Munich—Mar 24, 2009
Sanyo Projectors Enables E-Cinema on 490 Cinema Screens Throughout Switzerland
Movies and documentary films can now be distributed digitally in HD quality throughout Switzerland.
A joint-venture between Publicitas Cinecom and Mojo Digital Film Distribution offers distributors and producers an attractive gateway to electronic cinema nationwide in Switzerland. The joint-venture should increase the range of films offered digitally and promote local film production.
After the introduction of digital cinema advertising in Switzerland in the summer of 2005, film distributors, together with Publicitas Cinecom and cinema technicians, explored the expanded use of the E-cinema infrastructure for the Swiss film industry. Crucial experience was subsequently gathered in two pilot projects involving digital distribution of the films, "Oil Crash" (2007) and "Bird's Nest" (2008), that has allowed for the nationwide implementation of the innovative approach this year. In doing so, questions regarding capacity and data security had to be addressed.
As of March 1, 2009, films can now be programmed and distributed in HD quality to around 99% of all Swiss cinema operations. This allows for a more coordinated and attractive gateway to electronic cinema throughout the country.
The production of analogue film copies is costly and reduces access to cinemas for small film productions and distributors. Digital distribution now allows for high-quality distribution to cinemas for art house and documentary film productions with modest budgets. The films are encoded as MPEG-2 files and encrypted together with an electronic playlist on a hard disk. In order to project the content into the theater, the cinema operator has only to insert the hard disk into the media player and press play.
The current SANYO E-Cinema projectors play the program at a resolution of 1280 x 720 on the screen. In case the cinema operator maintains a FullHD or 2K projector, films can also be projected at FullHD resolution. The system also supports DTS 5.1 surround sound. Flexible programming, quick duplication and constant picture quality make E-cinema an equal and inexpensive alternative to analogue film distribution. Digitalization of the cinema landscape is slowly making strides. However, several cinema operators have been hesitant to invest in 2K Cinema due to the higher costs for such systems. This Swiss E-Cinema system forms a bridge to the digital cinema era. Distributors, producers and cinema operators can already gather important experience today. Further information can be found under: http://www.ecinema.ch