Movie-lovers will love Singapore’s Shaw Theatres PLQ

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Solutions

With its new solution, the need for the manpower to work overtime for ingestion of content and show failures are better managed. Latency has been addressed with local storage caching which is automatically updated as part of the streaming process. The solution allows us more flexibility to schedule other content in case of hall or schedule changes. Now we spend less time on backend operations which allow us more time to focus on improving the patrons experience.”

Terence Heng, Vice President, Innovation, Content, Engagement of Shaw

Cinema Background

The Shaw Organization’s Cineplex opened Shaw Theatres PLQ, its ninth cinema in August 2019 at Paya Leba Quarter. With its numerous amenities, extensive food and beverage offerings and advanced technologies, the luxurious complex sets a new standard for a high-class and high-quality moviegoing experience in Singapore. Shaw Theatres PLQ is conveniently located next to two MRT lines (East West Line and Circle line), which allows people working and living in the East to choose from more choices.

Shaw Theatres PLQ has a total of 12 screens, comprising of an IMAX® theatre, two Lumiere screens with GDC’s DTS:X™ immersive audio solution and all twelve screens with laser projectors. It has the most screens in the East of Singapore, offering more choices to the residents and those working in the new sub-regional business hub.

Shaw Theatres PLQ is the fifth IMAX theatre in Singapore. The experience is set apart with the next-generation 4K Laser projection system and a suite of proprietary IMAX technologies, delivering increased resolution, sharper, brighter visuals with deeper contrast and the widest range of colors that is certain to astound audiences.

Shaw Theatres PLQ is a true movie-lovers destination. The theatre provides guests an ultra-modern movie going experience by featuring Lumiere, the company’s premium format hall with state-of-the-art DTS:X™ sound technology. Lumiere also provides an exclusive movie-watching experience with an emphasis on comfort from the luxurious, reclinable Figueras seats. Each seat comes with an ergonomically shaped backrest cushion paired with a turntable and a USB charging port.

Challenges

“Previously, we encountered the limitation of content ingestion and storage,” said Terence Heng, Vice President, innovation, content, engagement of Shaw. “Last hour schedule changes or a swap of a hall was not possible because the content was ingested at specific halls. Our older system needed direct ingestion to individual local servers for each hall, which took time and resources. And when there are technical issues, transferring the content back to the affected hall takes a lot of time which is loss of revenue for each show we miss.”

Solutions

To address to the aforesaid challenges, Shaw Theatres PLQ adopted a wide range of innovative GDC products such as SCL series central server that streams content to all the auditorium’s local media server. GDC new generation of products are specifically designed to efficiently managing an ultra-modern cinema with fail-safe technology.

Equipment List

SR-1000 with 2TB CineCache™ for nine screens

Shaw Theatres PLQ uses GDC’s SR-1000 standalone integrated media block (IMB) with 2TB CineCache for nine of its screens. SR-1000, launched in 2017, is designed for near-zero maintenance to help lower the costs for cinema owners, and has high reliability on playback with redundancy provided by CineCache.

SX-4000 coupled with Enterprise Storage (4TB) for two screens (DTS:X Halls)

Shaw Theatres PLQ’s two Lumiere suites are equipped with GDC’s SX-4000 immersive sound media server and XSP-1000 cinema processor, enabling a premier immersive sound experience with DTS:X which is also demonstrated to comply with international audio standard- SMPTE ST 2098-2:2019 immersive audio bitstream specification.

CA2.0’s SCL series manages all the auditoriums (except IMAX)

GDC’s Cinema Automation CA2.0 is designed to minimize technical and human errors, addressing the issue of time and resources lost with legacy cinema systems. With CA2.0’s SCL series centralized storage playback solution, operators do not need to ingest content to every auditorium’s media server. Content is streamed and managed from a central server SCL series. More importantly, content can be ingested into SCL series at full speed during playback. Operators no longer require to stay late at night to wait for content ingestion before shutting down equipment and the cinema.

PMA-810 Programmable Power Management Devices

Each of Shaw Theatres PLQ halls is equipped with GDC’s PMA-810 power management devices to ensure that power supply can be turn-on and off with a pre-determined, programmable schedule without human intervention, saving labor and time costs and improving operation efficiency.

Results

Mr. Heng said, “With its new solution, the need for the manpower to work overtime for ingestion of content and show failures are better managed. Latency has been addressed with local storage caching which is automatically updated as part of the streaming process. The solution allows us more flexibility to schedule other content in case of hall or schedule changes. Now we spend less time on backend operations which allow us more time to focus on improving the patrons experience.”