San Francisco—Feb 1, 2006
Dolby Digital Cinema Forges Industry First with Dual JPEG 2000 and MPEG
Support
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB) announced
today its enhanced Dolby® Digital Cinema system with support for both JPEG 2000
and MPEG (MPEG-2) file formats. Hailed as an industry first, the Dolby Digital
Cinema system allows exhibitors to play back future JPEG 2000–encoded content
while fulfilling the current need to present movies and alternative content in
the MPEG format.
“Dolby has a long history of working closely with exhibitors and studios on
innovations that are practical for today but also enable them to effectively
compete in tomorrow’s marketplace,” said Tim Partridge, Senior Vice President
and General Manager, Professional Division, Dolby Laboratories. “The industry is
clearly moving to JPEG 2000. As it transitions, it is critical that the
exhibition community has the flexibility to present content in both formats from
one system without needing additional resources.”
In addition to playing feature presentations in both JPEG 2000 and MPEG formats,
the enhanced Dolby Digital Cinema will enable exhibitors to present alternative
content—such as prerecorded concerts and sporting events, preshow advertising,
and more—from the same system.
The enhanced Dolby Digital Cinema system will be on display at the ShoWest
convention in Las Vegas, March 13–16, 2006. Dolby will ship samples of the
enhanced system this quarter and will upgrade all current installations with new
dual-format support by the end of 2006.
The Dolby Digital Cinema system enabled for JPEG 2000 meets the requirements of
Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) specifications. DCI was formed by the
major film studios to help guide the creation of a standard digital cinema
architecture. With guidance from DCI, the Society of Motion Picture and
Television Engineers (SMPTE) is working to establish standards that all
distributors, studios, and vendors can adopt in the rollout of digital cinema
presentation systems. The SMPTE is expected to publish standards beginning in
Spring 2006.
The Dolby Digital Cinema system is specifically engineered for real-world cinema
installations and offers superb picture quality, reliability, and user-friendly
operation. Dolby Digital Cinema systems are currently installed on more than 130
screens in eight countries worldwide. More than 25 digital movies have been
presented using Dolby Digital Cinema in select locations around the world,
including recent and current presentations of The Chronicles of Narnia: The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Glory
Road; Annapolis; Casanova; and Chicken Little in digital 3-D.