Qube Cinema's end-to-end solutions for Digital Cinema provide the ultimate combination of quality, reliability, ease-of-use, security and flexibility. Designed from the ground up to operate in mission-critical applications, the architecture of the Qube product family has been conceived with the future in mind and provides an integrated workflow, from mastering to distribution to playback to reporting to archival. Being almost entirely software based allows the Qube system to leverage developments in the computer industry and bring to market format-independent, powerful and flexible products.

Qube Cinema has an entire suite of products required for a practical, commercially viable, end-to-end implementation of Digital Cinema. Qube Cinema is a company that has proven expertise in managing complex technology transformations in traditional workflows; a company with a passion for cinema and a thorough understanding of film, video, audio and computer technology as well as the production, post-production and exhibition industries.

The Qube XP Digital Cinema Server is the core component of the Qube system that plays picture and sound, and provides theatre-automation support. Redundant power supplies and RAID hard drives bring a high level of reliability to the system while a detachable Qube Remote Panel provides familiar operational controls such as Play, Pause and Stop along with an LCD Display and Menu Keys. Unlike more complex interfaces such as touch-screens or the mouse and keyboard, the Qube Remote Panel is a simple, familiar hardware interface that makes projectionists feel instantly comfortable with the system.

The second generation Qube software is database driven and has a flexible core media architecture that closely follows the DCI Object Model and can work with multiple copies of picture, sound, subtitling and metadata files stored on local and shared central storage systems. Qube Cinema is based on the modular Microsoft Windows XP^™ Embedded Operating System to maximize reliability and security while deriving benefit from Microsoft's powerful DirectShow^™ architecture.

Qube XP-D is aimed at the DCI compliant D-cinema market and has two CineLink^™ 2 equipped dual-link HD-SDI outputs and AES3 audio outputs apart from providing optional analog audio outputs and automation support through GPI inputs and outputs.

The Qube XP-D server is standards-based and designed for interoperability. It has been certified to conform to the MXF Interop Specification and utilizes DCI specified MXF containers with 128-bit AES encryption for media, and xml for compositions and shows. 2048-bit RSA encryption is utilized for keys. Watermarking support is optionally available using both Thomson and Phillips technologies.

The base system handles DCI JPEG2000 in both 24 fps and 48 fps frame rates, high bit-rate MPEG-2 and VC1 picture while also being expandable with additional software codecs. Audio is uncompressed 16-bit or 24-bit at 48 KHz and 96 KHz. Whether for pre-show or feature playback, Qube Cinema has the flexibility to support it all.

Qube Cinema supports subtitling in the CineCanvas^™ file format. Subtitles can be internally rendered or can be sent along with timing information to a DLP Cinema^™ projector over Ethernet.

Media transport is possible using portable eSATA or USB-2 hard drives, high-speed data lines and optionally, satellite multicast transmissions.

Qube XP Servers can manage media completely automatically by deleting older, unused media when additional space is required to ingest new media. This again makes the system entirely automatic in operation for the projectionist and theatre manager and considerably simplifies their lives while reducing the possibility of human-error.

Qube XP systems can be managed and operated locally and remotely via a powerful, highly interactive web-based UI which shows status and, with the proper login credentials, allows transport control, scheduling, content ingest, key management, media management as well as setup and maintenance. System logs can also be viewed over the web interface and downloaded as xml files that are signed for verification of authenticity.