o upgrade its four Digital Intermediate (DI) suites from 1K to 2K
projection, EFILM LLC, a cutting-edge digital film laboratory in Hollywood,
chose Barco Digital Cinema and a new offering of product and services now
available through the SGI Professional Services arm of Silicon Graphics
(NYSE: SGI). SGI Professional Services will sell and provide expert
installation and integration services for the recently released Barco®
D-Cine Premiere DP100, a state-of-the-art 2K resolution digital projector.
Maintenance will be provided by SGI's world-class Support Services
organization. With this comprehensive system solution launch, SGI and
Barco—long-term collaborators in the implementation of SGI Reality Center
visualization environments for the sciences, manufacturing, government and
energy industries—begin a new strategic relationship in digital cinema.
The acknowledged market leader in Digital Intermediate, EFILM is wholly
owned by Panavision and Deluxe Laboratories. SGI will be the single service
source for the 2K projectors, providing complete installation, integration
and service through SGI Professional Services and SGI Support Services. As
part of the sale of the four Barco projectors to EFILM, SGI Support Services
will provide 24 x 7 service with guaranteed two-hour on-site response, and
will include all repairs, parts and labor. Based on the latest Texas
Instruments DLP Cinema™ technology, the Barco DP100 enjoys the benefits of a
2048 x 1080 display resolution, 18000 Cinema lumens light output, and a
minimum contrast ratio of 1700:1.
“The new generation of 2K projectors, including Barco’s DP100, offer much
better resolution on-screen and also much better contrast,” said Bob Eicholz,
Vice President of Corporate Development, EFILM. “The Barco projector itself
is a great technical design, featuring modular design for all key
components. Barco’s excellent brightness, color and contrast at 2K
resolution, coupled with SGI’s world-class service organization are a very
powerful combination.”
The four Barco DP100 projectors will be used as part of EFILM’s Digital
Intermediate process, upgrading from the 1K projection theaters currently in
EFILM’s DI suites. These suites are where Directors of Photography (DPs) and
Directors and Producers of films can view their movie projected digitally as
they collaborate with a colorist to digitally color grade films. “The DI
process allows DPs to refine the color and other aspects of their images. In
contrast with traditional lab timing, they can now see the results of their
work displayed on theater-size screens, with great color, resolution and
contrast using the new Barco DP100 projectors,” continued Eicholz. “In fact,
these new projectors display about 70% more pixels on our screens, and
provide about 65% better contrast. That translates to crystal clear,
beautiful images on the screen.”
Barco D-Cine Premiere DP 100 projectors include CineCanvas™ sub titling
capabilities, CineBlack™ and CinePallete™ control to emulate the look and
feel of film, CineLink™ to protect content being delivered from the server
and Barco’s automated anamorphic lens option, the DP100 guarantees
‘Premiere’ quality on the screen. A fully integrated electronics and
illumination assembly ensures maximum performance, while high efficiency air
and water-cooling systems maximize DMD, reflector and lamp life to optimize
operating costs. In addition high efficiency filtering of the digital head,
a hermetically sealed optical assembly, a unique convergence system and
Constant Light Output control guarantee a constant display quality over
time.
“Barco Digital Cinema is very pleased to enter into this exciting new phase
of our long and successful relationship with the industry’s leading studios
and post production companies like EFILM, and look forward to our strategic
relationship in the media and entertainment industry with SGI, where SGI
visualization computers and SGI Professional Services are widely used, well
known and respected,” said Scott Spector, Vice President, Barco Digital
Cinema America. “EFILM creates Digital Intermediates for Hollywood’s top DPs,
directors and producers, and Barco’s DP100 will produce dramatic
improvements in the projected images.”
SGI Visualization Supercomputers and InfiniteStorage Solutions Help EFILM
Lead the DI Explosion
In 2001, EFILM, using an SGI Onyx family visualization computer and its
own proprietary SGI IRIX OS-based color correction software, was the first
digital lab in the U.S. to digitally master an entire film at an authentic
2K resolution—Paramount Pictures’ We Were Soldiers. In 2002, EFILM digitally
mastered eight full-length feature films, including the Oscar®-winning Frida.
In 2003, 23 full-length movies were digitally mastered at EFILM, as well as
segments for many other films, including Master and Commander, starring
Russell Crowe, and the made-for-television HBO mini-series, Angels in
America. This year, EFILM is on target to entirely digitally master 35 to 40
major Hollywood features. EFILM’s DI credits for completely digitally
mastered features in 2004 include: The Passion of the Christ, Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Dawn of the Dead; recently released Van
Helsing; New York Minute; The Alamo; and The Day After Tomorrow and upcoming
summer blockbuster, Spider-Man 2.
“The DI business is exploding, and the vision for EFILM is to continue to
lead the market by providing a full-suite of Digital Intermediate services,
with the best color and imaging in the industry,” added Eicholz. “By having
Panavision and Deluxe as our parent companies, we have the full lifecycle of
the film industry covered—from Panavision, which rents the film and digital
cameras, to EFILM, which offers a wide variety of digital laboratory
services, to Deluxe, where the prints are made for worldwide distribution.”
The Barco DP100 projectors will be connected to EFILM’s four DI suites,
which are driven by content generated on four SGI Onyx 3400 visualization
systems. EFILM uses the SGI equipment to create Digital Intermediates, a
process that includes high-resolution scanning, color correction, laser film
recording, video mastering and digital cinema mastering. EFILM creates one
high-resolution digital master that can be used for film output, digital
cinema releases, and home video, designed to meet national and international
theatrical and home video/DVD requirements.
At EFILM, the SGI Onyx visualization systems are connected, along with other
applications, to an SGI InfiniteStorage SAN server now with hundreds of
terabytes of SGI InfiniteStorage TP9400, enabling the 2K content to be
shared by multiple artists without costly and time consuming copying of
files. In preparation for the slew of summer blockbusters demand for DIs,
EFILM purchased, over the last six months 120 additional terabytes of TP9500
storage for their facility.
“EFILM has a DI market share greater than all our competitors combined. Our
SGI platform and new Barco projectors are both key components to our
success,” said Eicholz. “With this technology, combined with our
industry-leading color imaging, our people, our business processes, and our
capacity to handle 10-20 Digital Intermediate projects at a time, we expect
to maintain our leadership position for many years to come.”
“SGI’s expertise in visualization, state-of-the art systems and Barco’s
superb digital projectors have combined for many years to create dazzling
SGI Reality Center environments all over the world. We are now expanding
that relationship with a new focus in the digital media arena,” said Bob
Pette, Director of SGI Professional Services, North America. “Our work with
EFILM further illustrates the powerful strategic alliance between SGI and
Barco, combining the world-renown excellence of the SGI Professional
Services organization with the state-of-the art digital cinema projector,
Barco’s DP100. Leveraging our previous experience together we will provide
complete, expertly designed solutions to better serve organizations seeking
digital projection integration into their media facilities, and create a
synergy that will open new areas of growth for both companies.”
