ELSACOM to install Digital Cinema

Located inside a recently restored Renaissance era building at Villa Borghese, 200 m from Via Veneto, Casa del Cinema will include restaurants, book stores, meeting and exhibition halls as well as a hall dedicated to DVD projection and a 124 seat movie theatre.

The agreement between Elsacom and ASP calls for the theatre to be equipped with a '2K DLP Cinema Projector' (see images above left and right) and accompanying technologies for reception and decoding of High Density (HD) contents for both live and 'store & forward'; the latter term refers to the E-Screen networks' ability to store compressed Audio-Visual content for later transmission. 2K DLP Cinema technology is the only projection technology currently accepted by US studios.

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The purpose of E-Screen is to act as an alternative to current distribution chains. Current content is distributed either physically or via terrestrial broadband networks. This distribution can, however, be only accomplished through a fiber-optic link to the theatres. Fiber-optic coverage is currently quite poor and, due to the high investment required for its deployment, is developing at a slow pace. Satellite coverage is, however, already available and can assure the establishment of a world-wide content distribution network.

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The installation at Casa del Cinema is highly relevant given the personal promotion done by Mr. Walter Veltroni, the Mayor of Rome (see image left). It promises to become a focal point for Italian and international cinema with high-profile activities such as premieres, live broadcast of worldwide festivals, as well as training courses for new cinema technologies, and a centre for remote learning sessions. The site will also be open to collaborations with post-production houses which shall benefit from the availability of a top-quality projection site. Casa del Cinema will be inaugurated on 18 September by the Italian President.

Not only will Casa del Cinema be the first 2K projection site in Italy, but the greater great visibility of such a site is a major chance to promote the adoption of digital technologies associated with cinema. Silvio Borri of Elsacom and project leader for E-Screen Elsacom said, "We are proud of playing an important role in such a development. It is a sign of trust in the future deployments of Digital Cinema."

The Italian company Elsacom developed E-Screen in partnership with United Cinemas International and Screen Digest of the United Kingdom, as well as Marinastudios also of the UK and Cinecittà Holding from Italy as sponsoring partners.
ASP is an Italian company controlled by the Municipality of Rome.

To read more about E-Screen, just click on the link on the right side of this page.