The digital projection

There are currently two types of projectors for digital cinema. Early DLP projectors, used primarily in the U.S., used limited 1280 x 1024 resolution which are still widely used for pre-show advertising but not usually for feature presentations.
The DCI specification for digital projectors calls for three levels of playback to be supported: 2K (2048x1080) at 24 frames per second, 4K (4096x2160) at 24 frames per second, and 2K at 48 frames per second.

Three manufacturers have licensed the TI-developed DLP Cinema technology. Christie Digital Systems, Barco and NEC. Christie is the maker of the CP2000 line of 2K DCI-compliant Digital Cinema Projectors, and long established in traditional film projector technology throughout the U.S. Barco is the market leader in terms of units sold and deployed internationally. NEC manufactures the Starus NC2500S, NC1500C and NC800C 2K projectors for large, medium and small screen respectively and the Starus Digital Cinema Server system, as well as other equipment to connect PCs, analog/digital tape decks and satellite receivers, DVD, and off-air broadcast, etc. for pre-show and special presentations. Where NEC is a relative newcomer to Digital Cinema, Christie is the main player in the U.S. and Barco takes the lead in Europe and Asia. The other soon-to-be-deployed-technology is from Sony and is labeled "SXRD" technology.

Their projector provides 4096x2160 resolution. Other manufacturers have been developing digital projector technology, but these have not yet been deployed into motion picture theaters and are not commercially available in versions that conform to the DCI specification. As of July 2007, there are some cinemas in Singapore showing digital 4K films to public using Sony's CineAlta 4K digital projector. They are located at Golden Village Cinema in Vivocity (Hall 11), Eng Wah Cinema in Suntec (Hall 3), Shaw Cinema in Bugis (Hall 1 & 3) and at Cathay Cineplex (Hall 7).

Current developments
As of July, 2007, 1400 screens in the U.S. have been equipped with digital cinema projectors including a dozen theaters where the Sony 4K projector has been installed. In continental Europe, XDC is servicing over 300 screens in 10 countries, with Germany has the leading territory with over 100 installations. The UK is home to Europe's first DCI compliant fully digital multiplex cinemas, Odeon Hatfield and Odeon Surrey Quays (London) have a total of 18 digital screens and were both launched on Friday 9 February 2007. ODEON Digital

Physical media delivery
Digital content is currently distributed on hard drive for feature content and DVD for trailer content. Other potential physical media include LTO3 tape or HD DVDs, BluRay Discs and other similarly emerging high density media.

Network delivery
Digital files can be delivered to theater servers via shared or dedicated network connections.

Satellite delivery
Content can be sent in a multicast transmission to theatres via satellite. The received files have to be verified and missing or corrupted portions would have to be rebroadcast and appropriate FEC would need to be used.

Live broadcasting to movie theaters
Sometimes digital cinema provides projection of a live broadcast of a performance or other event.
For example, there are regular live broadcasts to movie theaters of Metropolitan Opera performance