Sebastian Leitner
Forum Replies Created
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i explain and solve this issue here:
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yes, dcp-o-matic has great features and options (which can be a problem for beginners though) but from a professional point of view it has its draw backs:
very show and occasional color/gamma shifts
sytax does not pass easyDCP player test, and some cinemas might get a warning (probably still plays)
working with subtitles has many bugslike with adobe, features are not everything. speaking of adobe, there is wraptor for DCP built into media encoder. it’s rather fast but has zero settings. code and quality are questionable, often does not play or has picture problems, no subtitle option.
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cinema has not changed much since 1999, DCI interOP regulations are still worldwide standard, so is the white point. easyDCP does everything right and is the number 2 solution for most (clipster being in first place for pros – if you have that kinda cash)
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D65 is the official (old) standard. easyDCP does everything just right. they are doing everything by the books, that’s what made them successful.
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resolve is great but the performance of FCPX is unmatched. apple closes up its system more and more, making it difficult for devs to come close to any underlying processes. i love resolve and use it besides FCPX daily. for me, those two tools combined really shine and trump all the other contestants. resolve wants to be a lot, not all parts are there yet though. and the interface/settings are a lot like adobe, which means over-complicated and bloated. then again, it’s constantly growing and changing, blackmagic is talking to users and pros alike.
my crystal bowl says something like: resolve will kill adobe on mac very soon. now that it has fusion built-in. avid will still stick around due to the great tools it has had since the beginning and the deep connection to TV and film. but then there will be FCPX still standing with its unique magnetic timeline approach and ‘real’ non-linear editing, amazing speed and easy-of-use. with the new color tools of 10.4 and captions it basically has everything one needs.
easyDCP even released their publisher for FCPX now, you can export for cinema directly from within your timeline. even less reason for resolve (which i use on a daily basis for mastering DCPs). yes, resolve has some great/better tools and tries to present the ‘all-incl’ solution, but i see me going back to X all the time even though i love resolve.
on windows, resolve is even more interesting, it brings many of FCPX’s features and workflows, including fantastic media management (where adobe really falls through).
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hey, ricardo!
you need a hard drive (most expensive but best common practice is investing in a CRU interface – you will still need a hard drive). that gives you a master copy. for any other print you need to clone* this master copy (again, another CRU if you want the best practice).
alternatively, also smaller, standard drives are ok – but, remember, cinemas only feature USB2 in most cases or eSata only (a lot faster though!). so either buy an eSata/USB encasing/interface for small 2.5′ laptop hard disks (and the hard disks) or use USB memory keys, which pretty expensive. in general you can say 1 minute = 1 GB for a solid DCP, so that limits your choice for small memory sticks. they are more resilient though and do not break that easily in the mail BUT they tend to get lost quicker.
and then there is sending the drive to the cinema. you can do it yourself, or use a logisitcs partner to do it for you. some even lend you all the drives, that’s usually best practice if you have to send out lots of DCPs. you pay a lot less and do not have all the work, you just give them one master copy on whatever medium. they clone, hash-check and deliver ext2 CRU drives to the cinemas directly.
there are also other ways:
or smaller programs, say up to 20 minutes (around 20GB) you can ZIP a DCP folder and send it to cinemas. if they are willing to download it. that circumvents their system and whatever they are using they usually get it to work – but some cinemas only have DCP servers to read CRU drives. so communication is key. important note: ZIP files over 4GB are buggy, be sure to use a dedicated ZIP app like KEKA (mac/win), otherwise you will end up with broken files (especially stay away from the built-in ZIP features of your OS, be it win or mac). cinemas usually have outdated software and systems. you should also deliver a checksum (MD5) for your ZIP file so that the recipient can check if it was downloaded correctly.
there are also some onlne services which let you transfer feature film DCPs vial p2p (aspera or similar) to cinemas. depending on internet connection, cinemas might accept that. those services are still cheaper than making your own clones but more expensive than having a logistics firm mailing your disks. then again: no wait time for mail, cannot get lost and so on…
bottom line: if you can, outsource and get a professional to do everything for you! if you only need 2 DCPs it’s fine but keep in mind if something is successful, your work and costs will grow exponentially.
