Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) is a

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

of major motion picture studios, formed to establish specifications for a common

systems architecture A system architecture is the conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and view model, views of a system. An architecture description is a formal description and representation of a system, organized in a way that supports reasoning ...

for

digital cinema Digital cinema is the digital technology used within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be shipped to mo ...

systems. The organization was formed in March 2002 by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

20th Century Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

, Walt Disney Studios and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

The primary purpose of DCI is to establish and document specifications for an

open architecture Open architecture is a type of computer architecture or software architecture intended to make adding, upgrading, and swapping components with other computers easy. For example, the IBM PC, Amiga 2000 and Apple IIe have an open architecture supp ...

for digital cinema that ensures a uniform and high level of technical performance, reliability and quality. By establishing a common set of content requirements,

distributors A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time. Design A ...

studios A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to Wiktionary:study, study or zeal. Types Art The studio o ...

, exhibitors, d-cinema manufacturers and vendors can be assured of interoperability and compatibility. Because of the relationship of DCI to many of

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

's key studios, conformance to DCI's specifications is considered a requirement by software developers or equipment manufacturers targeting the digital cinema market.

Specification

On July 20, 2005, DCI released Version 1.0 of its "Digital Cinema System Specification", commonly referred to as the "DCI Specification". The document describes overall system requirements and specifications for digital cinema. Between March 28, 2006, and March 21, 2007, DCI issued 148 errata to Version 1.0. DCI released Version 1.1 of the DCI Specification on April 12, 2007, incorporating the previous 148 errata into the DCI Specification. On April 15, 2007, at the annual NAB Digital Cinema Summit, DCI announced the new version, as well as some future plans. They released the "Stereoscopic Digital Cinema Addendum" to begin to establish 3-D technical specifications in response to the popularity of 3-D stereoscopic films. It was also announced "which studios would take over the leadership roles in DCI after the current leadership term expires at the end of September." Subsequently, between August 27, 2007, and February 1, 2008, DCI issued 100 errata to Version 1.1. So, DCI released Version 1.2 of the DCI Specification on March 7, 2008, again incorporating the previous 100 errata into the specification document. An additional 96 errata were issued by August 30, 2012, so a revised Version 1.2 incorporating those additional errata was approved on October 10, 2012. DCI approved DCI Specification Version 1.3 on June 27, 2018, integrating the 45 errata issued to the previous version into a new document. On July 20, 2020, fifteen years to the day after Version 1.0, DCI issued a new DCI Specification Version 1.4 that assimilated 29 errata issued since Version 1.3. On October 13, 2021, DCI approved a new DCI Specification Version 1.4.1 that integrated the 23 errata that had been issued to DCI Specification Version 1.4. For the convenience of users, DCI also created an online HTML version of DCI Specification, Version 1.4.1. Due to the HTML conversion process, the footnotes in the DCSS now appear as endnotes. The PDF version contains pagination and page numbers whereas the HTML version does not. DCI Specification Version 1.4.2, dated June 15, 2022, includes revisions and refinements respecting Object-Based Audio Essence (OBAE), also known as Immersive Audio Bitstream (IAB). Version 1.4.2 also implements post-show log record collection utilizing SMPTE 430-17 SMS-OMB Communications Protocol Specification. Additionally, Version 1.4.2 incorporated two prior addenda: the Digital Cinema Object-Based Audio Addendum, dated October 1, 2018 and the Stereoscopic Digital Cinema Addendum, Version 1.0, dated July 11, 2007. Users using Version 1.4.2 no longer need to refer to the separate addenda. Previous DCSS versions are archived on the DCI web site. Based on many

SMPTE The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (, rarely ), founded by Charles Francis Jenkins in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global professional association of engineers, technologists, and e ...

and

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

standards, such as

JPEG 2000 JPEG 2000 (JP2) is an image compression standard and coding system. It was developed from 1997 to 2000 by a Joint Photographic Experts Group committee chaired by Touradj Ebrahimi (later the JPEG president), with the intention of superseding their ...

-compressed image and "broadcast wave"

PCM Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to Digital signal (signal processing), digitally represent analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio application ...

/ WAV sound, the DCI Specification explains the route to create an entire

Digital Cinema Package A Digital Cinema Package (DCP) is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams. The term was popularized by Digital Cinema Initiatives, Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC in its original ...

(DCP) from a raw collection of files known as the Digital Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM), as well as the specifics of its content protection,

encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

, and forensic marking. The DCI Specification also establishes standards for the decoder requirements and the presentation environment itself, such as ambient light levels,

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

aspect and shape, image

luminance Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through, is emitted from, or is reflected from a particular area, and falls wit ...

white point A white point (often referred to as reference white or target white in technical documents) is a set of tristimulus values or chromaticity coordinates that serve to define the color "white" in image capture, encoding, or reproduction. Depending o ...

chromaticity Chromaticity is an objective specification of the quality of a color regardless of its luminance. Chromaticity consists of two independent parameters, often specified as '' hue'' (''h'') and ''colorfulness'' (''s''), where the latter is alte ...

