Digital Cinema in 2008

A review on the standards and technology related to digital cinema and business challenges, is presented. The number of digital cinema installations reached up to 5,000 screens by June 2008. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved 12 SMPTE D-Cinema standards. The D-Cinema standards can be categorized into 428 D-Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM) series, the 429 D-Cinema Packaging (DCP) series, and the 430 D-Cinema Operations series. D-Cinema standards also include standards on packaging constraints, audio formats, and closed captions. The Dave Schnuelle of Dolby Laboratories was elected as the chair-main of the 21DC Digital Cinema Technology Committee. SMPTE is the organization responsible for developing D-Cinema standard. Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) released its Digital Cinema System Specification (DCSS).