my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Digital Cinema Forum   » DCPs with 1.33 or 1.37 (Page 1)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

Author Topic: DCPs with 1.33 or 1.37 Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-09-2013 01:51 PM                     Those of you that have run "classic" titles in DCP (those that predate CinemaScope). Are you finding that they are formatting them as 4x3 (1.33) or 1.375 (Academy)? Regardless of what they put in the title of the DCP...have you verified just how wide the image is (relative to height)? When one takes into account the 2K and 4K permutations (and all of the other potential formats in a revival house), the number of projector formats fills up pretty quickly!  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-09-2013 05:31 PM                     I verify by projecting the image with a "no crop" screen file, sizing the masking to the image, and then projecting my custom-made "universal" test pattern to see what we actually have. I select the appropriate format cue after I have done this. Note - on some of the 1.33/1.37 titles, I recommend moving past the credits because those are sometimes "window boxed" with black borders all the way around. I suspect these DCP's share a common source with the bluray. Trusting the credits such a show would result in severe over-cropping. IIRC, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is an example of this. On the subject of projector formats filling up... The Dolby DSS200 only "sees" the first 14 presets of the Barco DP2K-32B, even though the Barco can have more than that.  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 09-09-2013 05:38 PM                     ('m confirmed with Sony Repertory that their Academy Flat ratio films like Gilda and It Happened One Night that have been converted to DCP are presented in a 1.37:1 frame that fits inside the flat 1.85:1 aspect ratio with black bars on the sides.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-09-2013 05:56 PM                        Is there a preference for 1.33 vs. 1.37? I am in the process of having a DCP made from a 16mm original. There will also be 35mm prints, which will be Academy (1.37). The DCP should logically be 1.33, but I would do 1.37 if that is how all DCPs are being made now (in which case theatres would likely have masking and lens presets for 1.37).  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 09-09-2013 06:31 PM                        quote: Manny Knowles Note - on some of the 1.33/1.37 titles, I recommend moving past the credits because those are sometimes "window boxed" with black borders all the way around. I suspect these DCP's share a common source with the bluray. Trusting the credits such a show would result in severe over-cropping. IIRC, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is an example of this. That seems to be a Warner Bros thing. I've got Warner DVDs going back to the early 2000s with windowboxed opening credits (e.g. Dark Passage and Mildred Pierce). I'm guessing that the reason they did this is because DVDs could potentially be viewed either on a standard definition consumer TV set connected to the player with an analog lead, which overscans the signal significantly (i.e. the credits would be cropped if there wasn't a border around the edge of the frame), and on PC monitors and HDMI player-to-TV connections, for which there isn't any overscanning. So if on the original film, the credit text goes near the edges of the frame, the windowboxing is needed to ensure that everyone gets to see the credits without any cropping. However, they seemed to have continued this habit once BDs came along, as well. Sierra Madre was the first Warners 1.37/4:3 BD I bought, and yup, it's got the credit windowboxing, too. Given that unless you're connecting your BD player to a CRT TV via a composite lead (and if you are, you're not likely to care about the picture quality!), there is no way to play a BD with an overscanned picture on consumer hardware, and so I can't understand why they do this. My only guess is the same as yours: that they're using a single digital master from which they then transcode to everything from the DCP to the Netflix stream. I've never noticed the credit windowboxing trick done by any other DVD or BD label. I'm guessing that the publishers which cater to an educated audience of movie buffs (e.g. Criterion and Kino) assume that their customers will have the technology to view without any risk of overscanning, will not feel the need to legacy-equipment-proof their releases and prepare their masters accordingly.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-09-2013 08:33 PM                     So Manny...are you seeing both 4x3 and 1.37? In particular, is 1.37 being used for classic titles or are they just maximizing at 4x3? It sounds like I'll have to prepare for both. That is VERY interesting that Dolby only scans for the first 14 presets. I did not know that but it hasn't come up before. I'm about to set up a site with far more than 14 presets.