Digital cinema, also known as d- or e-cinema, is expected to bring Hollywood a savings of over 600 million dollars. This fact, along with others, was mentioned during the second day of the conference "Digital cinema and creativity" in Warehouse 1 of the Port of Thessaloniki.

The second day of the conference, supervised by Nikos Giannopoulos and titled "Technical Presentation of Digital Cinema: the effects on production and distribution" began with the screening of Nikos Panagiotopoulos' film, The edge of night, whose sound and video were digitally processed. Electrical engineer and Manager of Telmaco Audiovisual Systems, Vassilis Kyriazis, spoke about the methods of digitising sound and video and the process of transferring it by cable and satellite to servers for storage and transmission.

Nicolas Hamon, Sales Manager at BARCO (founded in Belgium in 1934) said that e-cinema technology has been in use in Hollywood for the past two years and noted its reliability and user-friendliness. The company's representative spoke extensively about BARCOS's activities and the fact that is has equipped a number of cinemas in the U.S., Europe and Asia with digital technology.

Richard Hartley, the Marketing Director of Grass Valey Group, noted that Jurassic Park was simultaneously transmitted in two cinemas from the same server with a 10-minute delay, which demonstrates the system's versatility and its practical applications. The benefits of the system include the material's quick processing time and the reduced cost of production and distribution. "Studios will benefit as the cost of production and distribution drops; Hollywood alone expects to save well over 600 million dollars", he said. Hartley added that cinemas must be prepared for the upcoming digital age by obtaining the necessary equipment such as projectors, decoders, and servers, which will also provide the storage space required.

Angelo D' Alessio, the SMPTA/President of the Committee of Digital Cinema Technology posed the question of digital cinema's direction: is it a model of technology or business?

He claimed that, "digital technology is the most important breakthrough in cinema since sound", but stressed the need for its improved applications. "Why should we bother with digital means if they don't actually improve the films?", he said and noted the importance of the audience in cinema, no matter the means used. "It's a totally new world. We aren't just shifting from analogue to digital, but also from hardware to software. Therefore, we need to add a new term to our glossary: File Format", he said.

The President of the Committee of Digital Cinema Technology also stressed the importance of standardising the format as soon as possible in order to prevent the formation of a monopoly in the business and to encourage the growth of competition.

Although it seems to be common belief that small cinemas will not be able to keep up with the advancements in technology, Angelo D' Alessio disagreed, saying that, with the help of production and distribution companies, even the suburban and rural cinemas will be able to compete and profit.

Yiorgos Papanikolaou, professor at the Laboratory of Electroacoustics, TV Systems & Electronic Media of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, spoke about the perplexities of the new technology. "Some people see digital technology as a chance to easily make films, while film studios are still reluctant and suspicious." Although still in an early stage, once digital technology becomes mainstream the cost will drop drastically, as he explained.

During the two-day conference, Nikos Lymberopoulos, professor at the Faculty of Polytechnics in the Department of Engineering and Mechanics of the University of Patras, was in teleconference from Athens and spoke about digital technology and the prospects of its development in Greece.