Crest Digital was a privately owned company specializing in

post production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

and DVD/CD replication. Crest Digital provided

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

authoring,

digital asset management Digital asset management (DAM) and the implementation of its use as a computer application is required in the collection of digital assets to ensure that the owner, and possibly their delegates, can perform operations on the data files. Termino ...

audio mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more audio channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aest ...

, language

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

and

subtitling Subtitles are texts representing the contents of the audio in a film, television show, opera or other audiovisual media. Subtitles might provide a transcription or translation of spoken dialogue. Although naming conventions can vary, caption ...

, and DVD/CD optical media replication services. Clients included major film and television studios, software companies, record labels, airlines and industrial clients from around the world. The company closed in September 2012.

History

Crest Digital was founded in 1961 by Maurice Stein, a former camera store owner and color timer, and his wife Jeanne. Originally named Crest National Film Laboratories, the company's services first included developing original 35mm and

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ...

film negative, release printing and film restoration. During the 1970s and 1980s, Crest National expanded into the world of video and began to service the

in-flight entertainment In-flight entertainment (IFE) refers to entertainment and other value-added services available to aircraft passengers during a flight. Frequently managed by content service providers, the types of in-flight entertainment and their content vary s ...

and

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

industries. Language dubbing and subtitling, restoration, editing, sub-mastering, and videotape duplication services were later added. In the 1990s, CD and DVD replication, DVD encoding, menu design and authoring services were offered and a new optical media manufacturing plant was built in Hollywood in 1996. By 2000, Crest National was named #22 of "The 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies in Los Angeles. Crest National was given the task of restoring the original

Cinerama Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35 mm movie film, 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, Subtended angle, subtending 146-degrees of arc. The trademarked pr ...

negative for “ How the West Was Won" in 2000 and built their own screening room, complete with three authentic Cinerama projectors, a seven-track sound system and 146-degree curved screen, in order to complete the projects.” Crest National acquired Anaheim-based Concord Disc Manufacturing Corp. in 2004, doubling the size of their CD/DVD replication operation and quadrupling their packaging capabilities. Crest National rebranded as Crest Digital in 2006 and expanded their operations into China in 2007, partnering with China Film Group and building a 15,000 square meter state-of-the-art DVD and CD manufacturing facility outside Beijing. Crest Digital had been the country's majority provider of in-flight movies to airlines since the 1970s. They provided editing-for-content, captioning, encoding, and dubbing and subtitling services in over 65 languages to all the major airlines. Crest Digital was one of only three Class ‘A' DVD Verification Laboratories, and one of only two Class ‘A' HD DVD Laboratories approved by the DVD Forum in North America. Ron Stein, son of Crest Digital's founders, was the president and CEO. Throughout its lifetime, the company had been family owned.

Firsts (partial list)

In 1963, Crest Digital developed the first 35/32 printing equipment for use in motion picture labs. The first

closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information, where the viewer is given the choice of whether the text is displayed. Closed cap ...

for the hearing impaired direct for home video cassette and videodisc release was introduced by Crest Digital (then called Crest National) in 1984. The company introduced the world's first 65/70mm flying spot scanner film transfer system, “Ultrascan 70™” in 1991. In 2002, the first Cineglyph HD large-format telecine was introduced. Royal Philips Electronics and Crest Digital partnered in May 2002 to develop and install the first

Super Audio CD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the compact disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows multiple a ...

(SACD) hybrid disc production line in the country at Crest Digital's Hollywood facilities, with a production capacity of 3 million discs per year. Crest Digital also did the first MPEG encoding for in-flight films.

70mm Films in Ultrascan 70 (List incomplete)

* 2001:A Space Odyssey * The Hallelujah Trail * South Pacific * Oklahoma! * STAR! * It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World * The Alamo * Spartacus * West Side Story * Chitty Chitty Bang Bang * The Sound of Music * Baraka

Awards

* American Society of Cinematography 1994 * Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Women of Distinction Award to Crest Digital Executive Vice President Lorraine Stein Ross 2000 * Golden Image Awards 2002 * Microsoft Premier Vendor Award 2004 * Specialty Graphics Imaging Association Continuity Award 2004 * Saturn Awards: 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 * Specialty Graphics Imaging Association Division: CD 2004 * Hollywood Arts Council Charlie Award, Industry Founders Award 2004 * Screen Printing and Graphic Imaging Association International-Golden Image Competition (SGIA) Division: CDs 2001 * World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Crest Digital CEO Ron Stein 2009

References

External links

* {{Authority control Film production companies of the United States