Looking to the Future: The Next GenerationDr. Man-Nang Chong

Dr. Man-Nang Chong is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of GDC Technology Limited. Whilst you may know him best in this role, he was actually an associate professor of the School of Computer Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, from 1992 to 2000. In 1996, Dr. Chong led a team to win the “Worldwide Texas Instruments’ Digital Signal Processing Solutions Challenge” award with a digital motion picture restoration solution. With the prize money, he founded Nirvana Digital, a leading digital signal processing company, in 1999. The company was subsequently acquired by Acterna Incorporation in 2000. Shortly after this GDC Technology was born and the rest, as they say, is history.

As well as being a successful business leader, Dr Chong is passionate about the cinema industry and making sure our industry thrives at the cutting edge of technology; something that can only happen with talented engineers entering the business. Cinema Technology took some time to find out more about Dr. Chong’s passion for ‘paying it forwards’.

CT: Can you start by telling us a bit about the company?

Chong: First, thank you for this opportunity to share some thoughts with your readers. We are all fans of CT Magazine at GDC Technology and it is an honour to be part of this edition. At GDC, we provide innovative products and services to help cinemas enhance the moviegoing experience for audiences around the world. We offer a comprehensive suite of products and services that enable cinema operators to deliver the highest quality moviegoing experience possible to their audiences. Many know GDC as a media server company. Over the last three years, we have become more than ‘just an IMB’ company with a comprehensive suite of enterprise software solutions and audio products.

CT: We recently became aware of the GDC Scholarship programme, tell me more and how you believe initiatives like this might help to address the skills shortage the industry currently faces and why education matters.

Dr Chong: I deeply believe in scholarships. In fact, I benefited from it myself. I actually studied in Scotland in the 1980s, specialising in electronics and later computer science and image processing. I did not come from a wealthy family without financial assistance. I would not have been able to complete my Ph.D. and achieve what I have achieved today and have contributed to the digital cinema industry without a scholarship. The scholarship program is granted to between 30 and 50 students every year. The scholarship in co-operation with the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) is offered to undergraduate and postgraduate students from three USTC colleges: the School of Computer Science and Technology, the School of Information Science and Technology, and the School of Software Engineering. The scholarship is really a way to “repay society” for the help I was given decades prior. More than that, however, the GDC Scholarship is intended to encourage today’s engineers or engineers-to-be to think more about audio and video technology, especially when it comes to making and showcasing motion pictures.

We wanted to encourage bright engineers to think about what they can do for the cinema industry, not just apps or other technology. I think education is vitally important - it can change a person. Through the GDC Scholarship, we hope to motivate, encourage, and inspire future innovators to develop technology solutions exclusively for the cinema industry. We must continue to design and develop cost-effective solutions that entice exhibitors to invest in upgrading current locations and building new sites. If we don’t continue to innovate then there is a genuine risk that consumers will keep watching movies on their iPads, their phones, or their tablets.

CT: Finally, in terms of GDC technology innovations, what makes your current and new cinema solutions stand out from the competition?

Dr Chong: Our solutions are designed to provide the best possible moviegoing experience for audiences. For example, we let moviegoers SEE MORE with our media servers, and let them HEAR MORE with our latest range of audio solutions. Also we let exhibitors to ACHIEVE MORE with our enterprise software solution. Our software and cinema automation solutions are designed not only to help reduce operating expenses but also to allow the theatre’s management and staff to focus more on their customer service. Enhancements to the Enterprise Software Suite including the upcoming web-based TMS-2000WEB.

Hear More. See More. Experience More.

At CinemaCon 2023, GDC continued its reputation for launching several first-tomarket innovative products, such as PSD-SSD portable storage; compact, lightweight and available in models of 3TB, 4TB, and 6TB, it provides an excellent alternative to standard HDD options. The PSD-SSD can be easily mounted on DLP projectors, providing a convenient storage solution for professionals in the movie industry. GDC also showcased DIVE™ Dynamic Lighting System, a powerful and flexible LED control solution developed to program a themed single or multi-colour light show during the pre-show entertainment. Visitors also felt the sound of the SR-1000 IMB with the newly introduced built-in DTS® 7.1 ultimate surround sound with high-performance Japanese-made SATO Speakers, and a growing portfolio of audio solutions to streamline audio integration such as AE-6703, a 32-channel bi-directional converter bridging the worlds of AES3 and AES67, GDCs DAC Series of digital-analog converters, and remote Fader Control.

What is DTS 7.1 for Cinema?

DTS 7.1 is a license feature available in the SR-1000 that utilises an optimized X-curve and state-of-the-art room tuning practices to deliver stunning sound quality and allows cinema operators the ability to promote their screens that feature the premium DTS brand. DTS 7.1 is a license feature available in the SR-1000 that utilises an optimized X-curve and state-of-the-art room tuning practices to deliver stunning sound quality and allows cinema operators the ability to promote their screens that feature the premium DTS brand. DTS 7.1 certified rooms feature all the core components of DTS:X installations and are easily upgradable to GDC featuring DTS:X for IAB immersive audio.

What is DTS:X for IAB Immersive Audio?

Immersive audio continues to grow, but cinema owners remain cautious about cost and installation logistics. GDC’s DTS:X Immersive Audio Solution is highly competitive and fully supports SMPTE’s ST 2098-2 immersive audio bitstream (IAB) standard delivering a single interoperable audio format for theatrical distribution. GDC DTS:X for IAB solution has flexible speaker configurations to enable installation in all auditoriums. It’s possible to retrofit theatres at a lower cost, saving up to 50% compared to other 3D sound systems.

AE-6703 AES3/AES67 32 x 32 Channel Bidirectional Converter

AE-6703 AES67 Converter provides the flexibility for cinema audio products to communicate seamlessly between the AES3 and AES67 worlds. It offers an audio interface between legacy AES3 audio equipment and the nextgeneration AES67 devices such as the cinema media server. The AE-6703 is a bidirectional converter capable of converting 32 channels of audio in each direction concurrently (total 64 channels processing).

Espedeo DAC Series Digital-to-Analog converter features 8, 12, 16, 24 and 32 channel configurations for analog output to meet your auditorium configuration needs.

AIB-3000 Digital-Analog Converter and Software License Enablement for DTS ® 7.1 Cinema Audio Processor

Later this year GDC Technology will launch the next-generation AIB-3000 audio interface box offering a 16-channel premium quality digital-analog converter. The AIB-3000 allows the remote switching of input sources via Ethernet. The versatile AIB-3000 is designed for media blocks with built-in 5.1 or 7.1 cinema audio processors, or operates independently as a 7.1 cinema audio processor with an audio software license.

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