|
|
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
|
|
Author
|
Topic: What happens to old DCP's
|
|
|
Carsten Kurz
Film God
Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009
|
posted 02-15-2013 10:37 AM
As always, depends.
Some distributors have major contracts with service companies like Deluxe, etc.
The long term preservation of DCPs then needs to be negotiated with them, and will usually cost money. If a DCP is needed, it might come out expensive to copy/ship just one as individual service - could be a few hundred dollars.
Other distributors store their DCPs of their classics, basically on their local fileserver, or individual discs. Last year, a fellow cinema wasn't able to get 'The Social Network' - IMHO an OSCAR winning feature - because 'the harddrive is out to another cinema' ;-)
Some simply abandon their DCPs after a while and then supply BluRays.
Having access to the DCP of course is just one aspect - the other is getting the key.
Some cinemas are able to get a DCP from fellows, then receive the keys from their distributor. One service company in germany states that they do longterm backup of all the keys as a general service, but longterm storage of DCPs has to be negotiated and payed for separately.
I think long-term availability of DCPs is not accounted fully for yet. They have to think about it where and how to do it. As a matter of fact, smaller distributors seem to be more up to the task, distributing their own hard disks, since low quantities and savings are easy to accomplish. There will probably always be a backup of the DCDM (master) somewhere, but most service companies will charge a lot of money to create a single DCP drive from it. So, not too different from 35mm.
- Carsten
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 02-17-2013 06:21 PM
I just hope most studios are smart enough to store their master DCPs in unencrypted form too. Just in case somebody might lose the keys by accident...
In theory, DCPs could be stored forever, without losing a single bit, so not losing any quality at all over time, as long as you keep them on an active, redundant and well maintained storage platform. Also, in theory, storage is getting cheaper all the time, so the costs per old DCP should decrease over time.
Unfortunately, that's just theory. I've seen plenty of old dusty tape libraries, decommissioned SAN systems and piles of old hard disks in the past, that have been considered a valid "digital archival solution". Good luck getting something back from there... Outdated formats, interfaces and file formats abundant.
But even if we take good care of the bits themselves, we're not there yet. Although DCPs in unencrypted format are pretty straight forward, it still remains to be seen if there is still software and/or hardware around that can handle DCPs in let's say, 40 years from now.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 02-18-2013 05:50 PM
quote: Frank Angel
So my question -- is the DCP hard drive itself protected from being copied in any way other than how hard drives are copied? Is all the security encrpytion deconstruced by the software and the key AFTER ingestion? Seems like being able to copy the DCP for storage isn't a threat to the encrypted content, given what has to happen to it before it can be unlocked and played. But then again, we know how the very word COPY makes studio execs brains explode.
Like Wolfgang already mentioned, practically all disks are formated in EXT3 format, which is mountable and accessible in almost any recent Linux or UNIX environment.
The security is on a different layer here, it is inside the DCPs itself. The features inside the DCP are encrypted with AES (a strong industry standard encryption method), so you won't be able to read them without a valid key. The files themselves are just that: plain files, nobody stops you from copying them to anywhere you want. So you could, in practice, archive any DCP you get or you deem valuable in the future. The only problem is, that it adds up quite fast.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
![[evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic