Digital Update

Fall 2008 marks three years since the rebirth of cinematic 3D and the initial installations of approximately 100 screens for Disney’s Chicken Little. There are now approximately 1,800 3D digital screens worldwide, with equipment from three primary vendors, Real D, Dolby and XpanD, and that number is expected to increase dramatically in the next year. As digital 3D has matured, we have also seen new names pop up, including MasterImage, ColorCode and Sensio, each with plans to extend their brand and products into the cinema exhibition market.

While the choices in 3D equipment from vendors continue to grow, it is the studios, their titles, and the great box-office results that are driving 3D conversions. Both Disney and DreamWorks Animation have made substantial commitments to supply a full slate of 3D content, with approximately 30 titles announced so far. Disney has announced two major Christmas titles will be available in 3D: Bolt and the traditional re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas. In 2009, Disney will be releasing Jonas Brothers, G-Force and others including the re-release of the Toy Story trilogy. DreamWorks Animation is expecting a significant push for 3D with their May 2009 release of Monsters vs. Aliens, and likely every animated title will be in 3D thereafter. Warner Bros., through their New Line division, recently made history by releasing the first new live-action 3D title, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and reports a phenomenal 3.7 times the box office over 2D screens. And in 2009, 20th Century Fox is releasing Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in July and, of course, the highly anticipated 3D release of James Cameron’s Avatar in December.

While the production pipeline is gearing up for an increase in 3D titles, the question remains, particularly with distributors, whether there will be enough 3D screens to accommodate the expected 2009 releases. Fortunately, based on the recently announced commitments from the leading 3D technology providers, the answer is a clear yes.

Real D
Real D, with approximately 1,400 screens installed, continues to lead with an impressive number of commitments from U.S. and international exhibitors. Just recently, Regal Entertainment committed to 1,500 Real D screens. Cinemark, also a partner in the Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP) rollout, followed with a commitment to add an additional 1,500 screens over the next three years.

In Canada, Cineplex Entertainment has agreed to increase their total from 41 to 175 Real D systems and Mexico’s Cinepolis has committed to adding 500 Real D 3D systems by the end of 2010. These additions, along with Odeon’s plans for up to 500 Real D systems in Europe, brings Real D’s total commitments to over 5,500 systems in the 2009 and 2010 timeframe.

Real D’s engineering team has been busy finishing off their most recent innovation, the Real D XL “light-doubler”, an optical assembly that fits in front of the standard DLP Cinema projector, replacing their previous “Z-screen” shutter assembly. The XL filter recovers most of the light lost in the polarization process, allowing Real D 3D to be used with a single projector on screens as wide as 60 feet. Real D XL addresses a need in the market as more and more 3D content becomes available and exhibitors want to play these attractions in 3D on their larger screens. Michael Lewis, Real D 3D chairman and CEO, says, "Real D is committed to 3D cinema and to innovation. 3D is all we do—and this expertise allows us to continually upgrade our cinema technology, providing the absolute best 3D experience available. Real D XL is the latest example of that."

Dolby Digital 3D
Dolby Digital 3D also continues to make steady progress, particularly in the international market, with around 200 systems installed worldwide, and commitments for considerably more in the coming months. "Momentum for the Dolby 3D system is growing, as exhibitors around the world are seeing the immediate benefits of our digital 3D solution," states Peter Seagger, VP of international sales. "Not only does our high-quality system create an incredible moviegoing experience for customers, but it's also easy for exhibitors to integrate in their theatres.” Unlike the polarized systems (Real D and MasterImage), Dolby’s process uses a white screen but more expensive passive glasses that can be used around 400 times, decreasing their per-screening cost.

Dolby has recently initiated a licensing program to allow the Dolby 3D color processing necessary for correct playback to be incorporated into servers from other companies, thereby relieving the requirement that Dolby 3D playback be built on a Dolby Digital server. At the recent Cinema Expo in Amsterdam, XDC demonstrated that they can now play Dolby 3D using their new CineStore Solo G3 server. It is expected that other server companies will follow XDC by offering Dolby 3D-playable capability with their equipment.

XpanD
XpanD is a relatively new name in the North American cinema market, although fairly well-known in Europe, where they have approximately 200 3D installations in commercial theatres. In June 2008, XpanD announced it first U.S. commitment with the sale of 12 systems to Marcus Theatres. “Marcus Theatres is pleased to offer our guests a unique 3D experience at these 12 locations utilizing XpanD’s active glasses,” said Marcus president Bruce J. Olson. “This innovative technology provides another way for us to attract more moviegoers to our theatres. We look forward to working together to create the ultimate movie experience.”

