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Shawn, I was once
told by a salesman that a DVD holds 6.7GByte for a 135 min movie. However,
for a theatre version, with two layers of encryption, one might expect a larger
file size. On the other hand, the article mentioned a compression step. …Dave -----Original
Message----- Anyone know how big a
movie is (in GB's)? I'd like to figure the transfer rate. Shawn Rogers First Film To Be Sent
Via Satellite By GARY GENTILE LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Movie-goers in New York's Times Square will get a glimpse of the future Friday
when they see Hollywood has been
experimenting with digital projection for several years. A handful of movies,
from Warner Bros.' ``The Perfect Storm'' to Disney's ``Tarzan,'' have already been shown
on special projectors that use computer discs rather than bulky and brittle
film. In those experiments, a
movie is transferred from a master at a post-production house to a digital
file, then compressed onto several discs. The discs are shipped to theaters where the files
are decompressed and stored on large computers. This summer, Twentieth
Century Fox sent a digital version of its animated ``Titan AE'' to a theater
over a fiber optic cable. But history was made
earlier this week, when a digital copy of ``Bounce'' was converted to an
electronic stream and bounced off a Boeing satellite using military-strength
encryption. The movie was also sent separately via a fiber optic cable. It was
the first test of a system that may one day eliminate the scratches and pops and stray hairs
that routinely mar the movie going experience. ``You can't scratch a
zero or a one,'' Phil Barlow, executive vice president of the Disney Motion
Picture Group, said Thursday. Miramax is owned by The Walt Disney Co [NYSE:DIG -
news]. ``Bounce'' is a love
story between an advertising executive (Ben Affleck) and the widow (Gwyneth
Paltrow) of a man to whom he gave his ticket on a doomed airplane. A master of the movie
was transferred to a highly-compressed digital file using equipment made by
QuVIS Inc. of Topeka, Kan. The file was encrypted
by Boeing, which then added a second layer of encryption to the electronic
stream it sent via satellite. It took 8 hours to send the file from Tulsa, Okla., to a
satellite dish atop the theater in New York. Once in the theater, a
QuVIS computer decrypted and expanded the file and stored it on several
computer hard disks. From there, it was projected using equipment made by Texas
Instruments. Williams Communication
of Tulsa, Okla., provided uplink services for the satellite and also relayed
the movie via its broadband fiber optic network. Movie studios are
searching for a way to eliminate costly prints, which can range from $1,500 to
$2,000 each for as many as 4,000 copies for a major release. Studio executives feel
that the better quality provided by digital copies will also generate more
revenue by luring more people back to state-of-the-art theaters. ``The savings will not
accrue to the studios for some time,'' Barlow said. ``The best way to make more
money is having more people coming in to see the movies.'' Right now, the cost of
digital projection equipment is steep -- anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000 per
screen. That compares with about $35,000 for a conventional projector. Barlow estimates that
digital projection won't become widely accepted until the costs come down under
$75,000. Theater owners are
reluctant to shoulder the cost, especially when many chains are struggling with
massive debt incurred to build new theaters. Studios and theater chains are discussing a
formula to apportion the capital costs, especially since the studios will reap
the initial financial benefits. ``We understand that the
burden needs to be shared in proportion to the benefit received,'' Barlow said. For now, chains such as
AMC Entertainment Inc., which owns the AMC Empire Theater in Times Square, are
working with the studios and technology companies to test new systems. ``We see our role at
this point as being a proponent of digital technology because we see it as
right for our business and our customers,'' Rick King, an AMC spokesman said. ``We'll
put the cost issues aside for now. If the returns are there for the
investments, then money will be found to make the investment.'' ___________________________________________ |