Microspace Delivered First 4K Digital Cinema File Via Satellite at NAB 2004

Microspace Communications delivered 4K content at NAB 2004’s Digital Cinema Summit on Saturday, April 17, 2004, at 1:00 pm. Microspace worked with QuVIS, a leading provider of digital motion imaging technology, to provide the first end-to-end fulfillment of Digital Cinema Initiative’s (DCI) new architecture requirements, which call for development of a complete 4K delivery system compatible with current 2K projectors.

Microspace’s VELOCITY® satellite service and QuVIS’ Acuity™ specifically delivered the Standardized Evaluation Material (StEM) mini-movie. The StEM mini-movie is a standard way to evaluate the capabilities of digital cinema systems and compare them to film. It was developed by the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Technology Committee and DCI, a consortium of seven film studios including Disney, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros. Studios.

“This presentation demonstrated that VELOCITY is 4K ready and has the capabilities to meet all DCI delivery requirements. We have a powerful and scalable solution that meets the needs of the motion picture industry today and well into the future,” says Sam Matheny, Manager of Digital Cinema Development for Microspace.

Adds Jim Graham, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at QuVIS, “We will soon be the only commercially available imaging technology with the ability to efficiently master at 4K and playback at either 4K or 2K. As a leading player in digital cinema, transporting high fidelity, high resolution material at a practical data rate and cost is essential to the industry’s growth.”

Concludes Matheny, “Working in conjunction with QuVIS, we are accomplishing many firsts and continuing to open doors to future technology advancements for digital cinema.”

The 4K demonstration took place as part of the Digital Cinema Summit at NAB. Howard Lukk, Director of Technology for DCI, presented the material in the ASC/DCI StEM Testing Scheme session at 1:00 pm.

Thanks to Microspace’s Greg Hurt & Carla Torrence for this capcom story.