XpanD uses active LCD shutter glasses and therefore does not require a silver screen to maintain polarization. In the spring of 2008, XpanD acquired the assets of NuVison Technologies of Beaverton, Oregon, the world’s leading manufacturer of active 3D glasses, and opened a North American sales and support office in Los Angeles.

Although 3D systems using active glasses are popular with parks and special venues, they are just catching on with commercial exhibitors primarily because the glasses are becoming less expensive, lighter, and generally more user-friendly. Although XpanD’s current glasses are priced comparable to Dolby’s passive glasses, they also have a finite lifetime of around 300 to 400 movies due to their internal sealed battery. At Cinema Expo, XpanD showed concept drawings of their next-generation active glasses that will have replaceable batteries and an RFID security chip. Deliveries are planned for this fall.

Exhibitors like the additional flexibility of being able to move XpanD 3D between auditoriums by just equipping screens with the IR emitters and moving the glasses, rather than having dedicated 3D auditoriums. When it comes to glasses, Real D has an advantage in that their glasses are low-cost, single-use giveaways, while both Dolby and XpanD use more expensive eyewear that must be collected and reused between shows. Typically, the glasses are washed between shows in industrial dishwashers; however, some European exhibitors have found their customers prefer cleaning them with disposable wipes when provided. This not only saves the time and cost of processing the glasses between shows, but allows exhibitors to recover the costs of the wipes by selling ads on the packages.

MasterImage
MasterImage, a Korean 3D technology provider, has also introduced their 3D systems in approximately 20 theatres in the Asian market and is testing in a handful of North American theatres. The MasterImage system is somewhat similar to Real D’s alternating circular polarized approach in that it uses a silver screen along with low-cost glasses. Instead of an electronic shutter, MasterImage uses a mechanical shutter wheel mounted near the projection lens. Although similar in principle, the glasses are not compatible with Real D’s. MasterImage claims their system is lower in cost with no ongoing licensing fees and no restriction on moving systems between auditoriums.

All of the current 3D systems are designed to be used with a single projector, but also with two side-by-side projectors when needed. The dual-projector systems provide more light for larger screens and arguably a better image, because triple-flashing the image through one projector can be eliminated. But dual projectors are more difficult to keep in tight alignment necessary for accurate 3D images and, therefore, some studios have discouraged their use except on a case-by-case basis.

Sensio
Another company making 3D news is Sensio, from Montreal. Unlike the others, Sensio is not a 3D format but a transport system that encodes the two separate eye channels into one data channel so it can be efficiently sent through existing satellite links. Sensio uses what is said to be visually lossless spatial compression between the two eye channels to reduce the bandwidth to that of a single channel. In the cinema, Sensio equipment decodes the transmitted data back into the left-eye and right-eye channels, where they can be fed into the projector equipped for a specific 3D system, such as Real D, Dolby or XpanD. Therefore, Sensio 3D is a delivery technique that works upstream from the existing 3D formats.

Recently, International Datacasting Corporation, (IDC), partnered with AccessIT, announced the initial deployment of the “CineLive” solution utilizing Sensio decoder technology to 50 theatres across the United States, with plans to increase deployment to 150 theatres by the end of 2008. “With this first implementation, we have secured our lead over the competition and increased our visibility, as we have agreement that the Sensio brand will be shown during every presentation,” stated Nicholas Routhier, Sensio president and CEO.

ColorCode 3D
ColorCode 3D is another new name in the cinema market. Based in Denmark, ColorCode has been showing their 3D process to Hollywood studios, although they have yet to demonstrate feature content on a large screen. ColorCode 3D is often described as “super-anaglyph” in that it uses low-cost color filter glasses. The twist is that the left- and right-eye channels are combined into a single channel using a proprietary ColorCode 3D encoder during production and the encoded image looks quasi-compatible in 2D. In other words, without the glasses, the image is said to look “almost” as good as the normal 2D image.

ColorCode points out that their process requires no changes in the playback system and that it works with any standard digital projector and screen, with film prints, or consumer formats such as DVD, Blu-Ray, and even with printed materials. In theory, the one-sheets, advertising and consumer release could also be viewed in 3D using the same glasses. Of course, it remains to be seen whether viewers will accept the compromises in the 2D and 3D images in order to obtain this cross-compatibility. For the cinema, it is unlikely that critical filmmakers will accept anything less than perfect images, but for the consumer markets, ColorCode 3D may offer some interesting possibilities.

With the number of titles and equipment choices growing, adding 3D should be a central part of any exhibitor’s digital deployment plans. The choice of equipment is an individual decision, as each 3D format offers its own unique set of advantages that may better match a particular exhibitor’s or screen’s requirements.

By Bill Mead, Film Journal International