DCP

HI, I couldn't find a subject heading for DCP so I thought I might have to raise one. I have a shortlisted short that was shot on BMPCC, edited and graded in FCPX.
Now, the festival would like a DCP. I have followed the tutorials I could find online to get to the point of creating the DCP but I wondered if there is a more streamlined workflow using FCPX rather than Premier.
Here are the links I followed:
neiloseman.com/?p=3694
dannylaceyfilm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/ge...-making-digital.html
www.mattcameronfilm.co.uk/2012/04/digita...ackage-tutorial.html

They all link to Premier for source then it's off to After Effects. I have an Adobe CC account so its not a bigee but I would prefer to be able to stay in FCPX for this process.

Premier 2014 also does the licenced versions of DCP built into Media Encoder rather than OpenDCP but I have no experience with that, though I might try it after the Open source version is complete.

I don't own Compressor now as I hated it (with a vengeance) back in the days of FCP Studio where it constantly was the weak link and I see no value in the hardly upgraded current version.

Welcome any thoughts/insights. Thanks

Here some of my experiences.

From those DCPs I've done the aspect ration is not an issue - use 2k or 1920x1080. There aren't a lot of of 4k projectors.
SMPTE DCPs are not supported by all projectors and sometimes a bit buggy. The old old TI format is still more reliable (24 fps).
Color depth is a matter of taste. It doesn't make sense to blow up standard stuff to a new color depth except you scale down 4k to 2k or have recorded in this color depth.

Comparing Adobe to Apple workflow.

With Adobe there is no "licenced versions of DCP" built in. It's a version of Quvis Wraptor ( www.quvis.com/ ) . It's available as standalone plugin for Compressor as well, but maybe a bit pricy for a one time usage.

For FCP X you can either use ProRes (HQ) or ProRes (XQ) to get trillions of color and maybe Compressor.
Export your timeline as TIFF image sequence (or using a Compressor preset if you want to change the aspect ratio).

So the difference between Adobe and Apple is equal to zero.

From the TIFF sequence you can use OpenDCP which is as said available for free or can use either Quvis Wraptor or EasyDCP which are commercial standard applications (but also probably to pricy for a one time use).

The biggest issue I see is to prove your playlist/MXF setup on your machine.
There are 2 options (as far as I know) EasyDCP Player and the Quvis Player. While the Fraunhofer EasyDCP Player is more expensive compared to the Quvis one theEasyDCP Player offers a trial which plays back 15 seconds which can be handy for short tests.

Depending on your project you may also need a KDM managment - I haven't had any need of that so I can't comment.

- Andreas

Just a quick note.

Andreas:

This is the best explanation of DCP export I have read in a very long time!

Lee:

Compressor has come a long, long way. I have access to every encoding system one can dream of and I tend to use Compressor more and more. I do agree it was a POS in the old days

We use the QuVis Wraptor 3.0 DCP plugin for Compressor and I can say it is a very straightforward process. Encoding DCP in Compressor usually takes about 1.5 x realtime on a decent MacPro:



I agree with Andreas that buying commercial software would be overkill for a one-time DCP job. I haven't used OpenDCP myself but I have heard from others it works very well.



- Ronny

Most DCP solutions are pretty straightforward, but like with anything there are variables. It's not always as simple as transcoding. You can have unwanted color shifting, sync issues, etc. The free options as usual are the most complicated.

Resolve Lite has EasyDCP, which does require a license, however you can make a watermarked version to check everything is correct. The other advantage is it gives you a fully compliant .dcp folder to use as a cross reference for the DCP you make in one of the free options. You can then check both DCPs in resolve and see if they look the same. The EasyDCP version usually is spot on in my experience.

If someone near you has the EasyDCP license, they may do you a favor and render it out if you made it easy on them.

I'm guessing there will soon be an easy free option. This is just making a glorified .jpeg movie, it shouldn't be alchemy.

Thank you all. I shot this with the SLR Magic Anamorphot so the scope setting 2048x858 is the ratio of choice (albeit with a 7% upscale).
The built in Premier solution has been the most straightforward, perhaps Apple will give this some attention in future...
I have full Resolve so I might give this shot too:)

I have found DCP-o-matic to work rather nicely for me. It will take and convert directly from ProRes. I generally only have to make a couple of relatively easy tweaks. The one challenge is that it can be a very slow process.

