New Digital Cinema Technologies Noted From NAB 2009

There was a lot of digital cinema technology at NAB 2009. It shows up just about everywhere in my posts on the event. In this section I thought I’d note a few of these technologies that did not find their way into other posts.

Fraunhofer Institute easyDCP

www.dcinema.fraunhofer.de

Fraunhofer Institute easyDCP

The last step in the field of motion picture production in digital cinema is the creation of the Digital Cinema Package or DCP. At NAB Fraunhofer IIS was showing an easy-to-handle solution for DCP creation. They claimed the software could be operated easily and without any in-depth, expert knowledge. easyDCP outputs high-resolution HD, 2k, and 4k into finished SMPTE compliant DCPs. The software supports creation of DCPs in JPEG2000 which is DCI compliant.

The software undertakes color space transformations (ie. TIFF images to JPEG2000) and wraps the various DCP components (audio and image files, subtitles, etc.) into MXF files prior to delivering a DCP ready for playback.

A test version of the easyDCP™ software can be downloaded from the Fraunhofer IIS web site or www.dcinema.fraunhofer.de

Fraunhofer Institute DCPplayer

www.dcinema.fraunhofer.de

Another highlight of the NAB is the new Fraunhofer DCPplayer. It’s basically an extremely fast JPEG2000 decoding software and it enables real-time playback of 2k DCPs and JPEG2000 image sequences. The Fraunhofer DCPplayer employs a standard PC an nVidia graphic card.  The video above shows the DCPplayer in action.

SONY 3.8K TV

SONY 3.8K TV

Sony had a 3.8K monitor on display at its booth at NAB. For the record 3.8K is not true 4K. A 3.8K TV is actually the equivalent of four 1920×1080 HD displays melded into one display. The 3.8k TV is 3840×2160 which is sometimes referred to as Quad Full High Definition and was the subject of a previous blog post.

DCI compliant 4K is 4096×2160 and it’s interesting to note that most Japanese companies often refer to Quad Full High Definition as 4K. At least SONY has it right….

ASTRO DM-3400 3840 x 2160 Monitor

http://astro-systems.com/DM-3400/dm_3400_page1.html

ASTRO DM-3400 3840 x 2160 Monitor Displaying NICT's 4K Images At NAB 2009

Astro’s 4K monitor specifications make it a Quad Full High Definition set offering a 3840 x 2160 resolution and the support for both DVI-D (4 channels) and HD-SDI (4 channels/Dual Link) signals. The new DM-3400 handles RGB 4:4:4 signals as well as four input channels for a quad display view.

Sharp True DCI Compliant 4K Monitor

Sharp True DCI Compliant 4K Monitor

I did manage to get a look at SHARP’s 4096 x 2160 64” monitor at the KEISOKU GIKEN booth at the show.

Other Technologies

KEISOKU GIKEN UDR-20S-8 4K Recorder

Catapult Technology