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i master DCPs professionally for distributors, filmmakers and festivals. i feel you! i get many broken DCPS (often created with freeware non-compliantly) to repair. interOP is still the only worldwide standard, has been like this since 1999 when they introduced it. so everything gets conformed to 24p, 2K surround
the resolve plugin is very similar to any other easyDCP product. in every case you end up with a solid DCP – the transfer and cloning is not included anywhere, so resolve is still the bigger bang for the buck (by far if you deliver lots of DCPs).
however, a cinema needs to comply to DCI regulations as well and that would mean ext2 drives! i know about this windows-pest in cinemas, they are just lazy. but all the big movies come as ext2 in CRU drives. honestly, in my experience in Europe and the US, professional serivces ONLY deliver ext2 and everybody has to be able to read it.
yes, authoring is usually the quicker part – man people do not see this. after having created a valid DCP the “real fun” begins. my suggested tool does most of the work however. one should get the easyDCP player, a vital piece of software, that can hash-check, preview subtitles and sync. also in the free version (which is limited to 15s playback but everything works). one should also get a cloning station which can (no matter the file format) clone a disk without a computer on its own.
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<3 it!
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MPEG STREAMCLIP is completely outdated and partly broken (there has not been an update in years – do not expect them to step up now). do not use it. i know it’s a great tool but it had its time, quality and speed are bad in comparison. there are numerous ffmpeg-based encoders out there, which give better results just like iFFMPEG.
HANDBRAKE is no real contestant since its format pool is very limited, still a great tool if you need fantastic x264 compression. h265 is available in ME and compressor – or via 3rd party (free) tools, google it.
forget SORENSON, it’s expensive and super slow. MEDIA ENCODER is good and compressor as well, both offer similar options but ME has tons more features (like IBU/EBU batch mastering for audio, DCP via wraptor (would not recommend it though) VP9, which apple ignores completely but the internet is full of it (netflix, youtube for 4K etc) and better subtitle support.
and then there is EDIT READY which is the king of it all, fastest most HQ results. limited formats though but all the professional ones are there. in my experience FCPX still delivers the best apple native h264 exports (together with QTX which outputs youtube-speced files in 2 clicks) – compressor is great if you want more control.
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to shine a little bit more light on this from a fellow professional DCP-creator:
easyDCP PUBLISHER is a stand-alone app similar to their CREATOR but also has the PLAYER built-in, which is – in my opinion – huge. it does however require a specific app to fee content – in this case it’s FCPX-bound. it creates a watermarked preview and after purchasing your conversion you will end up with your final DCP package. so it’s about 250 bucks per feature film, roughly about 10% of the one-time cost for easyDCP PLUGIN for resolve (which i’d still prefer).
it really depends on how many DCPs you are creating and mastering – honestly the PLUGIN for resolve is still your best bet (besides the CREATOR, but i really miss having a project and timeline there) if you do it as a service and job. however, if you are a filmmaker and just want your film to be sent to festivals you will probably only need it once a year – it’s here where this really shines! there are many 3rd party DCP services out there, but easyDCP is by far the best-trusted and most HQ service out there. until now it was not really a choice for non-professionals though.
so, PUBLISHER offers kind of a pay-per-minute service and the app itself is free, you can even export a preview DCP and watch it for free (with watermark) but you do need an account to purchase the final DCP which has a base price and then per minute. easyDCP is still the fastest converter as well and subtitles actually work!
openDCP with J2Ks from resolve is your best FREE workflow though. it’s slow, yes, but colors and quality are top notch (thanks to resolve). openDCP’s interop code is compliant as well (SMPTE not so much) and subtitles work with interOP as well (given you have them as XML already). it’s more work – in both cases though you need a transfer tool to format a drive to EXT2, hash check and clone. this is where DCP TRANSFER comes into place. sadly they also switched to a pay-as-you-go model now and this becomes very expensive if you have lots of DCPs to do. i was lucky to have bought their initial one-time license (without updates).