Objective
EDCINE focuses on the optimisation; enhancement and interoperability issues of Digital Cinema based future standards. JPEG-2000 compression and the "DCI specifications" document are the cornerstones of the project's efforts.
The "DCI specifications" document published in July 05 confirms the SMPTE decision to choose JPEG 2000 instead of MPEG for digital cinema coding doesn't take into account many European issues. The MXF file format and security tools specifications are being adopted following the DCI studios' wishes. They lead to large files because of the lower compression rate but allow larger colour space, better resolution and bit-streams adaptable in quality and resolution. To continue to be able to project digital content, cinemas will have to comply with those requirements within a few years.
EDCINE will push the limits of the SMPTE specifications by including quality optimisation, robustness to transmission errors, content security tools, stereoscopic imaging, interactive access, forensic marking and metadata for indexing and retrieval. The project will also supply interoperability with equipments using transcoding to/from MPEG and insure end-to-end security from production to projection and to the others content distribution markets (e.g. television, mobile devices, internet). Networked access to cinema archives allows users optimised access of video data for retrieval and downloading.
EDCINE will demonstrate that interoperable solutions between the DCI requirements and the European digital cinema needs may be found. EDCINE developments will be actively pushed at the SMPTE, JPEG and EBU standard bodies where the partners are already active, directly or through the European Digital Cinema Forum (EDCF).
The EDCINE project will do more than putting Europe at the forefront of the race to standardise the world's digital cinema, it will also push the whole European D-Cinema industry to the front line with solutions compliant with Europe's needs.