Deluxe "eCinema" delivery service is coming in December

[Carsten Kurz]

Any idea as to why they do not simply go all eDelivery?

I think studios (at least over here) are not interested in endorsing a single service company - it means less competition, higher prices, and being dependent on a single supplier/technology. So, I guess some are trying to keep competition or alternative methods alive.

The Netherlands are a smaller market, but there, Gofilex was able to get all studios for E-Delivery, and they are now the only operating company there.
However, they were already doing 35mm and HDD shipments for many many years before. Probably also more or less being the only company in NL back then already.

[James Gardiner]

I think studios (at least over here) are not interested in endorsing a single service company - it means less competition, higher prices, and being dependent on a single supplier/technology. So, I guess some are trying to keep competition or alternative methods alive.

Yes traditionally the studios have always tried to play two companies of against each other.. That's Deluxe and Technicolour. Well it was.. Some of that is falling away now.. Its now only Deluxe, and Deluxe are also taking over much of the world eDelivery market too. These large companies implement a Control a Box on site.

This was inevitable. Was always going to happen. So yes, to ensure competition and price controls.. Cinemas are going to have to get use to non-lockin type content delivery tools. Like installing a tool on your PC that downloads a DCP. I know a lot of cinemas are happy to just let them do everything so its easier for them.. But I can tell you. They are setting it up this way as they expect to make $$ from it at some stage. Cinemas should be open to adopting other tools that may not be as 'easy' to ensure there is competition. Plus it will also make it much harder to local and art-house content. An area I feel we especially have to look out for as its a major part of Cinema-Culture. Its not all studios tent-pols.

[Mike Blakesley]

Ours showed up this evening. I had a feeling it was 'happening' because the network light on the QNAP machine was a-blinkin' when I got here tonight....normally it's steady-on.

Some use E-Delivery only during the first weeks, and turn to HDD on the break or for repertoire later.

That sounds like the DCDC service. They only house content for the first few weeks after release. I've heard that it's two or three weeks but don't know if that's still the norm.

[Jon Dent]

From what Deluxe said, they'll upload only titles that you've actually booked, so I would imagine that would also include older content, so long as the studio allows it.

[Carsten Kurz]

A satellite system can only accommodate a certain volume of new titles over a certain time span, it is impossible for them to send individual bookings to cinemas that way. For an IP based transfer system, it doesn't matter wether it's a new release or repertoire.
It is also a lot cheaper to keep a single DCP stored on a huge cloud based storage towards possible individual E-Deliveries than to keep repertoire HDDs or copy them as the booking comes.

I remember trying to book 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' for a summer open air booking a few years ago, and Fox told us 'Sorry, our 5 Rocky Horror HDDs are currently out to other open air locations, we have no left'.

- Carsten

[Jesse Crooks]

This may be old news to everyone else since it happened in November, but we just learned that Deluxe acquired Éclair. A couple weeks ago Deluxe pitched the idea of possibly using our existing Éclair servers for the distribution of Deluxe content. My wife deals with our distributor logistics and has said it seems like their support has also recently merged. Makes me wonder whether they're going to keep EclairPlay as a separate service for for arthouse content or if they plan to eliminate it.

[Carsten Kurz]

We had been receiving a few EclairExpress transfers in recent months. Since recently, the email notifications now originate from 'by.deluxe', though they still carry the Eclair Theatrical Service CI/branding.
I guess they will soon drop the Eclair brand. I also read that they will unify the transfer network to a single service.

[William Kucharski]

Talking to a local manager, he mentioned the only hard drives they still get are for indie/Bollywood pictures or IMAX, everything else now comes via satellite.

IMAX still sends hard drives for everything.

[Jon Dent]

We're getting Morbius on hard drive. Not sure if I need to be making another phone call...

[Marcel Birgelen]

Talking to a local manager, he mentioned the only hard drives they still get are for indie/Bollywood pictures or IMAX, everything else now comes via satellite.

IMAX still sends hard drives for everything.

IMAX hides special DMR bits in between the bits stored on the harddrive, that would never fly via an on-line distribution system, those precious hidden bits would get lost...

[Mike Blakesley]

We're currently playing our first E-delivered title, "The Lost City." It's kind of surreal to think that its the first time in 92 years that a movie is playing at this theater that some person didn't carry it in through the front door.

[Jon Dent]

Anybody get Morbius delivered via download?

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Apparently, the folks at Deluxe have it all working now....

[James Wyrembelski]

Speaking of Morbius....make sure you double check your keys. Deluxe is apparently having an issue with this title.

My particular problem was a little unique in that the server claimed the keys were expired. The tech that helped me sent a new generated key directly from her account and they worked but the new ones they sent right after that ingested but didn't have an associated cpl. Apparently the problem most are having is that the server shows Morbius unlocked but when it goes to play the title it claims the key is invalid.

[Mike Blakesley]

Normally I get our keys from the Deluxe One portal because it's faster/easier than the email, but I've had the occasional issue with the portal. With our current feature, the key to this day still shows as "pending" even though I received the emailed version as usual. So I just used that for the movie. I wonder if having the FilmVault installed had anything to do with this -- although it's not the first time it's happened.