, and those tolerances to be kept. Even though it specifies what kind of information is required, the DCI Specification does not include specific information about how data within a distribution package is to be formatted. Formatting of this information is defined by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) digital cinema standards and related documents.

Image and audio capability overview

2D image

* 2048×1080 ( 2K) at 24 frame/s or 48 frame/s, or 4096×2160 ( 4K) at 24 frame/s ** In 2K, for Scope (2.39:1) presentation 2048×858 pixels of the imager is used ** In 2K, for Flat (1.85:1) presentation 1998×1080 pixels of the imager is used ** In 4K, for Scope (2.39:1) presentation 4096×1716 pixels of the imager is used ** In 4K, for Flat (1.85:1) presentation 3996×2160 pixels of the imager is used * 12 bits per color component (36 bits per pixel) via dual

HD-SDI SMPTE 292 is a digital video transmission line standard published by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). This technical standard is usually referred to as HD-SDI; it is part of a family of standards that define a serial ...

(encrypted) ** 10 bits only permitted for 2K at 48 frame/s *

CIE XYZ color space In 1931, the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) published the CIE 1931 color spaces which define the relationship between the visible spectrum and human color vision. The CIE color spaces are mathematical models that comprise a "stan ...

, gamma-corrected *

TIFF Tag Image File Format or Tagged Image File Format, commonly known by the abbreviations TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is w ...

6.0 container format (one file per frame) *

compression ** From 0 to 5 or from 1 to 6

wavelet A wavelet is a wave-like oscillation with an amplitude that begins at zero, increases or decreases, and then returns to zero one or more times. Wavelets are termed a "brief oscillation". A taxonomy of wavelets has been established, based on the n ...

decomposition levels for 2K or 4K resolutions, respectively ** Compression rate of 4.71 bits/pixel (2K @ 24 frame/s), 2.35 bits/pixel (2K @ 48 frame/s), 1.17 bits/pixel (4K @ 24 frame/s) * 250

Mbit/s In telecommunications, data transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols (baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are multi ...

maximum image

bit rate In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (bitrate or as a variable ''R'') is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. The bit rate is expressed in the unit bit per second (symbol: bit/s), often in conjunction ...

Stereoscopic 3D image

* 2048×1080 (2K) at 48 frame/s - 24 frame/s per eye (4096×2160 4K not supported) ** In 2K, for Scope (2.39:1) presentation 2048×858 pixels of the imager is used ** In 2K, for Flat (1.85:1) presentation 1998×1080 pixels of the imager is used ** Optionally, in the HD-SDI link only: 12 bit color, YCxCz 4:2:2 (i.e. chroma subsampling in XYZ space), each eye in separate stream

Audio

* 24 bits per sample, 48 kHz or 96 kHz * Up to 16 channels * WAV container, uncompressed

DCI has additionally published a document outlining recommended practice for

High Frame Rate In motion picture technology—either film or video—high frame rate (HFR) refers to higher frame rates than typical prior practice. The frame rate for motion picture film cameras was typically 24 frames per second (fps) with multiple flashes on ...

digital cinema. This document discloses the following proposed frame rates: 60, 96, and 120 frames per second for 2D at 2K resolution; 48 and 60 for stereoscopic 3D at 2K resolution; 48 and 60 for 2D at 4K resolution. The maximum compressed bit rate for support of all proposed frame rates should be 500 Mbit/s.

Related information

The idea for DCI was originally mooted in late 1999 by Tom McGrath, then COO of

, who applied to the U.S. Department of Justice for anti-trust waivers to allow the joint cooperation of all seven major motion picture studios.

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

made one of the first feature-length DCPs created to DCI specifications, using their film '' Serenity''. Although it was not distributed theatrically, it had one public screening on November 7, 2005, at the USC Entertainment Technology Center's Digital Cinema Laboratory in the Pacific Theatre, Hollywood. '' Inside Man'' was Universal's first DCP commercial release, and, in addition to 35mm film distribution, was delivered via hard drive to 20 theatres in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

along with two trailers. The Academy Film Archive houses the Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC Collection, which includes film and digital elements from DCI's Standard Evaluation Material (StEM), a 12-minute production shot on 35mm and 65mm film, created for vendors and standards organizations to test and evaluate image compression and digital projection technologies.

Notes

References

Bibliography

''High frame rates digital cinema recommended practice'', DCI, 2015
(PDF)

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.dcimovies.com/ Film and video technology Digital media The Walt Disney Company 2002 establishments in California 20th Century Studios Paramount Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Warner Bros. Universal Pictures Mass media companies established in 2002 Communications and media organizations based in the United States