DCP files

[Terrence Meiczinger]

First, with the vast amount of screens and theaters, it would be a monumental task to have a profile for each theater, especially when many theaters have mix of equipment. Second, there is no need to begin with. The whole idea behind the SMPTE and DCI specifications is to ensure all content providers, vendors, and exhibitors are in compliance to a single standard. However, just like many things it takes time for everyone to reach compliance.

[Sebastian Leitner]

hey there!

i just finished my first DCP with openDCP and it’s kick-ass. i tested it in a big cinema that had a DOREMI 2k4k server with a DOLBY DP8 processor. 5.1 surround played beautifully and picture was marvelous as well – i delivered on a NTFS hard disk.

openDCP in the latest version has a GUI, which is perfect for anyone. the only thing you need is your movie as a TIFF sequence (best settings, best depth, sRGB colorspace) – do them in after effects or FCP, do not use quicktime or another 3rd party tool, they might be faster but quality is not as good.

your sound can either be stereo or up to 6 descreet channels (5.1) – you can mux everything together in the very self-explaining openDCP.

worldwide DCI standards are: 24p on a ext3 formatted esata harddisk https://www.isdcf.com/ISDCF/DiscFormat.html read here.
BUT it depends on the DCP servers what actually plays. SONY and DOREMI both are able to play 25p as well as read NTFS disks, which is a dream, because formatting a disk to ext3 (linux) is tricky (even on linux, because you need to fit all the specs which are not that standardized on every linux distribution).

thank you, openDCP, for this great way for indie-filmmakers to actually deliver DCP movies to the world!
p.s. in our case we had to stick to 25p because the quality of any sound stretch was insufficient. even with pitch correction.

[Hari Krishnan]

Is it possible to create MPEG 2 encoding TIFF/DPX/BMP RGB/YUV/YCbCr images (which is not dci spec) in Opendcp. if yes how? .. if No will any up-gradation will come for this?

[David Jahns]

Update for 2014…

I just used Adobe Media Encoder to create a 2k Scope DCP (2048 x 858), and worked brilliantly.

I graded in Resolve, Mastered in Smoke – all Rec709 ProRes4444 at 24.0 fps at 2048×858, and AME took my master file with 6ch audio and turned it into a perfect DCP – I was quite impressed.

Here are some gotchas…

For best results, feed AME exactly 24.0 source file with Rec709 color. If you give it 23.98 or 25, it will drop frames or duplicate frames.

Also, for 5.1 audio, the config is odd – L, R, Ls, Rs, C, Lfe.

Resolve can then read the DCP file as a QC check, but my rig would not do realtime playback. (Resolve also displays the XYZ colors properly on your sRGB monitor – I was expecting it to look crazy, but it didn’t – so then I was worried that the encode may not have gone properly – but it did!)

The next tricky part is formatting the portable hard drive for DCP compliance – which needs to be Linux ExtFS2.

This was done on my Mac using Paragon ExtFS software. After installing, your Disk Utility app will be able to reformat the drive into ExtFS2, then simply drag the DCP folder on to the root level. (NOTE – formatting is slow, and will act crashed – let it sit for at least 30 minutes – it will eventually complete.)

I highly recommend renting a local theater for a test screening, just to double check the drive format compatibility and color space conversion and audio sync. Everything worked great for me.

Thanks, ADOBE!!!!!

David Jahns
—
Joint Editorial
Portland, OR

[Sebastian Leitner]

some remarks on this:

keep in mind, the j2k DCP files are sRGB gamma 2.6 and 12bit.
so if you have prores it is native 2.4 gamma und you only see 2.2 in final cut for example (often referred to as “the quicktime bug”, actually not a bug, simple specs)
so DCP conversion would stretch gamma to 2.6 by 0.2. rec709 will be converted to sRGB if you select to render the files in 10bit (be sure to set your project/comp to that value)

now, be careful:; paragon EXTFS is NOT DCI-conform because it writes an inode size of 265KB instead of 128KB and also it is very slow and buggy. hash checks sometimes fail. the same goes for their NTFS plugin which is faster (use TUXERA NTFS for that).

kepp in mind that any digital copy (if not CLONED) is likely to flip a bit which would end up in a server not accepting the DCP. start into ubuntu for example from a live DVD and from there copy everything on an EXT2 volume (change inode size before that)

here are some steps:

-partition table must be MBR
-inode size should be 128, and
-drive should be ext3 file system
I’ve got many DCP packed and I try to do it only like this and I didn’t had any problems or complains with it.. So I do it in linux (open suse) following these steps:
-plug new disk (usb2/3 (portable ones) or e-sata (CRU))
-open GPrated (install it from online repo)
-check witch disk drive is new one, in my case it’s sdd (I’ve got two internal disks, sda and sdb with one partitions per drive (sda1 and sdb1)
-deleted default partition (deleted sdd1 wich is default partition witch is external portable drive formatted by default), apply changes in GParted
-make default partition table for empty drive and make it MBR
-make new partition and set format to ext3 (leave all settings default)
-apply changes in GParted and when format is complete close it
-open terminal as root (type sudo su and again type your pass and hit enter)
-format that partition again but this time set inode size to 128 (type mkfs.ext2 -j -I 128 /dev/sdd1 and hit enter)
-now mount your partition with sudo mount /dev/sdd1 /mnt/disk and make directory for your dcp with sudo mkdir /mnt/disk/dcp
-make permissions for that directory so that you can write to it with sudo chmod -R 777 /mnt/disk/dcp
-copy dcp files (assets) to that directory
-and when copying finishes make that directory read only and executable with this command chmod -R 755 /mnt/disk/dcp
-and last step unmount disk with sudo umount /mnt/disk

if you want to test your DCP and you definitely should, you can hash check the copy with EASY DCP PLAYER DEMO (press “h”) and you can play back any part of the DCP (up to 15secs) with CINE PLAYER by doremi (trial version) in the right RGB color space. also good for audio sync (no surround though).

also: if you are using EASY DCP for making the package, it is likely to be not 100% conform. stick to INTEROP packages (24p, IOP, 2K) to guarantee compatibility. there is not a single professionally made DCP out there in SMPTE, because many servers do have problems with it. NTFS is widely supported by most servers, depending on the firmware version.

e.g.: sony does not allow SMPTE DCPs but reads NTFS, doremi reads basically everything but is very conservatives regarding hashes. so if your copy has one bit turned, it will fail.

good luck! more questions or requests? get in touch with me: mail(at)sebastianleitner.com

[David Jahns]

Thanks for those additional details, Sebastian.

