MUMBAI: Chennai-based Kalasa Entertainment Media Private Limited (KEMPL) which is into digital delivery of movies in Tamil Nadu will soon receive its own GDC encoder.

This was announced by GDC Technology CEO Dr. Chong in Chennai while attending a demonstration on Kalasa's seventh digital theatre implementation. Singapore-based GDC Technology supplies digital servers to KEMPL.

"Dr. Chong announced that Kalasa will be receiving its own GDC encoder which will allow us to encode films here in Chennai. This will be delivered and installed by mid-March," says KEMPL CEO Ramesh V Subramaniam.

When queried if Kalasa will discontinue its present arrangement with Mumbai-based Adlabs for encoding movies, Subramaniam said it would go on.

"We will be using the Adlabs service also. The new system is to meet the excess demand and it will be used as a back-up system as well. Producers, who are reluctant to send their film prints out of the state for encoding, can make use of the in-house system," he said.

Subramaniam refused to divulge cost details of the new GDC encoder. He said it would be a different version of the GDC encoder Adlabs has been using.

Kalasa currently has a chain of seven digital theatres in Tamil Nadu. The company, which earlier set a target of 60 digital theatres across Tamil Nadu by June 2005, is currently going slow.

The demo was also attended by actor-producer Kamal Haasan, Tamil Nadu producer's council president Thyagarajan and some of the prominent members of the Tamil film fraternity.

Kamal will be releasing his latest venture Mumbai Express in the digital format. The film will also released in analogue format for theatres without digital projectors.