Film versus digital cinema: the evolution of moving images

Michael Tinker

doi:10.1117/12.476611

7 May 2003 Film versus digital cinema: the evolution of moving images

Michael Tinker

Proceedings Volume 5022, Image and Video Communications and Processing 2003; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.476611
Event: Electronic Imaging 2003, 2003, Santa Clara, CA, United States

Abstract

Film has been used for movies for over 100 years. D-cinema will soon produce images that equal or surpass film. When that happens, movies will take their basis from computer technology, leading to higher quality, lower cost, and greater flexibility for all aspects of the industry. For example, d-cinema will allow higher frame rates, flexible subtitles, alternative content, and resolutions and color spaces beyond film. Given these opportunities, we must not simply emulate the mechanical past. Insisting, for instance, on a single type of compression or security scheme is misguided. Both these areas are evolving, and we should take advantage of that evolution, while promoting standards that allow that evolution to happen in an orderly way. Mechanical projectors can play back only one kind of film; computer servers can play back any number of formats. It would be wrong to select a single format at this time, only to have the technology become more capable in the near future. We must allow the continuously evolving technology that characterizes computers, not the frozen technology that has characterized mechanical systems. We must work toward an environment that allows interoperability of d-cinema technologies-not systems that limit us to a single technology.

Citation Download Citation

Michael Tinker "Film versus digital cinema: the evolution of moving images", Proc. SPIE 5022, Image and Video Communications and Processing 2003, (7 May 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.476611

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