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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Hi x264 team,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>My name is <st1:PersonName w:st="on">James Gardiner</st1:PersonName>
and I work in the cinema industry here in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Specifically Digital
Cinema.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Currently I see a big opportunity for the x264 team to make a big
impact on the cinema industry. I am writing this letter to encourage you to
move forward in the areas that will achieve this sooner rather then later.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Firstly let me mention DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative). This is a
recommendation on how to achieve a digital cinema standard for the cinema
industry. It was developed by big players in the “tradition” film
industry, and in some ways is a little over engineered.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I would simply like to address current image standards like that of
H.264 and its roll in this area.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>DCI recommends JPEG2000 compression. An i-frame based JPEG2000 stream utilizing
XYZ colour space. Sounds great and will obviously achieve very good image
quality. But also very expensive to do and implement.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The major distribution companies have settled on this as a standard as
you would expect, however, a gaping hole exists in the market.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>With the changing media industry, the business models on making films
is evolving. Art house or niche films are becoming more popular. The ability
to distribute these films digitally has made these films far more viable. I am
extremely excited about this and how more content of this type is making it to
the screen. However..<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The costs of following DCI recommendations can be a barrier to digital
feature distribution. This need not be the case in my opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>To make an example, the initial Digital features released before March
2007 where 80mbit MPEG2 1920x1080 24p. As JPEG2000 hardware became available
late 2006, this has driven the need to drop MPEG2 all together (For feature
release).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>And really I tend to agree with this as, MPEG2, as proven as it is, has
a very limited colour depth. (Ie banding is especially annoying to me.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Pushing the resolution issues aside, (2K, 4K, HD about 6% diff to 2K).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The adoption of the new H.264 Higher profile specifications could be a huge
benefit to the cinema industry. Starting at 4:2:2 10bit or going to 4:4:4 12bit
we then have an effective range of codec levels that can carry the required
quality to the cinemas cost effectively.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>This not only effects feature but also advertising practices.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I have been scanning the web for news on implementations of these
features of H.264, however, none are currently available. And as such proprietary
version like Apple ProRes are popping up. I thing it would be better for all
if more open codecs are used for these type of implementations. I would
encourage the x246 team to look into these issues.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I describe this as an opportunity to the x264 team as, this technology
could have a major effect on the future of cinemas and the world we know. It
is a rare opportunity to be able to participate in such world altering developments.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Thanks you for reading,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>James Gardiner</span></font></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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