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-09-2013 09:05 PM                     Steve, I'll look through my records and see what I find regarding the frequency of 1.33 vs 1.37. If your Dolby processors are seeing more than 14 projector presets, then I might finally upgrade my software. Presently, I use 9 full presets for DCP presentations. Preset #10 is variable - I simply re-associate the lens, screen, and LSC files as needed when I encounter odd formats. The name of that preset is actually "DCP-Variable" so that I don't have to reboot the DSS200 in order for it to see/take a name change. Presets 11 through 13 aren't really presets, they're just screen files, used during shorts programs, where I want to quickly "square up" vertical edges without the screen going black for an inordinately long time between shorts. Preset #14 is reserved for a variable screen file. Presets greater than #14 are used for non-DCP applications.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-09-2013 10:04 PM                     I'll let you know on the preset limit. If I run into it...I'll have Crestron take over.  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 09-10-2013 03:30 AM                     I came up against the 14 preset thing probably 3 years ago, certainly it was the tail end of Series 1, as I seem to recall it was on my last S1 install. I did raise this with Dolby at the time, my request for more than 14 was met with a raised eyebrow and 'duly noted' to be put to the software developers. To be honest I haven't checked since to see if any change has been implemented.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-10-2013 10:13 AM                        "I suspect these DCP's share a common source with the bluray." While we have run a few classic films, most of the time (especially lately), we get a Blu-Ray shipped to us from California. Quite disappointing. However, I've also noticed that when we do get a D.C.P. it is just a transcoded Blu-Ray file. With black bars and everything. So, six in one, or half dozen the other...  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-10-2013 02:05 PM                     Dennis: I still prefer to get a DCP so I can program it properly with cues, etc. Also DCP is way more stable than Bluray with its HDCP issues. ----- Pete: My projector is a Barco Series 2 projector. ----- Steve: I checked my reports and found the following... Correction: "Sierra Madre" was actually a Bluray presentation, but the titles were indeed window-boxed. "Casablanca" DCP was 1.37 with window-boxed titles. "King Kong" DCP was 1.37 (and included the Overture!) If I remember any others I'll look them up for you and reply here.  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 09-11-2013 02:52 AM                     I think the 'first 14' has more to do with DCP Communicator than the projector itself. IE the Dolby server only sees macros on the first 14 buttons in Communicator. Series 1s had 8 hardware buttons, Series 2 has 6. I'll try it today if I get time, I'm on my way to a very dead DP2K20C.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-11-2013 06:21 AM                     I did pick up some information on this. The preset limit issue is unique to Barco. You could get a short list if you have any blanks (e.g. skip preset 10) because Barco will send a termination character at that point and stop the polling. I don't have any confirmation (yet) on if a current system with current software/firmware has a 14 preset limit. Again, from what I heard, it is a Barco/Dolby interaction.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-11-2013 07:38 AM                        Getting _way_ off-topic here, I am not curious about theatres with more than 14 presets. What are they? If I were making a "complete" list, I would include the following: 1.17 - DCP 1.33 - DCP 1.37 - DCP 4x3 - Video 1.66 - DCP 1.66 - Video 1.75 - DCP 1.78 - DCP 16x9 - Video 1.85 - DCP 1.85 - Video 2.0 - DCP 2.2 - DCP 2.35 - DCP 2.35 - Video 2.39 - DCP 2.39 - Video 2.55 - DCP That is 18 formats. What else is there? 3D? Something else?  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 09-11-2013 08:11 AM                     Yep, there might well be 3D thrown in. I have a couple of places where the projector was moved between 2 or 3 screens, so everything was doubled or trippled! Now those venues are all digital so the projector is 'parked' that issue has largely gone away. Most mainstream sites as a minimum will have 2D Flat/Scope, 3D Flat/Scope, Alt Flat/Scope/16x9  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

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.