Digital Cinema Package

[H. Farberg]

Thank you for this! I spent ages trying to find the same information a couple of months ago!

[M Most]

While Easy DCP can do what you are saying, I would point out that it expects its input material to have been color corrected for a digital cinema environment - that is, 2.6 gamma and P3 color space. If you feed it HD material, it will likely project on a DCI compliant projector as too dark and a bit too red.

DPX is a file format, it is not a compressor. In fact, a DPX file is, by definition, uncompressed. It is basically a container that was designed to accommodate Cineon "essence" but also carry associated metadata, such as time code, keycode, a log encoding identifier, and other things (it can even carry digital audio if you want - the Rave HD device uses that functionality) that the original Cineon file format did not allow for. Since it is just a container, the picture information does not have to be Cineon format, or even log encoded.

[Leerafel]

Wow ! Thank you very much for your detailed guide ! I'll try it ! Thanks for taking your time !

Haha, yeah I just sat down and wrote it all down while it was fresh in my mind. At the time, I hadn't actually TESTED the DCP to see if it was playable, but good news! I just got back from the theater, and it played PERFECTLY without a hitch. When I played the original footage on my PC, I was kinda worried that some of the artifacts would really stand out, but actually they were hardly visible on the BIG screen. Interesting. Good luck all!

Also, for those who are interested in how badly watermarked the footage is if you use the free version of EasyDCP, it is not too bad! In the top left hand corner of the screen there is an opaque EasyDCP Logo. I wouldn't send it to film festivals that way... but you can get away with leaving it there if you are just doing tests, or only going to watch the footage with a really limited audience, like freinds and family, or for test screenings.

[Leerafel]

While Easy DCP can do what you are saying, I would point out that it expects its input material to have been color corrected for a digital cinema environment - that is, 2.6 gamma and P3 color space. If you feed it HD material, it will likely project on a DCI compliant projector as too dark and a bit too red.

DPX is a file format, it is not a compressor. In fact, a DPX file is, by definition, uncompressed. It is basically a container that was designed to accommodate Cineon "essence" but also carry associated metadata, such as time code, keycode, a log encoding identifier, and other things (it can even carry digital audio if you want - the Rave HD device uses that functionality) that the original Cineon file format did not allow for. Since it is just a container, the picture information does not have to be Cineon format, or even log encoded.

Ah, good to know about DPX. Thanks for the info! I actually had no problem whatsoever with color conversion. The footage looks exactly the same on the cinema screen as it does on my PC. Tested and verified this morning! Woo hoo! I was worried that I was going to have to fiddle with it some more to get the color and gamma just right, but the DPX export from AE with the settings I listed seems to work perfectly.

The reason that I said to use Cineon DPX setting is... because it is my only option for outputting any form of DPX haha. I've downloaded REDCINE to fiddle with trying to export DPX sequences with that, but I'm having trouble opening clips. I kinda figured it would only open RED files... but does anyone have a suggestion for an altranate filetype that could be opened via REDCINE for export to DPX?

[Leerafel]

Thank you for this! I spent ages trying to find the same information a couple of months ago!

Buddy, I hear ya. It is so tricky to figure out because you don't always know exactly what info you need to search for since some of the terms are not universally recognized. I just got REALLY ambitious the other day after I posted my request for help on here, and the moon and the stars all alligned or something, and I just sort of clumsily stumbled upon this solution one piece at a time with some trial and error.

I hope more people like M Most will aid in enlightening me on how some of these things actually work.

[M Most]

Ah, good to know about DPX. Thanks for the info! I actually had no problem whatsoever with color conversion. The footage looks exactly the same on the cinema screen as it does on my PC. Tested and verified this morning! Woo hoo! I was worried that I was going to have to fiddle with it some more to get the color and gamma just right, but the DPX export from AE with the settings I listed seems to work perfectly.

What that tells me is that Easy DCP is expecting images that have been color corrected for HD video, something I've since confirmed. That does make it "easy." The fact that the program works is not surprising because Fraunhofer Institute was contracted by the DCI to develop the original tools for creating DCPs and for testing them. You should also be able to use TIFF sequences as well as DPX sequences for input.

FYI, DCP's can also be delivered on DVD-Rom. In fact, that is one of the preferred formats. Make sure it's formatted as UDF.

[Jaime Vallés]

This is one of the most informative threads I've encountered on Reduser. Thank you, Leerafel, for the detailed posts!

[Leerafel]

Yeah I read that about Fraunhofer when I was bumbling around online trying to figure everything out. Cool stuff. I'm going to fiddle around some more with running TIFF sequences and other DPX formats through easy DCP. I need to find a more space-efficient format!

And yeah! I had forgotten that they would accept DVD-Rom! Thanks for all of the great input M!

[Leerafel]

This is one of the most informative threads I've encountered on Reduser. Thank you, Leerafel, for the detailed posts!

It was my pleasure to share the info.

[Leerafel]

I've updated the tutorial. I was able to get EasyDCP to run on my 64 bit Vista system by changing the compatability to Windows 98 / Windows ME. Kind of a wierd compatability, if you ask me, but it seems to work.

UPDATE: Never mind... seems to have trouble importing the audio clips... I'll have to stick to my 32 Bit system for now.