Digital Cinema Initiatives

DCI ANNOUNCES CONTRACT WITH CINECERT FOR DIGITAL CINEMA COMPLIANCE TESTING AND VALIDATION

DCI APPROVES DCI SPECIFICATION VERSION 1.1 AND AN ADDENDUM FOR STEREOSCOPIC (3D) DIGITAL CINEMA

Hollywood, California - May 3, 2007 - Over the next six months, Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC, (DCI) and CineCert LLC will work to take DCI's compliance test program to its next and final level. DCI has entered into a contractual arrangement with CineCert to complete the validation of the compliance test program begun by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits.

In February 2006, DCI contracted with Fraunhofer to develop a standardized set of procedures to comprehensively test equipment for compliance with the DCI Digital Cinema System Specification, commonly referred to as the DCI Specification. The output of the Fraunhofer project was Version 0.9 of the DCI Compliance Test Plan, released February 14, 2007.

However, due to the non-compliant status of digital cinema equipment at the time, Fraunhofer was unable to complete a full validation process. The final plan developed by CineCert and DCI will include errata to the DCI Specification and all relevant SMPTE digital cinema standards, most of which were not officially published at the time of the Fraunhofer effort.

In addition to the final test plan, a specification for test materials and the test materials themselves will be created. Specialized test plans will be prepared for a variety of digital cinema hardware and software products, included servers and projectors. Another deliverable will be standardized test reports, which will allow for meaningful comparison of features and test results between tested products.

Concurrent with the CineCert project, DCI will undertake an open process to identify testing entities to perform the tests identified by the DCI compliance test program. That selection process is under development and details will be announced in the future.

In a joint statement, the DCI member studios said, "We are very pleased to be working with John Hurst and his team at CineCert. The completion of the DCI compliance test program will facilitate and guide manufacturers, integrators and exhibitors on the technical details and testing required for compliance."

CineCert CTO John Hurst added, "We are excited to be chosen by DCI to help bring standardized testing to the digital cinema industry. We look forward to applying CineCert's expertise to the establishment of practical and reliable digital cinema worldwide through a compliance test program."

The DCI member studios have also approved and published a Version 1.1 of the Digital Cinema System Specification, dated April 12, 2007. Since the initial publication in July 2005 of the DCI Specification, Version 1.0, the specification has received several rounds of errata. Version 1.1 does not include any new revisions; rather it incorporates all 148 previous errata into the body of the specification document, making it easier to read.

DCI continues to promote the Digital Cinema System Specification, which articulates the technical requirements of the six DCI member studios. It serves as guidance to manufacturers, system integrators, exhibitors and other stakeholders for digital cinema standardization and interoperability. The Digital Cinema System Specification continues to be a voluntary set of user requirements, and each of the six member studios continues to be free to decide the extent to which it will support, or require compliance with, the Specifications.

In response to a lack of interoperability in emerging 3D digital cinema technology, DCI has also approved for publication an addition to the DCI Specification, a Draft Stereoscopic Digital Cinema Addendum, Version 0.9. This one page document defines high-level technical requirements and specifications for the mastering, distribution and theatrical playback of stereoscopic digital cinema content. DCI's requirements include single inventory stereoscopic digital cinema packages (DCPs), the form of those stereoscopic DCPs and dual link image format.

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Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) was created in March 2002, and is a joint venture of Disney, Fox, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. DCI's primary purpose is to establish and document voluntary specifications for an open architecture for digital cinema that ensures a uniform and high level of technical performance, reliability and quality. See www.dcimovies.com for more information.

CineCert, LLC is a technology development and consulting organization specializing in digital cinema and other computing applications for the entertainment industry. CineCert provides services to industry leading content and service providers that are adopting digital cinema technology into their production workflows and distribution networks. See www.cinecert.com for more information.

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