Sony Digital Cinema™ 4K Projection Systems are the Industry’s First to Achieve Full Compliance with DCI Specification

Basingstoke – May 04, 2011 – On Tuesday, April 26th 2011, Sony Corporation and Showcase Cinemas Cardiff, successfully performed the first commercial screening in Europe on a fully-DCI compliant projection system.

In March, Sony Corporation announced that its Digital Cinema 4K projection systems were the first to successfully complete the full range of compliance tests for specifications required by Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI). Sony was accredited under the DCI specification for its “integrated projection systems.” These systems are based on the ground-breaking Sony 4K projector that can present ultra-high-resolution images (8.85 million pixels, four times as many as 2K) and a server that can securely store digital cinema content and transfer it to the projector. Each of the Sony systems were certified as “a working system that can be fully deployed in theaters,” according to DCI.

The new DCI compliant Key Delivery Message (KDM) structure must carry the projector thumb print certificate in addition to the server certificate, which is becoming the industry norm. This enhances the security of all digital content, allowing cinemas to meet the high DCI compliance requirement which the six major Hollywood Studios, including Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures Corporation, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., and Universal Studios Inc. studios have agreed upon.

“It is with great pleasure that we announce that Sony Digital Cinema 4K has once again taken the lead in this industry,” says David McIntosh, Head of Digital Cinema at Sony Europe. “We were the first to launch a 4K resolution projector, with 4 times the resolution of a 2K projector. We were the first to launch the “easy on the eye” 3D solution with our partner RealD. We were the first to pass the high standard DCI Compliance Security design projection system. Now, we have successfully screened fully DCI-Compliant content at our exhibitor partner Showcase Cinemas, in Cardiff - the first such screening in Europe.” Sony is currently the only projection manufacturer that offers a fully DCI-Compliant projection system which consists of a 4K resolution projector and a media block.

In the UK, Apollo, Showcase and VUE Cinemas are have signed up for Sony Digital Cinema 4K projection systems, meaning over 1000 screens will be capable of screening in DCI-Compliant 4K resolution once the roll-out is complete. Globally, Sony has a committed base of over 13,000 4K projection systems from leading exhibitors.

Sony is the leading VPF provider in Europe, with Apollo, Showcase and VUE Entertainment in Europe, and is in ongoing discussions with other key exhibitors.