It took 8 hours to transmit the file from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to a satellite dish atop the AMC Empire 25 Theatre. In the theater, the file was decoded, expanded and stored on several computer hard disks. From there, it can be projected. In those experiments, a movie was transferred from a master copy to a digital file, then recorded onto several computer discs. The discs were shipped to theaters where the files were decompressed and stored on computers.
Digital projection shifts some of the financial burden of movie distribution to theater owners.
Meanwhile, studios have proposed to subsidize the investment, especially since they stand to profit first. For now, chains such as AMC Entertainment Inc., which owns the Times Square movie house, are glad to play guinea pig in the digital experiments. If the returns are there for the investments, then money will be found to make the investment. The Associated Press . All rights reserved.