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ment. Even though some may be content with watching movies on their home
digital cinema equipment, there are still many moviegoers who buy tickets and
watch movies loyally in the theatre. For these, watching a movie in the theatre
provides them with a totally different experience than viewing in their own home.
The sensation while consuming digital presentation in a darkened large auditorium
with the large screen contributes greatly to the user experience. Investigating how
these factors influence the QoE is important. Subjective experiments using human
subjects are one of the key stages in the QoE research for D-Cinema. In order to
give realistic results, the subjective experiment must be conducted in a realistic
environment such as the DCI specified cinema in Trondheim—Nova Ki-
nosenter—to provide the same viewing condition as regular moviegoers have.
However, it is important to note that subjective experiments using human subjects
are complex and must be in controlled environments using proper methodologies.
The data from the subjective experiments is then used as a foundation to develop
objective models to determine quality in the context of QoE.
We have presented the subjective test methodology and setup in NOVA 1 using
characteristics of the HVS that are related to image quality assessment in a D-
Cinema setup. Based on an intensive analysis on the mechanism of image quality
assessment in a digital cinema setup, we proposed an approach for improving the
performance of three image quality metrics. The images were divided into differ-
ent blocks with a given size, and metrics were performed in certain blocks with
high contrast levels. The mean of quality values over these blocks was taken as the
image quality. The experimental results with respect to the subjective quality re-
sults in the D-Cinema setup and LIVE dataset demonstrated the promising per-
formance of the proposed approach in improving the image quality metrics for
digital cinema applications.
Our work in perceived visual quality in D-Cinema is a starting point in QoE re-
search. Our study showed that due to different and unique digital image content
and viewing conditions of D-Cinema, quality research of D-Cinema especially in
the context of QoE is not really in the same category as any other application. Our
future work will study the mechanisms of QoE in D-Cinema in depth.
The current problem still remains, how do we motivate for a total roll out of D-
Cinema and how can quality contribute in the process. Many stakeholders are try-
ing to influence, ranging from individual to organizations and a few novel rein-
ventions of the technology that were not initially spotted. The most important of
these are the ability to screen 3D content using the existing D-Cinema equipment.
In addition, the industry is exploiting how to benefit from the possibility of screen-
ing other digital stuff in times where the screen is not used for traditional film
screenings. Opinion leaders, experts and the industry itself are constantly commu-
nicating these benefits and using their powers as change agents to finally be able
to convince and reach the early majority creating a mass market for D-Cinema
with real competition and inertia. Our hope is that improved QoE will prevail and
become the most important change agent of them all.
