D C I
S P E C S
Direct view LED screens:
Taking the lead for DCI? Technological evolution in digital cinema led to the creation of the Digital Cinema Initiatives. Now, nearly two decades on, further innovation has prompted a raft of new specifications. Gary Feather, CTO at NanoLumens, creators of LED visualisation solutions, examines developments.
F
OR ANYONE THAT WORKS in the cinema industry or the digital display industry, it is more likely than no that they will have heard the acronym “DCI” floating around. DCI is
shorthand for the Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC, a united endeavour from several of Hollywood’s biggest studios, aided by visionary thought leaders from the movie-making side and brilliant technical experts from the technology side. The DCI venture exists, in its own terms, “to establish
The origins of DCI
and document voluntary specifications for an open architecture for digital cinema that ensures a uniform
The impetus to create a cooperative body between the
and high level of technical performance, reliability and
biggest movie studios was initiated by Tom McGrath, who
quality control.” In other words, DCI wants to standardise
at the time was an executive with Paramount. McGrath had
digital cinema requirements so that content is created
held several influential positions in a few major studios by
and displayed uniformly and at as high a level as is
the time he reached Paramount and he held nuanced
practically possible.
views on how the industry might evolve. Now a seven-time
The studios involved in the formation of the DCI
Tony Award winner, McGrath had always fostered an
were Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Sony
appreciation for the vividity of live performance. This
Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Universal
liveliness was something he felt the film industry had yet to
Studios, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros.
capture, and so, in 1999, McGrath applied to the US
Dolby is involved as well. 3 4
>
0 6 / 1 9
038_NANOLUMENS_JUNE19.indd 38
www.cinematech.today
21/05/2019 11:21
