Category: DCPs

The Digital Cinema Package – the DCP – is 1 folder filled with picture and sound and subtitle files, as well as files that keep them all playing together.

Align1 – 2K

Align1 is stolen from a technician’s dream, then modified for the non-technical user.

Its simplicity hides a wonderful secret. Each time it is seen and heard, the user gains a little bit more ability to distinguish more of what their perceptions are gathering. Eventually their eyes will be like those of a professional colorist, seeing tints in the grey, or distortion in a tone, as a golden ear’d audiophile would. And with other lessons, others of these Manager’s Walk Through Series, they’ll learn how to describe what they perceive to the tech in an efficient way.

Good luck to us all. This is the 2K SMPTE Compliant version. Don’t forget to download the checklist~!

Let’s see what happens with this Vimeo attempt at the quicktime file…

 

Align1_wSubs from CJ Flynn on Vimeo.

2Pop 4K

This DCP is made for playing with a device that wants a pop every 2 seconds.

Just another tool, and exactly like the 2K tool, except…yeah, 4K.

Someone with a 4K projector…please comment or send a Contact form to tell whether your projector looks good with the 2K or not. The 2K projector that I tested the 4K file on looked playing the 2K …the 4K added some jaggies.

Thanks.

 

Finally, what is the Correct Password to Download? QA_b4_QC

2Pop 2K

This DCP is made for playing with a device that wants a pop every 2 seconds. Although the QuickTime sample below says it is 720p, the DCP is a cinema sized 2K file.

It walks through the 6 5.1 channels L, C, R, Rs, Ls, LFE, then a pulse in all speakers.

We must admit, we don’t remember the levels – if we had any sense we would have made the last two pulses at different levels??? Please, run it once at a lower level – Repeat the last sentence back and do not run this DCP if you don’t understand that.

The password is: QA_b4_QC

Here is a .mp4 of what the DCP acts like:

New SMPTE Pink Noise Tones; 7.1

Around the room, with a 3 dB pan law as the sound travels between the speakers; Left, Center, Right, Right Surround, Right Rear, Left Rear, Left Surround, then back to Left, then a long stop at the LFE.

All done with the new SMPTE Digital Pink Noise algorithm at the proper level (that is, not -20 dB.)

In fact, for reasons that won’t be stated here, the new SMPTE Pink is set for -18.5 dBFS. This is the level for this DCP, except that the surrounds are at -21.5 dBFS. That allows someone to listen all the way through the room.

The length of the LFE is twice as long as the others.

Download passcode is QA_b4_QC

Let us know what you think.

Oh, and the ProTools files to make these are at:
SMPTE Rotating Pink; ProTools Files

xkcd1080 – 2K – Fun Color Science for Cinema

There is one point while watching this DCP when you will think – That guy crazy~! I can see the red and purple over in the corners…but then, if you stare at the middle for a few more seconds, the purple in the logo at the bottom corner loses its red and then the colored parts of the logo goes grey. None of it means anything – of course, you shouldn’t be trying this at home – except to learn that what the eyes transmit to the brain is a constantly moving mosaic of segments that are constantly being stitched together.

Use the passcode QA_b4_QC

It is just, Fun Science. Take a peek of the quicktime movie of the DCP, complete with the fake subtitles. The DCP here includes subtitles derived from an xml file that will be created by the projector.

Vimeo Sample xkcd1080

A slide from the Faces One set of the Manager's Walk Through Series

Faces1 – 2K

The passcode is QA_b4_QC

The major idea behind the two Faces Test DCPs is that the Human Visual System and the Human Hearing System work magic. To test the picture in your auditoriums, we have to somehow get around that magic.

One part of the magic is that people’s eyes adjust to different light levels. The eyes and the brain work together to give the best image possible in different circumstances. We have the ability to see in dark moonlight and in bright sunlight. We can see great detail in our center vision, and we can see minute motion in our side vision.

We hear sound the same way. In a quiet room we can here a fan or even a mosquito that is 3 meters (10 feet) away. In a loud kitchen, we can hear voices that are softer than the loud pots and pans. (Well, sometimes.) We certainly can’t hear that mosquito among the kitchen noises, and we can’t see a dark cat go by in the shadows if there are headlights making the the scene too bright.

Usually this magic is a great thing. It is an automatic process that protects the eyes, yet lets us see through an incredible range of light in the right circumstances. But it also means that when we see leaves of green and fields of rice waving in the wind, we presume that the clouds are white and the sky is blue …but they might really be grayish white and a light shade of blue.

This especially happens in a movie theater. The sun or reflections that we see outside are hundreds, even thousands of times brighter than a projector can display on the screen. Yet, we believe it is bright white. And that is what matters to the audience. But we have to check that the projection system is giving all that can be expected, not wimping out or giving too much of one color or not enough of another.

Sound is the same way. It is a rare person who can hear a tone and accurately say with certainty, “That is the note ‘E’ below middle ‘C’ on the piano for example or that it is soft or loud. All we can say is that it is soft or loud in comparison to something else.

Our purpose is to test the system, to see if it has the right amount of light (and sound). How do we get around this amazing capability of the Human Visual and Hearing Systems?

One thing that people can do very well is determine if faces look right. So, your author went to a photo sharing site and dropped a bunch of faces on top of each other and made two DCPs. We think it turned out to be a very interesting way for you to judge the quality the projected pictures on your screen. And, like the other DCPs, there are also clean and distorted and muted high and low notes to judge the quality of your sound. Oh~! and let’s not forget the subtitles…

The passcode is QA_b4_QC

Here is a quicktime version of the Faces1 DCP – Have fun, and tell us what you think. With your help we can make a system that helps you tell the tech what is wrong and eliminates the complaints of the audience member.

Align1 – 4K

Align1 is stolen from a technician’s dream, then modified for the non-technical user.

The 4K version of this test tool is being remade. Not Available Now.

Its simplicity hides a wonderful secret. Each time it is seen and heard, the user gains a little bit more ability to distinguish more of what their perceptions are gathering. Eventually their eyes will be like those of a professional colorist, seeing tints in the grey, or distortion in a tone, as a golden ear’d audiophile would. And with other lessons, others of these Manager’s Walk Through Series, they’ll learn how to describe what they perceive to the tech in an efficient way.

Good luck to us all.

This Vimeo link has a Quicktime file that shows the basics of the DCP, except that the subtitles are burned into the QT file.
Align1_wSubs from CJ Flynn on Vimeo.