Digital Cinema

Ten years ago, from January 2001 until June 2003, Barco, with the support of the Flemish Government Agency IWT, headed the ITEA project "Digital Cinema" to develop the key components for the transition of the movie industry from analogue 35mm film to digital technology.

Digital Cinema is a good example of a project seizing the high ground through its commercial success and simplifying considerably the life of the users (copy virtualisation thus reducing the global cost, good content protection, high quality projection).

Philippe Letellier - ITEA Vice-chairman

The main innovation in this project centred on:

• Projectors

  Barco was able to develop a Digital Cinema product family ranging from the first DP30 to the DP100 projector, which was Barco's first 2K digital projector to support the DCI standard drafted at the time.

• Communicator software

  This software allows post-production houses to build customised projector profiles, with full access to all the projector parameters including an integrated 3D colour look-up table. Cinema Exhibitor's technical staff can remotely monitor, set up and upgrade a suite of projectors.

• Alternative Content interfaces

  Digital projectors enable new applications for Cinema Exhibitors: B2B presentations, live events, opera, gaming... It was therefore important to offer an optional interface (Barco's ACSAR) to connect and format any type of video or PC signal, with fully integrated control to enable single button operation of the projector and the interface.

• Subtitling

  Projectors were outfitted with the capability to render and overlay subtitles internally. Subtitles were delivered as independent XML files enabling easy localisation of a single digital distribution master.

The business success of this project was such that some partners merged after the completion of the project to better access the market (Octalis acquired by Thomson, Barco acquiring some activities of XDC (previously part of EVS).