Gran Turismo Supplemental Package and Multiple Feature Files

[Barry Floyd]

Opening Gran Turismo tomorrow night like everybody else. Early in the week, I download FTR2 version from DCDC. Mid-week, get an email from Deluxe saying there's a "supplemental package" which also needs to be ingested called "FTR3". It's a really small file. Yesterday get keys for "FTR3". Build playlist last night that uses the FTR3 version, insert automation cues, build scheduled shows - no issues. Today I get keys for "FTR2".

Call DELUXE and inquire which version I'm supposed to play, and which version I'm supposed to insert my automation cues? First person from DELUXE tells me I need BOTH "FTR2" and "FTR3" in the playlist. That didn't sound right to me so I called back and got a different person. Second person says no.. only FTR3 in the playlist but BOTH the FTR2 OV base file and thee FTR3 version file need to be on the server, but only FTR3 in the playlist.

Anybody else dealing with this?

[Jim Cassedy]

I'm recovering from a mild case of "Oppenheimer Elbow" (from constantly lifting 70mm reels for the past month)
so I haven't been at the theater for a couple of days- - I do recall seeing an internal e-mail about this the other
day that somebody had printed out at work, and if I recall, it agrees with what you said in your last sentence.
["BOTH the FTR2 OV base file and the FTR3 version file need to be on the server, but only FTR3 in the playlist"]
- - - I've had to deal with similar situations several times on some advance preview titles, and I had to follow the
same protocol, I'm heading off to project at the Telluride Film Festival after tomorrow, so I can't verify this personally.
But it makes the most sense to me.. . i think. . .

EDIT/Additional Info- This is a slightly edited cut-&-paste of the e-mail I mentioned above. Basically, 'YES",
you've first got to ingest the FTR-2 'base" version, and one or more of the "FTR-3" versions depending on
if you need open captions or ATMOS™, or both (and, just to make things a little more confusing, -- the FTR-3
Atmos files won't work unless you've first ingested the FTR-2 Atmos ,files.

Instructions For Ingestion:
Step 1 - Please ingest the Base CCAP OV DCP into your playback server.
PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS ONLY THE BASE FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL PACKAGE VERSION FILES.
THIS VERSION WILL NOT BE KEYED FOR YOUR THEATRICAL ENGAGEMENT.
GranTurismo_FTR-2_F-190_EN-XX-CCAP_OV_51-HI-VI-DBOX_4K_SPE_20230724_DLX_SMPTE_OV

Step 2 - Next, download and/or ingest from hard drive the appropriate CCAP, OCAP or ATMOS CCAP
Version Files that you need for your particular venue, and program this into your show playlists.

> Pick One - Or More:

5.1-CCAP:
GranTurismo_FTR-3_F-190_EN-XX-CCAP_OV_51-HI-VI-DBOX_4K_SPE_20230810_DLX_SMPTE_VF

5.1-OCAP:
GranTurismo_FTR-3_F-190_EN-XX-OCAP_OV_51-HI-VI-DBOX_4K_SPE_20230810_DLX_SMPTE_VF

5.1-CCAP + ATMOS
GranTurismo_FTR-3_F-190_EN-XX-CCAP_OV_51-Atmos-HI-VI-DBOX_4K_SPE_20230810_DLX_SMPTE_VF


THE SUPPLEMENTAL PACKAGE VERSION FILES MUST BE INGESTED . THIS IS MANDATORY TO HAVE
A SUCCESSFUL PLAY OF THE FILM FOR YOUR ENTIRE THEARTICAL ENGAGEMENT.
(Yes, they spelled "theatrical" it that way- - and this e-mail was followed by another one with the usual claptrap
about how much effort they put into the sound track, and was intended to play at "Reference 7" and a stern
warning in big, bold, red typeface which says "Do Not Alter The Sound Level")
,

[Armand Daiguillon]

There are issues with the original OV file so they sent the new VF file.
Your best bet is play whichever VF version you get keys for (filname should match the OV file)

[Jon Dent]

We ingested both and played the FTR-3 VF last night. Worked just fine.

