Our very own Maria Nascimbeni, CES+ Sales Account Executive, spent some time with Michael Fernandez, Vice President of Latin America Sales for GDC Technology USA at CinemaCon 2023 to find out more about the range of products and services GDC demonstrated and showcased this year.
GDC, headquartered in Hong Kong, supports the Americas from its Burbank, CA office. Founded in 1999 by Dr. Man-Nang Chong, who was inspired by the advances being made in digital filmmaking and projection in the late 1990s. Today, GDC has an award-winning range of cinema technologies. Here’s what Michael had to say:
Maria: Can you start by telling us about GDC?
Michael: Hi Maria, first, thank you for this opportunity to speak to you and your customers. GDC Technology is a global leader that designs, manufactures, and sells a wide variety of digital cinema solutions. We provide innovative hardware and software products and services to help cinemas enhance the moviegoing experience for audiences around the world. For more than 24 years, GDC focused wholeheartedly on developing and making products and software for digital cinema.
Maria: Could you tell us about GDC Technology and its role in the cinema industry?
Michael: Our Mission is to design and manufacture the most innovative products possible for the cinema industry by collaborating with our distribution and exhibition partners while leading the way with outstanding customer and technical services. We offer a comprehensive suite of digital cinema products and services providing exhibitors with a one-stop solution from DCI-compliant media servers to 3D systems to enterprise software to new audio products, all designed to enhance the exhibition of digital cinema content.
Maria: Over the last couple of years, you have seen tremendous sales of the SR-1000 IMB (more than 20,000 + sold). Can you tell us more about it?
Michael: The SR-1000 IMB is a next-generation IMB that features advanced audio and video processing capabilities. It is the only IMB tested and certified for reliability by SGS, the world’s leading testing company. It supports the latest immersive audio for IAB formats, including Dolby Atmos and DTS:X for IAB, and the new DTS Surround, as well as advanced video playback such as high frame rate content. It also has an optional built-in 2 Terabyte CineCache (cache memory storage) to eliminate local hard drives to ingest and transfer content at lightning speed.
Maria: It sounds like a powerful product. What impact is it having on the cinema industry?
Michael: We believe that the SR-1000 helps cinema operators provide an even more immersive cinema experience to their audiences. For example, the SR-1000 with its optional built-in cinema audio processor supports the new DTS Surround and DTS:X for IAB immersive audio, which allows moviegoers to feel like they are right in the middle of the action. Let’s also not forget how important reliability is. This product is independently tested by SGS for 100,000 hours of Mean Time Between Failures for ultra-high reliability. It’s designed with similar electronics used in military and medical applications to help prevent dark screens due to the failure of electronics.
Maria: Can you share any details on what products you introduced at CinemaCon?
Michael: We are constantly working on new products and improvements to our technologies. This year, our theme at CinemaCon was you get more with GDC. You hear more, see more, experience more. To that end, we showcased more new products than ever, we launched much needed audio products, such as our Espedeo™ DAC Series digital to analog converters, offering five models, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 32 channels. In addition, we introduced the AIB Series Digital-to-Analog Audio Converter including AIB-2000 and AIB-3000 with a software license-enabled DTS Surround Cinema Audio Processor.
In the GDC theatre, we demonstrated DIVE™ Dynamic Lighting System and the SR-1000 IMB with a built-in cinema audio processor for DTS Surround; ultimate surround sound delivered by Japanese-made high-performance SATO Series cinema speakers. One of the most talked about new products was the PSD-4000-SSD portable storage which allows exhibitors to store content with ultra-reliable SSD at affordable prices in 3TB,4TB, and 6TB RAID-5 SSD storage.
It is so compact and lightweight; exhibitors can remove the whole PSD-4000-SSD box to instantaneously move content from one screen to another. Another exciting product we introduced was the Unilumin LED cinema screen, the only direct-view display technology capable of high dynamic range and high frame rate of up to 4K 3D at 96 frames per second. Last but not least, we showcased advancements to our Enterprise Software Solutions, including CMS-3000, NOC-3000 and new TMS-2000WEB along with Cinema Automation CA2.0 to fully automate the booth operations. Now, you know why we had nearly 600 exhibitors visit GDC at CinemaCon.
Maria: What makes GDC Technology’s cinema solutions stand out?
Michael: Our solutions are designed to provide the best possible moviegoing experience for audiences and to help cinemas to streamline their operations and reduce costs. We have a wide range of products that can help cinemas to reduce costs and increase efficiency with technology such as the Cinema Automation CA2.0 Streaming and Automation suite; we also have Power Management Adopter PMA-2000 to help cinemas in the automated turning on and off of equipment in the projection booth – so important in this day and age where energy costs are high and any way to save energy is positive.
We’re very proud of the work we do at GDC Technology which is going to celebrate our 25th Anniversary soon. Our goal is to help cinemas deliver the best possible movie-going experience for audiences, and we’re always looking for new ways to achieve that goal. Beyond innovative technology, we are known for our high-quality technical and customer service teams.
Maria: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today.
Michael: It’s been my pleasure. Thank you again for the opportunity to highlight our newest innovations.