Frequently Asked Questions

Gary Einhaus
General Manager and Vice President
Kodak Digital Cinema

Gary Einhaus

What’s the status of digital cinema in the US and in the world marketplace?

In the US, about 12-percent of the 40,000 screens now have digital projection systems that meet industry standards; on a worldwide basis, about 6-percent of the 110,000 first-run screens have been digitally equipped.  The summer of 2008 saw the market go into a bit of a slowdown, as the banking crisis, especially in the United States, limited funds available for new system deployment – and that, in turn, put a damper on studios signing new agreements to provide Virtual Print Fees.  As the financial institutions gain stability, we expect the market to turn around and installations to continue, perhaps at an accelerated pace.

What’s attracting exhibitors to consider digital systems?

Studios are releasing virtually all of their major movies in digital prints – and smaller distributors are beginning to follow their lead.  And other cinema content -- including sports and music programming, especially remarkable 3D entertainment -- is increasing in diversity and availability.  When exhibitors consider these new revenue-producing content opportunities -- coupled with the potential savings in time and systems automation that digital cinema offers -- they are becoming more serious about digital investments.   

What is Kodak’s role in digital cinema?

Kodak is a full service integrator, selling and supporting networked digital cinema solutions with the capability to handle the full cinema presentation, including pre-shows, trailers, and features in 2D and/or 3D.  While the company’s system includes high quality components from leading hardware suppliers, Kodak has designed and configured the system, provides the unique software to control and mange its functions, and provides all service and support – including installation and training. 

What’s the status of Kodak systems in the marketplace?

Kodak Digital Cinema feature systems have been installed in 14 countries, with 35 exhibition chains on more than 220 screens in more than 130 sites.  More than half of those installations are new within the past year.  Several complete circuits have chosen to work with Kodak on an exclusive basis.  The transition to digital cinema is not a sprint, it’s a marathon and Kodak is positioning itself to gain steady momentum in the marketplace.

What’s Kodak’s role in digital 3D?

Kodak systems have been used to show every digital 3D presentation over the past several years on about 100 cinema screens – and Kodak is most often the company working with Real D to introduce new content to the industry at ShoWest, Cinema Expo, and other major industry events.  Also, Kodak has a strong alliance with Real D in the world marketplace, serving as their agent in parts of Asia and working closely with them in other countries to deliver digital 3D presentations to the cinema screen.

What’s included in the Kodak system?

The Kodak system includes a Kodak Content Player JMN3000 (which handles MPEG and JPEG content, in 2D and 3D), a Kodak Theatre Management System with Kodak software, and a Barco, Christie, or NEC 2K projector.  Also included are full project management, training, installation, service and support, the full system the customer needs to completely digitize a site and become comfortable and confident with digital cinema.

What are the benefits of the Kodak Theatre Management System?

The Kodak Theatre Management System is a central server that becomes the ‘control center’ in a multiplex, receiving, loading, migrating, staging and playing content – all automatically -- as directed by the site’s ticketing system.  By connecting and automating functions, the TMS brings new efficiencies to the complex and also provides a powerful backbone for all of the service aspects.  This allows an exhibitor’s technical department to have an overall 'view' of their individual screen readiness, while the systems are also being monitored by the Kodak service and support team from our central Network Operations Center.  So, the Kodak TMS is the heart of a networked system with excellent reliability and potential saving in productivity. 

How does Kodak protect against piracy?

Kodak prepared feature presentations are always encrypted with a pair of keys – a ‘public’ key and a ‘private’ key – and both are needed for decryption and playback.  Keys have expiration dates set by the content owner and are valid for only an agreed-upon amount of time.  Also, Kodak systems are manufactured in countries where there are strict rules against piracy, rather than in lower-cost countries where piracy is rampant.  And if a pirated copy has been made from a camcorder recording off a cinema screen, watermarking technology – included in the Kodak system – embeds an invisible code into both the audio and visual elements, so pirated copies can be traced back to their source.

Is Kodak still involved with digital pre-show?

Yes.  Kodak Digital Cinema pre-show systems are installed on nearly 2100 screens and the Kodak network operations center is preparing and delivering content that is seen by millions of movie-goers each month in 38 countries. Within the past several months, we’ve been installing the Kodak system on 172 screens in 17 sites for Warner Bros. Cinemas in Italy and there is sales potential in other countries as well.