NEC Corp plans to bring digital cinema to India

Japan-based NEC Corporation, a visual display technology solutions provider, has initiated discussions with leading multiplex operators like Adlabs and PVR Cinemas to usher in the digital cinema (D-cinema) revolution in the Indian film industry.

D-cinema, unlike the conventional analogue and the more recent electronic format, is a standard defined by Hollywood and is geared towards taking the image quality to higher levels using 2K (2048 x 858 pixels) or 4K (4096 x 2160 pixels) resolution projectors.

At present, Satyam Cinemas in Chennai is a major player to have adopted this. According to industry information, the D-Cinema set-up is expected to cost around Rs 1 crore.

NEC Display Solutions President Yoshiaki Tsuda, while briefing on the market expansion plans for the high-resolution digital projectors manufactured by the company, said: "We are working on D-cinema projectors to suit the Indian film industry. As the film industry is large here, we are interacting with different segments to what their requirements are."

NEC is one of the three major global manufacturers of digital cinema projectors in accordance with the specifications of the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), a joint venture of Universal and Warner Bros studios, Disney, Fox, MGM, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Theatres in the US and Europe are shifting to D-cinema, and India too presents a potential market, Tsuda said.

However, the challenge to D-cinema in India is the volume-game. The country produces over 1,000 movies per annum in all languages, but the formats vary. Further, no cost-effective business model has been evolved to give an impetus to the digitally formatted movies.

Said Sanjay Dhuria, head (MMPG) of NEC India Pvt Ltd, "Theatres were not investing in upgradation of technology all these years. It is only with the growth of the multiplex sector that the situation is changing. Now, with Hollywood announcing that it will release digitally formatted movies, high resolution projects and display screens will have to be used." While Bollywood (the hub for Hindi films) has chosen to go slow on digital cinemas, the Tamil film industry has begun experimenting. Sathyam cinemas, a six-screen multiplex in Chennai, has converted two screens into digital cinemas.

"There is great potential for digital cinemas in the country. We are fine-tuning our market strategies by trying to understand the industry's requirements," Dhuria added.