Features
Digital Cinema Driving New Growth
By Margot Douaihy
Jun 8, 2005, 13:21

Committed to high-caliber education with a real-world impact, InfoComm 05 hosted Beyond the Cineplex, a day-long forum on new markets and applications for digital cinema technology. Presented by the Digital Cinema Report and ICIA, and sponsored by Da-Lite, Sony, and Grass Valley, the forum was held yesterday.

Sessions included diverse topics such as digital technology purchasing trends, corporate media firms making the transition to HD, and audio design in theater spaces. Panelists included industry veterans such as Steve Tingley, Keith Katers and Steve Schumacher, who comprise the Media Production Team at American Family Insurance, and Jim Logan, founder of Logan Productions. Logan said that his high-profile clients, like John Deere, who have contracted commercials in HD are so impressed by its outstanding quality that they simply refuse to turn back to conventional video.

Panelists also discussed the challenges of the current digital cinema market, including format wars. Sony and Panasonic are duking it out right now it is a battle, not to mention the smattering of other players, Logan said. But you have to jump into it, and with time, you can make it happen. Now there is a low-end, which is getting much better, and a high-end, moving from 2K to 4K resolution.

The forum also explored the ways AV professionals and video producers are maximizing digital film, including digital stills.

Matt Peterson, president of Scenic Wonders based in Madison, WI, said, Digital cinema allows for much more flexibility for distribution, as just one example, and opens the door to new revenue for E-Cinema venue owners.

Peterson, who has participated in Beyond the Cineplex forum for the past two years, and produces Digital Cinema Reports market research products, also thinks that the nation s theaters are capable of offering much more value, and that AV professionals who understand HD and can harness its potential will benefit.


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