Thomson has been highlighting the widespread adoption of its NexGuard digital cinema watermarking system by top d-cinema server manufacturers Doremi, GDC, QuVis and Tamedia, estimating that it now has 75% of the market.
The hope is that NexGuard’s audio and visual forensic content identification will help protect motion picture content from in-theatre piracy. Doremi recently completed testing NexGuard’s watermarking system and is already shipping its NexGuard-enhanced product line, while QuVis, GDC, and Tamedia are finalising the integration process.
“In total, the companies that have adopted our watermarking solution represent what we believe is nearly 75% of the server marketplace,” said Jean-Michel Masson, general manager, Thomson Content Security. “It’s a fantastic validation of NexGuard’s efficacy and a strong vote for Thomson and its leadership role in supporting content security.”
Thomson’s NexGuard watermarking system embeds the date, time and place of projection into a digital motion picture’s image and soundtrack during play-out in cinemas. When the information is extracted from pirated materials with NexGuard’s detection and recovery system, it pinpoints the exact source of the leakage.
NexGuard’s watermark exceeds the Digital Cinema Initiative’s (DCI) specifications in its ability to withstand compression in hard media and on the internet and in its capacity to store more than the prescribed amount of critical identification information. It is invisible during both 2k and 4k exhibition and inaudible in multichannel playback.
“NexGuard has been enthusiastically received by the studios at our professional screenings throughout the last year,” concluded Masson. “Thomson’s anti-piracy and content management commitment is part and parcel of the company’s overall investment in the media and entertainment industries.”
In addition to NexGuard, Thomson’s proprietary forensic watermark fuels NexTracker, the company’s broadcast and internet content management and verification system and MediaSign, its digital imagery and printed document security system.
