What is Digital Cinema?

See the difference.

Celluloid film has been used to shoot, distribute and screen films for more than 100 years. Now, the film industry is at the threshold of the biggest change in its history: the transition from film to digital.

DLP Cinema® technology has captivated millions of film-goers, delivering clear, sharp, bright and accurate images to cinemas around the world. The total number of installed DLP Cinema® projectors is nearly 6,000, with cinemas located in 35 countries around the world. Since May 1999, more than 350 films have been released for screening on DLP Cinema® projectors. DLP Cinema® systems have been deployed and tested commercially in cinemas since 1999, providing more than seven years of in-field usage. And with the May 2002 release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones–the first all–digital live action feature, shot without a single roll of film – the digital revolution arrived to stay.

What exactly is digital cinema?

Digital cinema encompasses every aspect of the film making process, from production and post-production to distribution and projection.

While digital cameras are nothing new, and post-production houses have been using digital equipment to edit and master films and animation for some time, the all-digital distribution and projection of films has only recently arrived to complete the chain.

A digitally produced or digitally converted film can be distributed to cinemas via satellite, physical media, or fiber optic networks. The digitized film is stored by a computer/server which “serves” it to a digital projector for each screening of the film. Projectors based on DLP Cinema® technology are currently installed in nearly 6,000 cinemas in 35 countries worldwide - and remain the first and only commercially available digital cinema projectors.

Is digital really better than film?

For millions of film goers worldwide and leading directors including George Lucas and Steven Soderbergh, the answer is an unqualified “yes.”

When you see a film digitally, you see that film the way its creators intended you to see it: with incredible clarity and detail. In a range of up to 35 trillion colours. And whether you're catching that film on opening night or months after, it will always look its best, because digital films are immune to the scratches, fading, pops and jitter that film is prone to with repeated screenings.

That’s why directors love digital cinema: it ensures that their creation will be reproduced with total fidelity at every screening.

Since 1999, DLP Cinema® has projected over 200,000 shows to more than 25 million people worldwide.

Where can I see a film digitally?

You can experience films in DLP Cinema® format and projection at a growing number of select cinemas worldwide.

How does DLP Cinema® technology work?

1. A digital projector based on DLP Cinema® technology transfers the digitized image file onto three optical semiconductors known as Digital Micromirror Devices, or DMDs. Each of these chips is dedicated to one primary colour-red, green, or blue. A DMD chip contains a rectangular array of over one million microscopic mirrors.

2. Light from the projector's lamp is reflected off the mirrors and is combined in different proportions of red, green and blue, as controlled by the image file, to create an array of different coloured pixels that make up the projected image.

3. The DMD mirrors tilt either toward or away from the light source thousands of times per second to reflect the film onto the screen. These images are sequentially projected onto the screen, recreating the film in front of you with perfect clarity and a range of more than 35 trillion colours.
For a closer look at the technology that makes DLP® projection possible, view our demo.