You can also use DCP-o-Matic which is 100% free which makes perfectly playable DCP files. Just google dcp-o-matic and download the Mac version. Warning: Making a DCP is not a quick process, have a bit of patience.

Very interesting info everyone.

One problem I had when I looked into DCP was that you have to deliver a PC formatted drive. And the DCP server in cinemas seem to be rather specific what they can handle.

What is your experience and best approach when you don't have a PC sitting in the corner and need to make the drive on a MAC?

Many thanks

For festivals dealing with shorts they can handle any PC formatting, and occasionally mac formatting.

They have a laptop hooked up to the server and they upload it from there.

You can use Disk Utility to format a drive for PCs.

The cinema would prefer a Linux ext3 formatted drive and Disc Utility managed that for me yesterday after I had downloaded a trial version of EXTMac. I didn't like the look of the Premier/media encoder DCP. After it was complete I opened it in EasyDCP Player and the colour looked awful:(
I'm going to look at the DCP-o-matic. Thanks again

Quick update.
The Workflow: shot 1920x1080 Pro Res film/log mode with Anamorphic lens. Stretched in FCPX to 2048x858 with an upscale of 7%. Output from FCPX at 422HQ quality. Brought into DCP-o-matic, only change made here was the default data rate was moved from 100mbs to 150mbs. Nice and easy. DCP popped onto an EXT3 formatted drive (see previous post). Thank you all for your help, Kudos to everyone. Lee

Thank you for the updates, Lee. Certainly interesting to hear that you prefer the DCP created with free software over the commercial plugin in Premiere. I am going to have a closer look at DCP-o-matic as well (thanks for the tip, Joe).

I think this has been a very interesting thread for anyone who wants to create a DCP-master without having to buy or (heaven forbid) rent expensive commercial software for doing this.

- Ronny

Instead writing some thing new I quote Ronny.

ronny courtens wrote: Thank you for the updates, Lee. Certainly interesting to hear that you prefer the DCP created with free software over the commercial plugin in Premiere. I am going to have a closer look at DCP-o-matic as well (thanks for the tip, Joe).

I think this has been a very interesting thread for anyone who wants to create a DCP-master without having to buy or (heaven forbid) rent expensive commercial software for doing this.

- Ronny

While this thread was running I got some emails from people asking how to integrate subtitles and how to make the aspect matching.

The aspect is a no brainer. Always think about the native resolution of the DLP projector. For example 2K will be 2048 x 1080. Using this dimensions create a project with this dimensions and add your (final) project to it and fit either height or width to match. This might result in some black bars top/bottom or left/right. These are the same the projector will use. If you have a resolution which is close to the projector native you may want to distort the picture slightly. Means 1920 x 1080 is not a real big issue (about 7%). In any case you can do the scaling in a FCP X project and render it out. This way faster compared to the encoders work time used for changing each pictures aspect.

Another issue is the color space. The final JPEG2000 color space will differ from that one you see on your (calibrated) monitor. You have to do some tests.
Also keep in mind the projectors "light type" may influence the color. Laser versus XEON do have a different color space.

Last thing – my beloved subtitles.

I haven't done anything with QuVis.
I checked EasyDCP, OpenDCP and DCP-o-matic.

EasyDCP is by far the easiest, stable (commercial and expensive) app to work with subtitles. Both SMPTE and Interop titles are handled seamlessly.
OpenDCP has problems with Interop and often enough with SMPTE.
DCP-o-matic seems to require SMPTE MXF - everything I tried to use something created an error here.

A note on services.
There are several who do offer DCP creations. But tell them to make a for free short test package.
As I said in the very first sentence there were people/customers blaming me cause their service provider said there is something wrong with their files. One customer sent me emails over many days telling me that his service provider (one of the really big post houses in LA) told him that all subtitle languages have to be in one XML and that is my fault they aren't. We ended up with something from my side like "these guys are idiots, talking nonsense and obviously never have read DCP specs". He obviously forwarded my complete mail. And after a week or two and endless emails suddenly the subtitles did work.
So test a service provider – regardless of name and reputation – before you pay anything.

- Andreas