2002 UCLA J.L. & Tech. Notes 9

The Dawn of Digital Cinema - Issues in Law and Technology
 by Michael Kurzer

The major motion picture studios now spend an average of $800 million dollars per year making film prints. 1 In addition to being expensive to produce, these prints wear out in a matter of weeks after repeated theater showings. 2 Improvements in broadband and semiconductor technology are now making digital cinema (D-Cinema) a reality. In 1999, Texas Instruments installed 31 digital projectors based on their Digital Light Processor (DLP) technology.3 Initial response has been proven the concept successful.4 IDC market research projects worldwide shipments of digital cinema systems to rise from 750,000 today to 3 million by 2007.5

Digital cinema consists of projecting a digital image through a lens onto a theater screen.6 The Digital Light Processor (DLP) uses an XY grid of tiny mirrors controlled with micro electromechanical (MEMs) semiconductor technology to project an image.7 Each mirror can be independently tilted under digital control every 15 millionths of a second.8 This allows a selective subset of light source to be projected under computer control.9

One of the important legal concerns with the development of digital cinema is the potential for piracy. Will there be a repeat of what happened with digital proliferation in the music industry, ala Napster? There is some belief that piracy will actually be more difficult with digital cinema. For one the transmission systems are closed off from the greater internet.10 The transfer of data is solely between businesses.11 An example would be the transfer between a movie studio and a theater. Security devices will likely be technology agnostic allowing flexibility to determine a different scheme by each content provider.12 This will protect against any single "magic code" being cracked.13

Another security aspect is that digital screenings can be encoded with informational watermarking. The watermark could reveal which theater and what time the picture is shown.14 This could make life difficult for bootleggers who sit in movie theaters and tape movies with a camcorder.15

Additional Web Links:

http://Jupiter.ucsd.edu/~manovich/text/digital-cinema.html
http://www.contentworld.com/newsdigest/122001_news_analysis.html
http://www.indiewire.com/film/festivals/fes_01NAB_010508_wrap.html
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28085,00.html?nl=int
 

Footnotes

1. Ty Burr, Reel Gone? Digital projectors are ready for theaters. Why are multiplex owners afraid to byte?, Entertainment Weekly (May 3, 2001), at http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,108459~1~-~digitalprojectorsareready,00.html
2. Carolyn Giardina and Scott Lehane, Special Report: Digital Cinema - Projecting a New Market, As Digital Cinema Technology Advances , Stakeholders Struggle, Film & Video Magazine (2002), at http://www.filmimaging.com/2001/12_dec/features/digitalcinema3.htm
3. See Ty Burr, Reel Gone? Digital projectors are ready for theaters. Why are multiplex owners afraid to byte?, Entertainment Weekly (May 3, 2001), at http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,108459~1~0~digitalprojectorsareready,00.html
4. Id.
5. Xilinx, Commercial Site for Digital Cinema End Markets (2002), at http://www.xilinx.com/esp/dvt/end_apps/digital_cinema.htm
6. Id.
7. Id.
8. Id.
9. Id.
10. See Ty Burr, Reel Gone? Digital projectors are ready for theaters. Why are multiplex owners afraid to byte?, Entertainment Weekly (May 3, 2001), at http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,108459~1~0~digitalprojectorsareready,00.html
11. Id.
12. Mark John, Can Hollywood Reinvent Itself in the Age of Digital Cinema? Are you out there, Mr. Thalberg?, PresentationMaster (Jan. 2001), at http://www.presentationmaster.com/2002/01_jan/editorials/odeon_digital.htm
13. Id.
14. See Ty Burr, Reel Gone? Digital projectors are ready for theaters. Why are multiplex owners afraid to byte?, Entertainment Weekly (May 3, 2001), at http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,108459~1~0~digitalprojectorsareready,00.html
15. Id.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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