI issues a document on 11 November 2010:
DCI Informational Bulletin NIST Standards Evolution & FIPS 140-2 to FIPS 140-3 Transition 

Another analysis of FIPS-3: 
Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-3 

Societies

IBC Don’t Miss Events and Booths

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Using the Dolby 3D display system along with Dolby 7.1 surround on 11 September.

Sunday – 12 September 

Conference Session – Digital restoration – new technology, new business – 1:30-13:00

Conference Session – Lights. What camera? Action: The Cinematographer’s battle to keep control of his fast expanding toolbox | David Stump, VFX supervisor, ASC | 14:00-15:30

ACES IIF brings in a 16-bit linear system based on floating point mathematics, and one thing to consider is that the 10-bit Log pipeline has been as big an encumbrance for modern film stocks as it is for digital cameras. It came out of the ASC’s camera review project.

Cinematographers cannot afford to be nostalgic for film, but the steady penetration of digital cameras looks like killing off optical media within four years.

Conference Session – Post-Produciton Workflow – How fast is your workflow? 16:00-17:30

IBC2010 Awards Ceremony

Free to attend for all show visitors – The IBC Awards are presented to the worthy winners of the Innovation Awards, the Exhibition Design Awards, the Conference Awards, the Special Award, the Judges Prize and, of course, the International Honour for Excellence, which this year has been announced as Manolo Romero, the managing director of Olympic Broadcasting Services.

Where: The Auditorium, RAI        Time: 18:15 (18:30 start)

Amsterdam SuperMeet – Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, Dam Square; 19:00 – 23:00. Doors open at 16:00.

For information visit: http://www.supermeet.com/.

Singular Software is only showing at the Supermeet – See PluralEyes for yourself

 

Monday – 13 September | EU DCinema Forum

Stereoscopic 3D Day |

9:30 Keynote, Cameras, 11AM Editing and 2D/3D Creation, 14:00 Exhibition, 16:00 Questions

Monday Night Movie: Avatar (Special Edition) in 3D

A special screening of Avatar, starts at 18:30 on Monday 13 September using the RealD stereoscopic 3D system. 

Tuesday – EDCF

State of play: developments in D-cinema – 10AM – 13:00

Dolby – Booth 2.B28 Dolby Professional Reference Monitor;

Preview of the new PR4200, a new standard for video reference monitors
Promises P3 simulation
projection design – Booth 7.B20 projectiondesign 2K+ projector for production suites
Premier of cineo35 2.5k – the world’s first compact projector capable of showing images at a native 2560 x 1600 resolution.
Meaning that my FCP menus can be next to the image; promises 3D support and P3 simulation

Doremi – Booth 10.B10 – Qalif Cinema Set-up and qualification system

Premiered at CinemaExpo
Panasonic – Booth 11.E60 – I just want to see the AG-AF100 for myself. GH1 Lens, some of the hot rod extras, pro-build.

Canon – Booth 11.E50 – Will they show a PL lens friendly APS-C sensor unit like that Panni? 

Sony – Booth 12.A10 – Will they have fixed the NEX-VG10 omissions? will they have a new Reference Monitor? 
RED – No Booth – Presentation at Assimilate, and BandPro, among others according to this schedule.

Avid – Booth 7.J20 – New Media Pro Release

ASSIMILATE – Booth 7.K01

The Foundry – Booth 7.J18

Band Pro – Booth 12.B20

Autodesk – Booth 7.D25

Bluefish444 – Booth 7.J07

Venera Technologies – Booth7.J15ci –Automated Content Verifier System-Pulsar

Digital Vision – Booth 7.A28

FilmLight – Booth 7.F31 – annual drinks event at booth – Sat, 18:00-20:00.

DVS DI – Booth 7.E25 – CLIPSTER/ Stereoscopic/ Apple ProRes 422

Cine-tal – no booth, but their Cinemage B will be displayed at several booths.

IBC Hall 1

T-VIPS, Booth 1.B71 – Just because they can mention JPEG 2000 and high speed 3D

A highlight of its stand will be a groundbreaking demonstration of lossless JPEG2000 video transport, perhaps the most compelling reason to date for broadcasters and operators to switch to JPEG2000 video transport. The main advantage of JPEG2000 compression  is that it enables significant bandwidth savings when compared to un-compressed video transport and makes possibe the backhaul of HD and 3D video over 1 gigabit ethernet streams without loss of visual quality.

IBC Hall 5

Altera, Booth 5.A19 – Single-chip 4K, format-conversion reference design with integrated serial digital interface (SDI)