Trailer switch from IOP to SMPTE

[Frank Cox]

I just got an email from Deluxe that states, in part:

all theatrical trailer DCPs going out as part of the weekly Deluxe TrailMix service offering will be changed from the IOP format to DCPs using the published SMPTE standards. As the North American market is now effectively entirely SMPTE compatible, and in consultation with DCI Studio members, ISDCF membership, and NATO, we believe now is the right time to make this switch.

What this means for you:

* This change is effective from WK 5 targeting 4th February 2022 releases.
* All IOP content you have currently ingested may remain on your TMS and maintains its playback capabilities. Though a mix of IOP and SMPTE DCPs cannot be on the same drive they can exist together within your TMS.
* You do not need to remove any current trailers on your TMS to swap with the SMPTE versions.

In the interest of learning something, could someone who knows more about this than I do tell me why "a mix of IOP and SMPTE DCPs cannot be on the same drive"?

I guess that the action I need to take in response to this announcement is.. nothing at all? Everything will just continue to work like it does now and I can still just put trailers into the playlist as usual without worrying about what format they're in?

[Carsten Kurz]

This issue is specific to the TrailMix drives where no subfolders are used to separate trailers/DCPs. You need trailer DCPs in individual subfolders to mix IOP and SMPTE trailers, and Deluxe does not like that way of organising DCPs.
That transition to SMPTE only for TrailMix drives has been discussed during the recent ISDCF meetings. Nothing to worry. You should not notice any difference handling the drive. I never quite understood why Deluxe sticks to the way they organize the Trailmix drives. Admittedly, browsing many many folders on such a drive to find the trailers you need can be cumbersome. There are differences in the way different servers and TMS handle disk browsing, and the way Deluxe does it is probably most compatible with most systems they serve. This scheme, a Multi-CPL package on a drive, however, simply does not allow to mix IOP and SMPTE, it can only be either IOP (was) or SMPTE (will be). Of course, once ingested, your server has no problem to deal with mixed IOP and SMPTE both within it's library and within playlists.

See chapter 7 in here:

https://isdcf.com/papers/ISDCF-Doc3-Delivery-Recs.pdf

- Carsten

[Mike Blakesley]

Heck I thought they had made that switch a long time ago. Since it doesn't really matter on this end operations-wise, I haven't really paid attention to the distinction.

[Carsten Kurz]

The transition to SMPTE for features is already done for a while, that caused the most attention. This is a Trailmix drive specific issue. Servers and TMS are SMPTE capable for years.

[Jon Dent]

I hadn't even noticed that trailers were still IOP. Only time I ever really notice that is when we get an old IOP DCP in (like the 2018 Grinch).

[Randy Stankey]

Admittedly, browsing many many folders on such a drive to find the trailers you need can be cumbersome.

Can't people just GREP for the files they want?
Or, are people that computer illiterate, these days?

Knowing how to find a specific file on a hard drive should be "Computer 101" Shouldn't it?

[Carsten Kurz]

No DCI server offers grep in it's ingest GUI.

[Randy Stankey]

I wouldn't expect GREP to be in a GUI because it's a command that you type at a command line.

So, are you telling me that there is no way to type ls|grep movie-name in order to find all the trailers that contain the phrase "movie-name" in the current directory?

[Frank Cox]

You don't actually need grep there. ls *movie-name* will do it. Where grep would be useful would be if you want to ignore the case and find MOVIE-NAME as well as Movie-Name and movie-name, in which situation you would use ls | grep -i movie-name to do that.

Having said that, I don't think there is a way to use ls and/or grep when you're standing in front of the projector since there's no readily available commandline that I'm aware of, at least not on the GDC server that I have here. There is a "filter" option on the ingest tab, though, so you could just use that instead.

[Randy Stankey]

When I was first taught to use computers, one of our first assignments was to to count from zero to 255 in binary. After that, we had to be able to add or subtract any two binary numbers [0...255]. After that, we had to do it in hexadecimal. We weren't even allowed to touch a keyboard until we could do that much!

Later on, when computers became more complex and powerful, things like "ls" and "grep" were considered entry level skills.

Today, I consider myself to be "good" at computers but nowhere near an expert. It confuses the hell out of me when people don't understand things so simple as how to find information on your computer's hard drive. I used to know people who would say things like, "Hey, would you go to the fridge and GREP "coke" for me, please?"

I do not expect people to have the same knowledge and experience as I do and I certainly don't expect people to use GREP in a sentence like that but I do feel justified in expecting people to know what the search commands are for the particular kind of computer they are using.

Maybe I say "GREP." Maybe you say "search." But, if I say, "GREP" and you don't know what that means, I will reply by saying, "Global Search."
If you don't know what that means, AFAIAC, you shouldn't be allowed to put your hands on a keyboard until you can count to 255 in binary.

Now, back to the topic sentence...

When Carsten said, "Deluxe does not like that way of organising DCPs...." I just naturally assumed that they expected the user to know how to search for the files they want on a computer. Just like if I asked you to drive to the store to buy bread and milk, I would fully expect you to know how to drive a car. It is a normal skill that virtually all modern humans need to know how to perform. Even if they, themselves, can't drive a vehicle, they need to know what "drive" means and they need to be able to find somebody to help them get to the store if they have to. (If they can't do that, maybe they should find a horse! )

This is why I get so confuzzled. Somebody says, "We're changing from IOP to SMPTE." and I think "Big deal..."
Then people ask how they are going to be able to find the DCP files they want and I say, "Just use GREP..." but everybody goes, "Huh?"
Then I say, "You know. Use your search commands." [Sound of crickets chirping.]

[Frank Cox]

You missed the part where I said there's no readily available commandline on a cinema server. So you can't "just use grep" since there's nowhere to type the command.

There are other ways (again, I specified that above) but grep ain't one of 'em.

Incidentally, I've never been particularly good at binary math so I use an abacus for that.

Really. I have a tiny little "pocket abacus" that's about six inches long, but many years ago my wife found me a really nice full-size abacus one time when she was visiting her family in Mauritius. Some of the shopkeepers there use those things to add up purchases. Now I have a professional abacus and just use that.

[Randy Stankey]

You missed the part where I said there's no readily available command line on a cinema server.

No, I didn't miss it. You said that there are also filter options in the GUI so I just figured you were smart and didn't need a response on that point.

I also have a small, wooden abacus. (Or, is it made of bamboo? Never thought to look...)
I don't know where it is, now, after I have moved so many times but I used to keep it in the center drawer of my desk.

People used to give me the strangest looks when I would pull it out and use it to quickly add up a few numbers.

When they asked me why, I just said, "The batteries will never go dead!"

[Frank Cox]

I've never learned how to do real (base 10) math with an abacus. I just use it for binary arithmetic and as a tool for tracking and envisioning anything involving bit setting. I definitely don't use it to anywhere near what it's actually made for.

[Randy Stankey]

I could add and subtract numbers but, I would need to puzzle out how to do multiplication or division.

It's been such a long time since I used an abacus that I'd need to study up before I even pretended to do anything more difficult than 2+2=4.

[Darin Steffl]

I just got an email from Deluxe that states, in part:



In the interest of learning something, could someone who knows more about this than I do tell me why "a mix of IOP and SMPTE DCPs cannot be on the same drive"?

I guess that the action I need to take in response to this announcement is.. nothing at all? Everything will just continue to work like it does now and I can still just put trailers into the playlist as usual without worrying about what format they're in?

Who did you receive this email from within Deluxe? I searched and didn't find any such notification. I'm wondering since I'm a new theatre owner if I'm not subscribed to certain Deluxe email lists with these types of announcements.