Click on any of the questions below for the answers:
What is Cinewav?
Cinewav is an innovative audio technology designed to enhance outdoor and large-scale event experiences by delivering high-quality, synchronized audio directly to users' smartphones. This approach eliminates the need for traditional speaker systems, reducing noise pollution and logistical challenges.
It also allows the creation of novel new cinematic experiences just about anywhere: on rooftops, in the middle of the city, on beaches, in forests (all without noise pollution or compromise in audio quality).
Cinewav is a patented technology that allows audiences to watch visuals on a big screen while listening to perfectly synchronized, high-quality audio through their smartphones and personal headphones. This system is ideal for outdoor cinemas, projection mappings, audio tours, fireworks, drone shows, and more.
What software is needed to use Cinewav?
Events are created on the Cinewav website. The Event Holder backend is like any ticketing website for event holders. You can create free or charged tickets, sell products and monitor sales.
For Cinewav library films simply select the film you wish to show or you can use your own film.
For your own film the audio of the film needs to be extracted as an mp3 or HE-AAC (constant bit rate) and uploaded during the event creation process.The film should be in mp4 format and is played locally on the event holder's laptop through the Cinewav Master Player.
Audience members securely download the audio as an Audio Ticket in the Cinewav app (Google Play store, Apple App store, Huawei AppGallery)
What hardware is needed to use Cinewav?
Event holders only need a projector, a screen, a laptop with the Cinewav Master Player and an internet connection (mobile 4G router).
Audience members only need their mobile phone with an internet connection (eg 4G connection), the Cinewav app and a pair of headphones.
At the event, audience members simply press play on their Audio Ticket and when the event holder plays the film through the Cinewav Master Player - all phones will instantly sync their audio with the visuals from the film.
How does Cinewav work?
Users download the Cinewav app to their smartphones and select the event they plan to attend. Before the event, they download the associated audio file (referred to as an "audio ticket") within the app. During the event, they play the audio through the app, which synchronizes it with the on-site visuals, ensuring a seamless and immersive experience.
What are the benefits of using Cinewav for event organizers?
- Scalability: Cinewav provides a scalable audio solution suitable for events of any size.
- Cost-Effective: By eliminating the need for extensive speaker setups, organizers can reduce equipment and manpower costs.
- Noise Reduction: Since audio is delivered through personal devices, there's no noise pollution, making it ideal for events in noise-sensitive areas.
- Versatility: Cinewav can be used in various settings, including outdoor cinemas, live performances, fireworks displays, projection mapping festival, drone shows and more.
- High quality audio: Cinewav delivers high quality audio to everyone no matter where they are in the event space. Most event spaces (indoor or outdoor) are not set up for good acoustics and suffer from unbalanced, echoey, reverberant audio. Complaints of most outdoor events are due to audio being too loud, too soft, muddy and unclear. Cinewav completely solves this while giving individual control to users on their own volume level.
How does Cinewav ensure audio and visual synchronization?
Cinewav's technology involves users downloading the audio file to their smartphones, which is then synchronized with the main visuals using cloud-based solutions. This method ensures that the audio plays in perfect sync with the visuals, providing an immersive experience. Cinewav uses advanced audio synchronization algorithms and high-quality audio compression to deliver a seamless experience. The platform also supports spatial audio (binaural) for a more immersive soundscape.
Is an internet Connection required?
An internet connection is necessary during the event to maintain synchronization between the audio and visuals. Although the audio files are downloaded to each mobile phone in the audio ticket, synchronization at the event requires a small amount of data throughout the event: about 1MB per hour. The master player on the laptop of the event holder also needs an internet connection. The Cinewav master player sends sync signals to the mobile phones. Sync signals only require about 1MB per hour to keep all mobile devices in sync. We recommend that the Cinewav master player laptop has a dedicated internet connection like a 4G mobile router (dongle). Do not share this connection with others as this may lead to synchronisation problems.
Can I use public wifi for the event?
For best results we recommend using a dedicated 4G mobile router for the laptop with the Cinewav master player and mobile users should use their own 4G connection.
We do not recommend using public or shared wifi for events. The sync signals from the master player on the laptop are crucial for maintaining synchronization. Public or shared wifi often have traffic issues when there are many users and can cause synchronization failures. For mobile users we also recommend that they use their own 4G network as this is far more stable than a shared wifi. The synchronisation system only uses approximately 1MB per hour so it will not drain a user’s data or battery.
How much data does Cinewav use on a mobile phone?
Most movie audio files are about 30MB in size. For areas with limited bandwidth users can download their audio files at home using wifi so they don’t have to do so at the event. But in most areas with good 4G connection this would be a very fast download (approximately the size of a picture these days).
To keep synchronization during an event each mobile will only use about 1MB of data per hour. This is negligible data use and even 3G data connections work well.
How much data does Cinewav use on the laptop with the Master Player?
If you’re using films from the film library some files may be quite large (from 3-5GB) and these should be downloaded well ahead of time using Wifi. However, at the event itself, the Cinewav Master Player only uses 1MB per hour to keep all mobile phones in sync. So a 4G mobile dongle with a low level plan would work fine.
Can Cinewav be used for live Audio events?
Yes, Cinewav has been successfully implemented in live events, such as the Vivid Sydney 2023 opening ceremony and the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival 2023. In these events, audiences could listen to live performances and shows in real-time through their smartphones, enhancing their overall experience.
How does Cinewav work for live audio?
Cinewav uses high quality, ultra-low latency streaming for live audio. This is quite different from prerecorded audio for movies, fireworks, drone shows et cetera. For ultra low latency streaming audio there will still always be approximately 500ms delay although we are still able to deliver audio to everybody at the same time. This delay is unavoidable due to network travel time and is the same as the delay over a phone or video call. However, this can still work very well for live announcements or live performances where the audience is at least 30 meters away from the stage.
Is Cinewav available for personal use or only for large events?
Yes, Cinewav can also be used for personal use or small scale events. On the pay per use model up to 10 users are always free!
What types of events are best suited for Cinewav?
Cinewav is versatile and can be used for:
- Outdoor movie screenings
- Projection mapping festivals
- Audio tours
- Fireworks displays
- Drone shows
- Live performances
- Sports events - audio commentary using live broadcast
Its ability to provide synchronized, high-quality audio makes it suitable for any event where traditional sound systems may pose challenges.
How does Cinewav handle content security, especially for films?
Cinewav uses Hollywood-grade encryption to protect the content in its library, ensuring that films and other media are securely delivered to audiences without unauthorized access.
If you’re a film licence holder and you’d like to offer your film through Cinewav to event holders globally please reach out to us. We’d especially like to help share films across borders with our multiple event screening partners to keep the large screen experience alive.
Can I try Cinewav for Free?
Yes, you can sign up for free and create a demo event. This will allow you to experience playing a video on the Cinewav master player on your laptop while listening to the synced audio playing from the Cinewav app on your mobile phone.- Sign up here: https://organizer.cinewav.com/login
- Go to Events and click on DEMO EVENT link to create your free demo.
- It will guide you to download the Cinewav Master Player to your laptop and download the Cinewav app on your mobile device.
- You will then need to scan the QR code of your demo event to get the ticket in the Cinewav app.
Remember on the pay per use plan the first 10 users are always free so you can try Cinewav as much as you like for up to 10 users.
Can I get pricing for using Cinewav?
Sure, here's the pricing page: cinewav.com/pricing
