Las Vegas, USA—Mar 15, 2005
Singapore Enables Digital Cinema Transmission Across Continents
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, SiTF Digital Media Chapter and Entertainment Technology Center (USC) Bring Together Industry Partners to Pilot and Establish Viable Model for Digital Delivery
In a significant industry development, the Singapore government, and industry
association SiTF Digital Media Chapter (Singapore), with the Entertainment
Technology Center (ETC) at the University of Southern California (USA), brought
together leading industry players to develop a viable model for digital delivery
across continents from USA to Asia. Initial tests of the pilot, the
‘Cross-Continent Digital Content Transmission’ or CCTx, established a secure,
reliable and cost-effective digital delivery workflow.
This was announced by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) at
ShoWest 2005, Las Vegas, USA.
The CCTx pilot involves seamless end-to-end digital delivery from initial
processing in the U.S. to appearance on a movie screen in Singapore. Partners
involved in the initial tests of the pilot include SiTF DMC (for Singapore) and
ETC at USC (ETC-USC) for project management, Thomson Technicolor for project
consulting, GlobeCast, StarHub and 1-Net for international and local circuit and
data storage, Christie, Dell, Texas Instruments and XDC (EVS Group) for
technology provision.
Successfully hubbed and managed out of Singapore, the initial tests of the pilot
involved the digital transmission of 3 movie trailers: Elektra, The SpongeBob
SquarePants Movie and StarWars Episode 3 from Culver City, Los Angeles in USA to
1-Net Data Centre in Singapore. A total file size of 3.3 GB were delivered
digitally via managed ATM fibre. These trailers were then played back from a XDC
Cinestore Solo Server with Omega Decoder through a Christie CP2000 projector.
Singapore’s Digital Cinema initiative, part of its Digital Exchange (DX)
program, has gained momentum with the success of CCTx pilot. The DX initiative
aims to extend Singapore’s hub status into the digital realm to distribute,
processing and management of content through Singapore to the Asian markets.
“The CCTx paves the way for a complete viable model that allows studios to
deliver content digitally to Singapore, securely store it, localize it, and then
distribute it to the region. As a Digital Exchange, Singapore has the capability
to ensure reliable and accountable management, processing and distribution of
digital content and assets from United States to the rest of Asia,” said Hock
Yun KHOONG, Assistant Chief Executive, Industry, IDA. “The pilot is also
attracting more industry partners and support to address the issues facing
digital delivery.”
According to Motion Picture Association of America’s former Senior Vice
President, Mike Connors, “the pilot allows the industry to identify and resolve
process and business issues critical to commercial adoption of a worldwide
digital distribution system.”
The pilot also marks the a first time joint government-industry collaboration
with the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation Digital Media Chapter (SiTF
DMC) to develop a viable worldwide digital distribution model that can be
commercialized.
Pak Lum MOCK, Chairman of SiTF DMC said, “By clustering the strengths of digital
industry players in Singapore, we hope to create more partnership and business
opportunities for them in Asia. The CCTx opens the door for such opportunities.”
Charles S. SWARTZ, Chief Executive Officer of ETC-USC said “For digital cinema
to take off worldwide, a global, interoperable distribution system is necessary.
Pilots such as CCTx are crucial to international deployment and ETC-USC is proud
to facilitate the transmission of digital files between Singapore and Los
Angeles.”
More partners will be involved in the CCTx pilot as it progresses to include
different forms of content, transmission modes and digital processes such as
localization and sub-titling. Key learnings from the pilot will be shared with
industry players keen to shape and play a role in the future of digital
delivery.
Digital Cinema Developments in Singapore
Most Digital Cinemas in Asia, After China and Japan
In 2004, Singapore launched the world’s first full 2K Digital Multiplex.
Singapore currently has the highest number of 2K resolution digital cinema
screens per capita in the world. Today, there are a total of 21 digital cinema
screens in Singapore which translates to 15 per cent of the cinema network in
Singapore. On a worldwide basis, Singapore has the fourth highest number of
digital screens in the world, after USA, China and Japan.
More Digital Content & Content Offerings
To-date, more than 13 first run digital features have been screened in
Singapore’s digital cinemas. These movies include Shark Tales, The Incredibles,
National Treasury, Elektra, Kungfu Hustle and Infernal Affairs III. A range of
alternative content was screened at the digital cinemas, including the ‘live’
telecast of the Oscars Award Ceremony 2004 and 2005 at Cathay Cinemas. In August
2004, Singapore’s National Day Parade was transmitted “live” for the first time
via satellite to The Legends Fort Canning Club, owned by Eng Wah Organization, a
local exhibitor.
Apart from digital cinemas, Singapore can also provide value-added services such
as digital subtitling, provision of infrastructure and digital distribution of
content to desired locations in the Asia Pacific region.
Singapore as Ideal Location for Processing, Management and Distribution of
Digital Content
Singapore is ranked first in the World for Networked Readiness Index 2004 - 2005
in World Economic Forum’s latest Global Information Technology Report. In
January 2005, Singapore was ranked as one of the Top Seven Intelligent
Communities in the World by Intelligent Communities Forum (ICF) for its Digital
Exchange vision, excellent Infocomm infrastructure and global connectivity.
Singapore is well-placed as the regional digital distribution hub for content
leveraging on its cutting-edge infocomms infrastructure, well-established status
as a business hub, competitive regulatory policies, strong IP rights protection
and ready availability of skilled manpower.
Singapore already has over 1 million square feet of advanced data center space.
It is one of the most connected cities in Asia with more than 16 Gbps of
extensive and direct Internet connectivity to over 20 countries. This comprises
6 Gbps to the USA and over 8 Gbps to Asian cities such as Australia, Hong Kong,
India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam. In addition, Singapore’s direct
Internet connectivity to major ASEAN countries is at least 100 Mbps per country.
Singapore’s network infrastructure is also particularly well-suited for digital
delivery of data centre space with its 26 Tbps of submarine cable capacity and
international and regional telecoms connectivity to more than 100 countries.
Singapore’s recent launch of business continuity and disaster recovery standards
means that the cinema industry can have a higher level of confidence in the
security and reliability of the digital cinema data storage facilities.
Singapore was ranked first in Asia for Intellectual Property Rights Protection
by PERC 2004 and Global Corruption Report, 2003, making it an excellent location
for companies to securely store and distribute digital content.
