DSP Laboratory - DIEI

The Enhanced Digital Cinema (EDCine) project is focusing on the optimisation, enhancement and interoperability issues of JPEG 2000 based Digital Cinema standards. JPEG 2000 compression and the “DCI specifications” document are the cornerstones of the project’s efforts. The “DCI specifications” document published in April 2007 confirms the SMPTE decision to choose JPEG 2000 instead of MPEG for digital cinema coding. This choice clearly does not take account of many European issues. The MXF file format and security tools specifications are being adopted following the DCI studios’wishes. They lead to an unquestionable increase in the quality of the theatre experience. Nevertheless the specifications’ rigidity, due mainly to the total absence of choice about the compression format, will force theatres willing to be able to project digital content to comply with those requirements within a few years to make great financial efforts.
If this aspect can be considered not to be an issue for large multiplex theatres, which are often directly tied to a major, the same cannot be asserted for the great majority of European cinemas, which consist mainly of a number of small theatres distributed in small or medium sized towns and for which conforming to DCI specifications could be beyond their own investment capabilities.