Obviously, there’s more going on than I knew. All I can say is that it worked for me – maybe I got lucky, or the cinema server was especially tolerant of the Paragon formatting? I know they ingested it into their own system, they didn’t play it back from the portable drive I gave them. Could that have solved the 128/256 issue?

Anyway – I’ll be sure to look into it a bit more next time. Thanks!

David Jahns
—
Joint Editorial
Portland, OR

[Sebastian Leitner]

you are welcome! creating one master DCP for a festival for example is usually not the problem. the trouble starts with multiple copies on different storage types for example.

every DCP is ingested and never played back from an external device. depending on the brand of the server and the firmware version, EXT2 256 is fine. but that does not apply to a broader cinematic release with multiple drives sent out. but normally, a server that can read NTFS also reads EXT2 256 (but one never knows before and that’s why you stick to the DCI standards which any server accepts).

in my experience NTFS or else is fine in 80% of the cases. of course i talk only about a master DCP.

the possible issues are as follows:

a) is the hard disk readable (right file format, healthy drive without bad sectors, USB2.0 or better eSata compatible) – you can check the SMART STATUS (bad sectors, health) via linux’ “disk utility” if your external casing supports it. piece of advice: do not use WD external USB drives. they are the most incompatible. if possible stick to CRU casings and 3.5″ hard disks.

b) if the disk is accepted by the server (no “read error” pops up and the DCP shows n the browser) the DCP needs to be fully ingested. possible errors: “hash check failed” – most common because any digital copy can be corrupted and is very likely to be. always have a safe master DCP on an external disk. data gets corrupted by: disk failure, shutting it off without ejecting it, format failure. always CLONE your drive (either with the right software or hardware), takes way longer but ensures quality. and always do a hash check of the new copy in EASYDCP PLAYER.
another error you could run into here is: “ingest failed” with no further info. that sometimes happens if you have more than one DCP on the drive. usually there is something wring with the CPL file. sometimes you have to try several times with USB drives.

c) unfortunately being ingested fully does not assure playability just yet. make sure your DCP is INTEROP (IOP) and not SMPTE. the latter is still not officially supported by the DCI. the first trailers as SPTE will come out 2016. SMPTE is necessary for 3D, 4K and HFR and therefor needs more caring hands. be sure to watch a film in full length in the cinema before releasing it or presenting it to the public. sometime DCPs are fine until the very last minutes. also listen for audio quality issues and sync.

cinema servers are not fail proof either. it depends on the person who operates it as much as it does on the supplied DCP. i could go into more detail if interested but all you need to know was already mentioned here. try to stick to the legacy format and find a friendly cinema and operator to help finding the best practice. once found, stick to the exact workflow.

cheers

[David Jahns]

Well, this just keeps getting more interesting…

We sent 3 copies of our DCP out, and 2 of the 3 worked just fine – but one theater could not get it to play at all. It ingested just fine, and audio played fine, but picture did not. There was no real picture to speak of – just a weird vertical line of garbage in the middle of the frame.

The theater tech said he’s seen lots of problems with DCPs, but never this one. He was very concerned that the bitrate was too low – a 75 minute movie was only 20 GB.

In Adobe Media Encoder, the bitrate field read “250 MB” – but it was not adjustable at all. Turns out it actually encoded about 30 MB. The film is fairly dark and desaturated, and it looks great in the other theaters, so the bitrate may not have needed to be any higher – but our tech hypothesized that their brand of DCP server (GKC, I think) might have a MINIMUM bitrate to correctly interpret the content, and that the Adobe Encoder may not be truly DCI Compliant.

So, I went back and started over using OpenDCP – created DPX frames, encoded to JPEG2000, split out the audio, wrapped to MXF, , etc. etc. – and forced the bitrate to 150 MB.

And this DCP worked perfectly. Can’t say for sure what the issue was with the other one – but just take this as a cautionary tale to TEST, TEST, TEST far enough in advance to make changes if necessary!!!

The theater tech also warned me about the Paragon formatted drive, and the fact that the DCI Specs call for the DCP to be at the root level of Partition 0. (Paragon can’t do that.) His system could read it fine, but he said other may not be able to, so he suggested reformatting the drive properly before sending off to other theaters.

So – listen to Sebastian! He knows of which he speaks! 😉 (Personally, I just plan to call on some IT friends to format the drive the next time I need to do this. I’m pretty sure that if they can format it properly, I can still use Paragon to connect the drive to my Mac and copy over the data.)

David Jahns
—
Joint Editorial
Portland, OR

[Sebastian Leitner]

glad it worked out for you!

two remarks:

please stick to “real” tools for DCP creation. DCP-o-matic is fine for creating jp2000 but adobe media encoder is not! there is a free afterFX plugin though for creating compliant jp2k files.

the adobe suite is not there yet, it might be faster but not necessarily safer.

any NTFS drive should have a master boot record, so be sure to set that when formatting on mac or linux.

as you can see, DCP is a very complex thing ,)