Qube Cinema conquers Karnataka

350 DTS disk prints of Telugu movie Stalin is released - the highest number of prints ever in the South Indian film industry

Qube Cinema is installed at 32 locations in Tamil Nadu till date.

March
Avid Broadcast installation at Star TV.

April
Real Image forays into the media services arena and introduces QMedia - digitally networked and distributed advertising solutions.

Tamil New Years witnesses the simultaneous digital release of two much awaited Tamil movies, Chandramukhi and Mumbai Express, on the Qube Digital Cinema System.

A new logo, contemporary and dynamic, symbolises Real Image's direction towards excellence in all its endeavours

May
Qube Cinema achieves a significant place in Digital Cinema history in India. Tamil movie 'Chandramukhi' is successfully screened digitally for over 100 days in 5 theatres in Tamil Nadu

June
Media Artists features on the Southern Spice channel, highlighting careers in Audio Engineering.

'Udayanaana Thaaram' the Malayalam movie starring well known actor Mohanlal completed a successful run of 125 days and was mixed at Media Artists. Tamil movie 'Gilli' also worked on at Meedia Artists ran a successful 200 days.

Media Artists also handled the 5.1 mix for the ISRO Project of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center.

Real Image participates for the very first time at Cinema Expo in Amsterdam exhibiting Qube Cinema

Times TV takes on Avid iNews and Newscutter XP for its upcoming news channel.

July
The very first Pakistani movie in DTS is signed on titled 'Tere Bin Jiya Na Jaye'

Avid felicitates Real Image with the Outstanding Achievement Award for reseller performance excellence in the EMEA region.

The maiden India user group meet for Softimage enthusiasts is held in Mumbai and the response is encouraging.

August
Qube Cinema makes waves in Europe - the 20-cinema network in Portugal, RedeCine, is the first cinema network with 'Movie on Demand' facilities.

Zee TV purchases 50 Qube servers for deployment in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

September
Dabur is the first client outside of Southern India to take on digital cinema advertising with QCine in Tamil Nadu

Avid Broadcast installation at ITV.

Qube Cinema obtains the Disney certification.

Jaya TV places its second largest order in South India for Avid Unity Newsroom.

QJam introduces City News updates in Chennai and Bangalore to give users information on events in their respective cities.

July
Qube Cinema makes its maiden installation at Abirami Theatre. The Tamil movie 'Perazhagan' is the first Indian movie to be released digitally, on the Qube Server.

Avid Broadcast installation at TV18 (CNBC).

August
Real Image introduces Softimage XSI ver 4.0 - animation production suite from Avid Technologies Inc, with a five-city launch tour.

November
Craig Barrett, CEO, Intel, commends the potential of Qube Cinema, highlighting the potential Qube has to transform the future of the cinema industry.

Real Image begins Qube Cinema installations in Tamil Nadu.

Established the Mumbai Training Center which is India's first and only Softimage Authorized Training Center.

February
Media Artists, a division of Real Image, is awarded the THX certification for its mix stage. This premier postproduction audio studio is the only studio in India to be awarded this certification by Lucas Film Ltd's THX division.

Real Image provided the technical and creative support for 'Agni Dhaya', the first digitally mixed Sri Lankan movie. The film was mixed on a Digidesign Pro Tools digital audio workstation.

May
Real Image becomes the exclusive distributor of Rode Microphones to India.

September
Real Image installed the NDTV integrated Newsroom environment in New Delhi for the new NDTV 24/7 News channel and trained around 200 editors and journalists.

December
The Real Image Training Center is credited with training 100 journalists and editors at NDTV.

May
Real Image successfully launched Digidesign Pro Tools in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

June
The world premier of Lagaan, held in Sun City, was in the DTS format. The Real Image team prepared a concert hall in the Sun City Hotel, Sun City, for the screening of the movie.

October
QJam^TM, the smart digital jukebox, an indigenously developed, produced and marketed digital jukebox was beta tested in Hyderabad. It is now playing in Pune, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai.

