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Brazil Takes Lead in All-Digital Cinema Projection

Posted by timothy on from the flickering-images dept.

securitas writes "The CS Monitor's Andrew Downie reports that Brazil plans to open in May the world's largest digital movie theater network. About 100 theaters will use Sao Paulo-based Rain Networks' KinoCast digital theater DRM software. Rain based its system on Windows Media 9 software with MPEG-4 video compression. 'The MPEG-4 software can squeeze a feature film onto a file of just five gigabytes, 15 times smaller than the MPEG-2 technology presently used' at one-third the $150,000 cost. It takes 20 minutes to distribute a 90-minute film over a VPN and the system avoids the costs associated with transporting physical copies to areas largely inaccessible by road - it can cost up to $750,000 for 500 copies of a Matrix-type blockbuster to be distributed. Interestingly, in the affluent USA the fight between the 35,000 theater owners and Hollywood is about who will pay for cinemas to switch to digital projection. In December 2003 the Guardian published a story with more financial and technical details of the KinoCast digital cinema system."

9 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. XBox rules!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    first post!!! you lame assholes... I can post first because my XBox is a american product and my pride in my great country and my great XBox accelerate everything...

    If only they would make games for that bitch... IAve played Metroid Prime and it ruled... I hope M$ will buy those japanese bastards and port Metroid to my great american console system!!!

    1. Re:XBox rules!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      but you didn't get the first post. your buttsexBox has let you down.

  2. Re:WMP9 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    yeah wonder what skin they use?

  3. Another breakthrough for American "justice" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3495433.stm

    amusing!

    1. Re:Another breakthrough for American "justice" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Yeah, keep linking to the BBC, you limey cockgobbler. Wait till your fascist government completes the dismantling of the BBC and we'll see who's laughing last.

    2. Re:Another breakthrough for American "justice" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      So... your point is that the UK government is just as "fascist" as the US one? Care to explain why? We don't have the death penalty here. Not even for black people who seem to be the main victims of such a punishment in the UK. I guess they're born bad, or have the "devil-gene" or something, right?

  4. Re:WMP9 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    > Rain based its system on Windows Media 9 software

    And what are those popups with porn doing in the middle of the car chase scene?

  5. Re:It's all about costs by TexasDex · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Sure, digital elections are more secure than conventional ones. Well I'm sure that they can be, just as long as you don't use guess whose voting system.

    --
    The Cheese Stands Alone.
  6. That's great but by Ooter · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Doesn't Brazil have more serious problems that it should be taking care of? Like their HUGE poverty problem? A significant percentage of that country lives in deplorable conditions and will never be able to see any of these movies. Sometimes it just seems like the money is going in the wrong direction.