Digital Cinema

The latest developments in the information technology, the digital projection technology and the data compression allow a progressing digitisation of the cinema and so a complete digital evaluation of films. ARRI film & TV offers an end-to-ends solution for the production of Digital Cinema content.

For this purpose own Tools were developed and integrated into the ARRI postproduction-workflow. The specifications of the Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) as well as the SMPTE standard were respected. This workflow offers the greatest possible flexibility, quality and security for the customer.

 


Digital Source Master

The DSM is the result of the mastering process of the post-production and contains the finalised image and audio data. These serve as starting point for the creation of the Digital Cinema Package (DCP). The DSM can also be used to convert a master for archival purposes.

Digital Cinema Distribution

The DCDM is a universal exchange format, which is provided by the Digital Source Master (DSM). It contains the image data, audio data and subtitle data and can be used as an universal master format for all steps of the exploitation chain, because the data is still uncompressed and unencrypted.

For the sound editing of the audio data master which is an 24 bits Broadcast Wave file (BWF) with appropriate Channel Mapping is converted into a polyphonic wav file.

Digital Cinema Package

The DCP is the digital substitute of the previous film print. For this purpose the image data of the DCDM will be compressed into the JPEG2000-format. The content key generated in addition is stored separately in a trusted environment and is used for the subsequent Key Delivery Message (KDM) generation.

In the following production step Packaging the image and audio material as well as the metadata (Composition Playlist, Packing List, Asset map and PCF) is packaged and encrypted in the MXF format.

The major element is the Composition Playlist, which specifies the order of the reels. The ARRI developed Packaging tools as well as the necessary certifcation tools are applied into these operations.

Digital Cinema Distribution

The distribution of the DCPs takes place on a physical media e.g. a harddisk or electronic via satellite. Since the material is encoded, the routes of transport do not have to be secured separately.

The required key for the use of the content is supplied by a Key Delivery Message (KDM) to the selected cinemas. The KDM contains the fixed validity period of the key and a certificate of the respective Digital Cinema Players beside the content key. Due to the certificate the Cinema Player is clearly identified. This guarantees that the content will only be played on the selected players.

Digital Cinema Projection

After the creation of the DCPs the distribution can take place by different ways of distribution to the cinemas. If the DCP has been ingested on the Digital Cinema player, the DCP is verified for integrity. Also the KDM is verified for its integrity and validity. If the validation was successful, the content can be played in a specified play period.