December
Real Image opens a new office in Bangalore.

March
Real Image starts operations in Calcutta.

April
The activities of Real Image were combined with those of Media Artists and JS Films to form a new entity called Real Image Media Technologies Pvt.Ltd.

November
Real Image Media Technologies makes a path-breaking presentation on Digital Cinema at the Third International Film Festival (MAMI) at Mumbai.

December
Avid Xpress DV, a new low-cost editing product with sophisticated features is launched in Chennai.

April
DTS crosses the 400 theatres mark in India, several times as many installations as its closest competition.

May
The dubbing, audio recording and film editing for Mani Rathnam's extremely successful film "Dil Se" are done on the Avid range of products.

The first ad film in the DTS sound format is released. This is a commercial for BPL, released in India with the movie Bug's Life.

July
With the release of Thammudu, the number of Telugu films in DTS format reaches 25. More than 100 theatres in Andhra Pradesh now have DTS installations.

Real Image takes on the distribution for Apogee, Antares and Emagic audio products.

A new Real Image branch office opens at Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.

September
Real Image has an installed base of over 250 Avid systems in the country, about twice as many as the nearest competitor.

India has about 450 DTS Digital Theatres, far more than even the number of analog Dolby Stereo theatres in the country.

Over 100 major Indian motion pictures have been completed in the DTS format.

July
Real Image brings another world-leading technology to India: Virtual Sets from Orad High-Tec Systems Limited, a member of the ORMAT group. Orad's products address the TV broadcasting, sports and advertising markets and have tremendous potential in India.

September
Operations begin at RI Computers Pvt. Ltd., Pondicherry, a full-fledged facility licensed to assemble DTS units. This is the first such facility to be set up outside the USA.

October
The Indian launch of Avid's Softimage DS, Pro Tools on NT and Pro Control takes place at Broadcast India 1998 in Mumbai.

April
Real Image is presented with the Outstanding Dealer of the Year Achievement Award by Bill Neighbors, president of Digital Theater Systems at a small ceremony held at Westlake Village, CA.

June
Selected as the authorised distributor in India for Digidesign's AudioVision Digital Audio Workstation product line.

March
Real Image and Aingharan International work together to release Karuppu Roja (Black Rose), the first Indian feature film with DTS digital sound.

October
Real Image's software division begins beta tests of Q-FX, the CD Sound Effects Software at two film post-production facilities in India. The design of Q-Mix, a unique general-purpose audio mixing console automation software is completed.

April
Sales made (by Real Image) of over USD 1 million in Avid products during the four days of the NAB Show at Las Vegas.

June
Asia's first Avid Education Centre (with two Avid trained instructors) opens at Mumbai. Organised by Real Image.

Tie up with Fusion Software, Bangalore for the development of a CD Sound Effects Controller software for the Microsoft Windows platform.

Began distribution of Digidesign digital audio workstations in the Indian market.

November
Bill Neighbors, president of Digital Theater Systems chooses Real Image to represent DTS in India for both licensing and distribution of theater reproduction equipment. This is the first time that DTS has authorised another company to license its sound format.

December
At the Avid annual distributors meet at Hawaii, Real Image receives the "Get It Done" Award for being a highly effective distributor in the Asia-Pacific region.

Digital Theater Systems approached with a detailed proposal to promote the DTS cinema sound format in India.

September
Official launch of Avid nonlinear editing systems and audio workstations in India at a launch function held jointly with the United States Foreign and Commercial Service at the US Consulate premises at Madras. The key to the first Avid system sold to Teletape, a video post-production facility at Madras, is presented by Michael Keavney, US Commercial Consul.

December
Real Image and Rajkamal Films, Madras work closely to complete Mahanadi (The Great River), the first feature film to be edited on a nonlinear editing system outside the United States. This film received two Indian National Film Awards.

June
After a detailed study of all the editing systems available in the international market, Real Image recommends and installs the Avid Media Composer. This is India's first nonlinear editing system.