Erlangen, Germany – Jan. 14, 2013- The Department of Moving Picture Technologies of Fraunhofer IIS, the world’s renowned source for audio and multimedia technologies, today announces Soho Digital Cinema (SDC), the UK’s fastest growing digital film lab, has selected its easyDCP KDM Generator to simplify distribution workflow and ensure adherence to screening rights. The integration of the easyDCP KDM Generator in SDC’s MEL, a web application for KDM management and distribution, enables SDC customers to create their own KDMs through the SDC website.
With Fraunhofer’s easyDCP KDM Generator, SDC’s MEL creates KDMs for encrypted DCPs and sends them via email to any cinema in the UK regardless of command line, user interface or cinema server. This makes the process for distributors as easy as looking up a theatre name, selecting a film, specifying the KDM dates and hitting send. The projectionist is emailed the KDM within seconds. Important to SDC’s MEL is the application’s use of SDC’s database where all public certificates for digital films shown in UK movie theatres are stored and maintained.
”After surveying every cinema in the UK to have a comprehensive public certificate database, SDC needed an easy way to create KDM files for our customers,” said David Margolis, managing director of Soho Digital Cinema. “We chose Fraunhofer IIS because they not only understand today’s challenges for the digital cinema distribution environment, but are already developing the solutions that will simplify the workflow of the future.”
SDC’s MEL has already been used extensively with several releases in 2012, such as films with Momentum Pictures, Revolver Entertainment and Artificial Eye. The film lab plans to increase its database to the US and Europe. With Fraunhofer IIS’s easyDCP KDM Generator, it is possible to generate hundreds of DCP’s within a single run. The system currently produces 6,000 KDMs a day, and will be accelerated to do more in the future.“
DCPs and KDMs play an integral role in the digital cinema distribution workflow. A KDM is an encryption key for DCPs sent to specific cinema servers in theaters that have been granted performance rights to display a film. The KDM Generator creates KDMs to unlock the DCPs for screening according to the time window or validity period set by the distributor. The KDM Generator software is part of Fraunhofer’s easyDCP Software Suite that simplifies and ensures quality control for post production, mastering and playback of DCPs for post production houses worldwide.
About Soho Digital Cinema
Soho Digital Cinema is the UK's fastest growing digital film lab. Working for some of the world's best known distributors, servicing agents and film studios, Soho Digital Cinema specializes in digital cinema mastering, quality control, Digital Cinema Package (DCP) encoding / validation, distribution and Key Delivery Message (KDM) management.
About Fraunhofer IIS
Founded in 1985 the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen, today with more than 750 staff members, ranks first among the Fraunhofer Institutes concerning headcount and revenues. As the main inventor of mp3 and universally credited with the co-development of AAC audio coding standard, Fraunhofer IIS has reached worldwide recognition. It provides research services on contract basis and technology licensing. The Fraunhofer IIS organization is part of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, based in Munich, Germany. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is Europe’s largest applied research organization and is partly funded by the German government. With 20,000 employees worldwide, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is composed of 60 Institutes conducting research in a broad range of research areas.
For more information, contact Angela Raguse, rgs@iis.fraunhofer.de, or visit http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/abt/bewegt/.
About the Department Moving Picture Technologies
The Department Moving Picture Technologies develops new innovative imaging systems and procedures based on High Dynamic Range (HDR), Lightfield and 3D capturing methods. Main application areas are the motion picture and TV industry, but also other areas will be covered. The algorithms will be used to extend technical and creative opportunities on the set and in the post production. To achieve practical use specific components like image processing ASICs, software tools or complete prototypes and devices will be developed.
Well known software developments will be used, e.g. easyDCP for creation, play back and control of Digital Cinema Packages. Actual and future extensions will work for enhanced 3D distribution packages, multi-format mastering or archiving of media content. The department is well connected to other organizations and associations and is working in several international standardization organizations.
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