Improving the quality of film to digital transfers for digital cinema

High-quality screen picture performance is the ultimate technical goal of d igital cinema. Tests have been performed by projecting movies from standard and high-definition (HD) telecine transfers intended for home video and HD broadcast applications. The results of these tests have fallen short of th e image quality needed for large screen theatrical projection. This paper r eports on a project undertaken to improve image quality by altering the sou rce characteristics through adjustments in the telecine transfer process. T he work is based on using a display having identical characteristics to the ultimate theatrical projector to perform the transfers. This has resulted in transfer images with a quality different from the "standard, " using CRT monitors as the transfer target The image was improved by concentrating on the treatment of the following: gamma, black-and-white crushing and clippi ng, calorimetry, and digital enhancement.