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Question 22/9 - Transmission of D-cinema programs for contribution and distribution purposes

Type of Question

Task-oriented Question that should result in a number of new Recommendations.

2 Reasons for the Question

A new practice, called "D-cinema", is being introduced in several countries, whereby feature films can be distributed in the form of digital signals, in real-time or non-real-time, for collective viewing in cinema theatres equipped with appropriate electronic projectors.

This practice is intended to emulate cinema presentation in terms of picture and sound quality, size of the presentation screen, and presentation environment. It is expected to offers benefits over traditional cinema distribution methods, in terms of faster and less expensive distribution of program material for collective viewing.

D-cinema thus opens the possibility to distribute feature films and other program material, having a picture and sound quality appropriate to the cinema, to communities that do not have access to cinema theatres, such as in small towns or in rural areas, particularly when the population is spread in small towns over a large territory.

In a future perspective, it can be expected that the use of D-cinema will also benefit developing countries, which may choose to rely on community large-screen viewing for the delivery of feature films, and also of entertainment, education, news and information programs, when the cost of the necessary equipment will become attractive thanks to economies of scale in its production.

Studies on D-cinema are currently under way in several national, regional, or worldwide organizations and industry groups such as MPEG, and notably in ITU-R Study Group 6, whose scope includes several aspects of D-cinema.

It is desirable and urgent that ITU-T Study Group 9 should participate in those studies, for the part that falls in its scope. These studies would include aspects related to content management, conditional access and copy protection.

The purpose of those studies is to identify technical solutions to the transport of D-cinema program material, making sure that those are harmonized or interoperable with the solutions studied by other organizations and industry groups for D-cinema, notably with the solutions studied by ITU-R Study Group 6 for D-cinema secondary distribution via the digital broadcasting infrastructure (terrestrial and satellite).

3 Questions

3.1 Do the D-cinema applications and the related quality levels, that will be identified by ITU-R Study Group 6 adequately cover all the applications of D-cinema and the related quality levels identified within Study Group 9, and if they do not, which additional applications should be taken into account?

3.2 Which solutions, readily interfaceable to those studied by ITU-R Study Group 6, should be recommended for point-to-point contribution transmission of D-cinema program material over physical connections?

3.3 Which solutions, similarly interfaceable, should be recommended for point-to-point primary distribution transmission of finished D-cinema programs over physical connections?

3.4 Which solutions, equally interfaceable, can be recommended for point-to-multipoint secondary transmission of finished D-cinema programs to the audience at large, using the interconnected, capillary infrastructures of digital cable television?

3.5 Can the methods currently studied or adopted for program content management, conditional access and copy protection be used or extended to meet the needs of D-cinema applications or should specific methods be studied to meet the needs of some applications of D-cinema, which are specific to the scope of Study Group 9?

4 Projected results and target dates

The results of the study should be used to prepare some new Recommendations, which will specify the methods to be used for the delivery of D-cinema program for purposes of contribution and of primary distribution, and over the digital cable television infrastructure.

The studies should be completed by the end of the year 2004.

5 Relationships

Co-operation in the study of this Question should be established with at least ITU-R Study Group 6 that has already started work on D-cinema and has already expressed a need for co-operation with Study Group 9.


Annex to Question 22/9

Some bodies within and outside the ITU that could provide cooperation on D-cinema

The list below provides a first indication of entities within and outside the ITU that have an expertise relevant to D-cinema and could cooperate to D-cinema studies within the ITU.

ITU bodies

ITU-R Working Party 6A

ITU-R Working Party 6E

ITU-R Working Party 6M

ITU-R Working Party 6P

ITU-R Working Party 6Q

ITU-R Working Party 6R

ITU-R Working Party 6S

Other international standardizing bodies

IEC – International Electrotechnical Commission

ISO – International Organization for standardization

MPEG – Moving Picture Expert Group

Regional standardizing bodies

AES – Audio Engineering Society

ATSC – Advanced Television Systems Committee

CDTV – Canadian Digital Television

DVB – Digital Video Broadcasting

EACEM - European Association of Consumer Equipment Manufacturers

ETSI – European Telecommunications Standards Institute

EDCF - European Digital Cinema Forum

EDEN – European Digital Entertainment Network.

FACTS – Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations

IEE – Institution of Electrical Engineers

IEEE – Institute of Electronical & Electronics Engineers

ITEA – Information Technology for European Advancement

SMPTE – Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers

International unions of broadcasters

WBU-TC – Technical Committee of the World Broadcasting Unions

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU)

Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU)

Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU)

European Broadcasting Union (EBU)

International Association of Broadcasters (IAB)

North American Broadcasters Association (NABA)

Organisación de Televisión Ibero-Americana (OTI)

Union des Radiodiffusions et Télévisions Nationales d'Afrique (URTNA).

Other bodies

Associations of cinema exhibitors

Associations of manufacturers

Associations of program production/postproduction facilities

 

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