The technology used in exhibiting films has evolved and matured ever since Edison Laboratories invented the technology - Film exhibition technology. Though the basic concepts are still similar, it has changed the way the movies are projected. In the 20th century, the film industry has switched to digital projection from cellular-based projection.
Meaning of Digital Cinema
Lev Manovich, a renowned author, says that digital cinema is a combination of live action material, image processing, painting, compositing, 2D computer animation and 3D computer animation. Live action material is first filmed digitally. Later, it is downloaded to a computer and then image processing, compositing and editing takes place. It is done with digital sound which is created in a CD or a separate file. Finally, the movie is ready for distribution and it is projected onto the screen in movie theatres using a digital projector.
Digital Cinema - Technology
In digital cinema, through the strings of 1s and 0s, bytes and bits, the images are recorded, transmitted and replayed. A CD, compact disc, first stores and then sends and retrieves information as it was cole hauser in the military originally recorded. Also, bits and bytes of data can be manipulated easily from production and distribution to get the desired effect. Digital Cinema allows replacement of a traditional film by an electronic copy contained in a storage device, for example, in a hard drive. It is important to note that digital cinema does not project light through film. It makes use of modern technologies such as DLP and LCOS to accomplish the task.
Advantages of Digital Projections
Digital projectors allow alternative content to be shown in the movie theatres. This alternative content could be events such as met opera, concerts or sporting activities.Unlike analog films that used the method of connecting reels in order to assemble one film, digital films use one or two clicks to accomplish the same task.The quality of the film shown through digital projectors remains the same even after showing the same film thousand times. In case of analog films, the quality gets depreciated with every show.Analog films involve huge shipping costs. The reason being that studios need to ship these films in canisters to get them to the theatres. In case of digital cinema, the file is downloaded just one night before it is scheduled to play. Hence, it involves no cost.
A Dale "Bud" Mayo, the chairman and CEO of digiplex, says that digital technology has changed the basic purpose of a movie theater. People who go to movie theaters are served by new advances in digital projection.