Seven major Hollywood film studios announced that they have agreed on technical standards for digital cinema projection, laying the foundation for a money-saving transition from costly film prints to digitally-projected movies. Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), a consortium that includes Disney, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros., will establish a financing entity that will borrow funds to bankroll the initial installation of digital projection systems -- which cost between $60,000 and $100,000 each -- in 3,500 to 10,000 screens nationwide. These costs would be partly passed on to theater owners, while the rest would be realized in savings from the digital conversion; while film prints cost around $1,200 each, and can deteriorate with use and time, digital movies maintain their quality and currently cost about $300 per copy. Previously, many theater owners were hesitant to pay to install digital projectors, for lack of a common standard. Among the standards set by DCI include specifications for digital cinema picture resolution, and methods of preventing piracy. "After three years of careful planning, discussion and reaching out to all the various constituencies who make up our industry, DCI member studios are pleased to have reached unanimous agreement on the necessary overall system requirements and specifications for digital cinema," said Walt Ordway, chief technology officer for DCI.
We know artificial intelligence consumes huge amounts of energy. The power grid is now a major concern in enterprise technology strategy, and it's reshaping decisions that used to belong entirely to the CIO. For three decades, capacity planning meant negotiating with a cloud provider or a colocation vendor. Today it increasingly means understanding utility interconnection queues, local zoning battles, and the willingness of hyperscale operators to build faster than the grid can comfortably absorb. New research from Synergy Research Group puts deep market data behind a trend every large enterprise buyer has already felt: the constraints are real, but the AI infrastructure build-out is not slowing down. Electric Power Grid Market Development Synergy's tracking shows that total U.S. data center capacity is on pace to double within the next three years, even as power availability and local opposition create genuine friction for new projects. It's a striking signal that demand ...