FOR-A’s HD Frame Converter Enables International Digital Cinema Presentations of ‘Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD’

FOR-A
Corporation of America announced that its FRC-7000 HD frame rate converter is
proving to be a key component enabling live broadcasts of operas from
New York’s famed Metropolitan Opera to participating
digital cinemas in the
United States
and
Europe.

Since “The
Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD” began in December 2006, digital cinema
audiences in the United States, as well as Britain, Canada, Germany, Japan,
Norway, and Sweden, have been able to watch an opera live from “The Met” as if
they had the best seats in the House. The HD opera productions are transmitted
to participating digital cinemas and projected in HD with 5.1 channels of
surround sound onto big screens.

“FOR-A’s
FRC-7000 has been a key part of this groundbreaking application because it
handles the critical HD format conversion that is needed to serve our diverse
international delivery requirements. The image quality and motion are crystal
clear and smooth—even the subtitles,” said Mark Schubin, Engineer-in-Charge,
Media Department, for The Metropolitan Opera, in

New York,
NY.

Introduced
at NAB2006, the FOR-A FRC-7000 can convert between 1080/59.94i, 1080/50i, and
between 720/59.94p and 720/50p HD frame rates in realtime, leveraging FOR-A’s
advanced vector motion compensation algorithms, which compare the motion in a
group of frames with the frames that follow before performing the conversion.
At NAB2007, FOR-A added advanced scene cut detection and roll/crawl text
detection, as well as optional support for different frame rates including:
23/98psf, 23.98p, 24psf, 24p, 30p, 30psf, 29.97psf, 29p, 25p, and 25psf.

“Initially,
we planned to use 1080i at 29.97 frames per second (American standard) as the
frame rate for all theaters. But, after our first tests, one of the European
groups discovered that their satellite receivers couldn’t deal with it. That’s
when we knew we had to deliver 1080i at 25 frames per second, too,” said Lenny
Laxer, vice president of operations for All Mobile Video, the mobile video
company serving the remote production and transmission needs of The
Metropolitan Opera, in

New York,

N.Y. in this endeavor.

“The FOR-A
FRC-7000 enables us to provide everyone with the HD format they need,” Laxer
added. “Until now, we’ve been sending the European theatres both a

U.S. and
European version. But today, since the FOR-A FRC-7000 has proven its ability to
output superb quality, motion-compensated HD frame rate conversion, we’re
confident that we can discontinue sending the U.S. version. So, the FOR-A
FRC-7000 will be saving us money.”

All Mobile
Video has purchased two FRC-7000 units for use in transmitting the Metropolitan
Opera performances: one situated at the Met in an uplink truck and one at its
Gateway Teleport in

Carteret,

NJ. The operas are captured by 14
Sony HDC 950/1500/1000 HD cameras in 1080/29.97i.

The
primary U.S. distributor of “Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD” is National
CineMedia network, a joint venture of AMC, Cinemark, and Regal Entertainment
Group, which includes Regal Cinemas, United Artists, and Edwards. Among the
foreign distributors that receive the transmission via satellite is a theater
in
Tromso,
Norway,
north of the
Arctic Circle.

Since the
first HD presentation, the number of tickets sold at participating digital
cinemas has been steadily increasing with every performance, greatly expanding
the audience that can appreciate live performances from The Met. Among the
operas that have been presented to date are: “The Magic Flute” by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart (December 30, 2006); “I Puritani” by Vincenzo Bellini (January
6, 2007); “The First Emperor” by Tan Dun (January 13, 2007); and “Il Barbiere
di Siviglia” (“The Barber of Seville”) by Gioachino Rossini (March 24,
2007).

In digital
cinema showings of feature films, frame rate conversion is not necessary
because 24 frames per second is the universal worldwide standard.
However, frame rate conversion is necessary for digital cinema applications
that involve live international transmission of performing arts, sports, or
other special events. The FOR-A FRC-7000 is also well-suited to international
broadcast television distribution.

“Without
the FOR-A FRC-7000,” Schubin said, “these HD transmissions from the
Metropolitan Opera would not have been possible with the same flawless quality
and efficiency.”