ORLANDO, FLORIDA—Oct 25, 2004
LaserPacific Unveils Digital Cinema Mastering, Packaging and Distribution
Support Services at ShowEast
aserPacific Media Corporation, a Kodak
company, announced today at the annual ShowEast conference that it has opened a
digital cinema content mastering, packaging and distribution support facility
within its Hollywood-based operations.
“Our goal is to give our studio customers new and powerful choices,” says Leon
Silverman, executive vice president of LaserPacific and director of Strategic
Business Development for Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Services. “These services
deliver on a promise made by Kodak to provide an efficient, end-to-end,
high-quality digital cinema service. LaserPacific has a long history of
pioneering workflow and technology innovation with the goal of helping our
customers realize their visions for displaying motion pictures.”
Silverman cites the commitment and ongoing progress Kodak has made in the
development of digital cinema server hardware/software, including secure key and
content distribution, an in-theater network, and a 4,500-person on-site service
team.
“This new capability is enhanced by Kodak’s unique motion imaging science and
technology,” he continues. “Our over-arching goal is to help ensure that motion
pictures are presented in a digital format which embodies the filmmaker’s vision
from the moment an image is created until it is presented to audiences.”
Silverman says that these new services are part of an ongoing expansion program
designed to provide advanced digital postproduction services for the motion
picture industry, including digital intermediates, dailies, digital preview,
home video and digital cinema mastering and packaging services.
“The heart of these services is the Kodak Digital Cinema Content Preparation
system,” he adds. “It features a set of tools designed to assess and ensure the
quality of digital cinema elements, digital cinema encoding, secure key
embedding, encryption, and packaging for DVD-ROM, hard drive or satellite
distribution. The system creates a composition play list that contains the
various image, sound and subtitle elements of a motion picture. It is written as
an MXF file which is completely compatible with the new specifications being
articulated by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)
and Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), organized by the seven major Hollywood
studios.”
Silverman says that LaserPacific will provide complete quality assurance
services to ensure the image and sound quality of the package, while verifying
interoperability between the various digital cinema components that will exist
in the exhibition environment.
Bill Doeren, vice president, Entertainment Imaging and general manager of Kodak
Digital Cinema, described the relationship with LaserPacific as “a key element
in our complete solution strategy.” Doeren explains, “The partnership between
Kodak Digital Cinema and LaserPacific will become increasingly more important as
the capabilities of digital cinema evolve.”
Silverman adds, “We are committed to leading the way in preparing content with
the highest resolution and color fidelity to help both the creative and
exhibition communities realize the goal of a future cinema that is truly worthy
of its past.”
LaserPacific recently named Kevin Wines director of Theatrical Technology
Services. Wines is currently secretary of the SMPTE DC-28.20 Digital Cinema
Distribution committee, where he has played a role in helping the industry
create standards for digital cinema packaging. Wines has broad-based experience
in cinema exhibition, digital cinema projection, and digital cinema server
design and manufacturing.
“LaserPacific and Kodak have an opportunity to offer seamless creative and
technology services unlike any other current digital cinema service provider,”
Wines says. “The deep-bench Kodak technology team working with the LaserPacific
team has already demonstrated the first completely interoperable digital cinema
packages in the industry. We will continue to work together to bring to market
as quickly as possible future developments such as JPEG2000 and 4K digital
cinema packaging capability.”
Digital cinema content packaged by LaserPacific will be on display in Kodak’s
booth (Booth #100) and demonstration suite (Suite N) at ShowEast.
