TECHNES Encyclopedia Database

Sending images captured in high definition on a network of movie theatres, as this was conceived by the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb, was a direct result of the advent of digital technology, and more precisely of the film shooting, production, transmission and reception technologies which have been developed since the turn of the new century and to their rapid rise in the following decade. The originality of the operation lies in its novel mixture of digital technologies: filming with a high definition multiple-camera system; encoding the images and the satellite transmission feed; in the United States, becoming a part of the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) connecting up movie theatres via satellite, optical fibre and possibly the Internet; and the gradual installation of Digital Light Projectors (DLP) in movie theatres around the world. With the establishment of regular programming through The Met: Live in HD from the outset of live transmissions, the Met set out to put in place a series of rigorous technical procedures and to impose quality standards on exhibitors. In this way the Met contributed to the expansion of a global network of digital cinemas and encouraged cinemas to acquire DLP equipment, opening up a technological path to the transmission of other kinds of cultural events in cinema.