[Barry Floyd]

I ingested both the FTR2 base file and the FTR3 supplemental file, and the FTR3 keys. Built my playlist and automation cues using the FTR3 file in my playlist, and when I built my playlist schedule for the weekend, the GDC-SR1000 gave me no errors. I'm assuming I did it correctly. Will find out for sure tonight at 8:15pm.

[Phil Ranucci]

We found that the FTR3 VF was lacking a projector mode setting. Comscore LMS/GDC SX2001 servers. NCM pre-show would end and the sound would switch but not the projector macro.
The OV had the correct setting, though.
Changed mode to 4K Flat and will see what happens.

[Frank Cox]

I'm assuming I did it correctly. Will find out for sure tonight at 8:15pm.

You aren't planning to test it before selling tickets and having a crowd present?

[Barry Floyd]

You aren't planning to test it before selling tickets and having a crowd present?

Nope. Never pre-screened a show in 20 years. 99% of the time, if there's an issue with a digital file, the server won't create the schedule.

[Frank Cox]

I guess that I still don't understand this.

Over the years I've had movies that didn't work for various reasons, and even one that played in the wrong order once. These are things that I like to find out about when nobody else is here.

Also, by pre-screening the movie I get to see what's going on with the picture and sound throughout the movie so if (for example) one of my sound channels drops out I'll find out about it without having to rely on a customer mentioning it after however-many weeks of it not working.

Plus when someone asks me a question about the movie I can answer it because I've seen it.

When digital cinema was new they used to put a form in with most of the distribution hard drives. "I have pre-screened this movie and it worked ok." Name, date, sign here and fax the form to Deluxe or Technicolor or whoever needed it.

Press Play and Pray? No thanks. I sit alone in my auditorium late most Wednesday nights watching next week's movie.

[Barry Floyd]

I just never have. Only issue I've ever had with a movie in 20 years was the 3rd reel of Shrek2 was printed without a sound track. I couldn't tell you the last time I've watched a whole movie at the drive-in.

[Jon Dent]

Press Play and Pray? No thanks. I sit alone in my auditorium late most Wednesday nights watching next week's movie.

We almost always premiere new movies Thursday evening and I have a day job so I never get to preview anything unless it's Disney, which is the only studio that unlocks their features on Wednesday. Every other studio is 12:01 AM Thursday.

That's why it's so amusing that the ingest letters say "On average, it could take up to 48 hours to replace any faulty hard drive or E-Delivery failure, so we ask you to ingest the contents as soon as possible and schedule a quality check screening after the keys unlock the feature." If I watched something at 12:01 Thursday morning and found an error, by their own admission it could take until Saturday to fix.

[William Kucharski]

You aren't planning to test it before selling tickets and having a crowd present?

I can't tell you the number of AMC showings I've received a readmit pass for because they hoped until the very last millisecond they'd get an email with the keys… and never did.

[Mike Blakesley]

Well that's just dumb for that to happen. If it's any less than two days before showtime, it's possible to get on the phone with Deluxe and tell them you haven't gotten a key, and they'll spit out a new one while you're on the phone and you'll get it within 10 minutes, if not sooner.

I go in most Thursday nights and watch the first 5 to 15 minutes of every movie to listen to the sound and decide where to set the volume level. I also look at the end credits to see if we need to do any finagling with the house lights, such as turn them back off during a mid-credits scene. The only time we pre-screen movies in their entirety is if it's a movie we really want to watch, and if we don't have a show the night before. (We are closed most Thursdays when we're opening a new movie the next day.) In 13-1/2 years since we "went digital," I've only had a problem with one movie, a Fox title I forget the name of. It would play to a certain point and get hung up on that point. The file on the shipping drive was bad, because we tried playing it off of that drive and it still did the same thing. The only fix was to put it on pause, skip it ahead of the bad part, and unpause it. We put up a sign at the boxoffice saying there would be a short interruption. Luckily it was during an early scene with no important dialogue or plot points. I got pretty good, I could take care of it while only losing about four seconds of the movie.

[Frank Cox]

I got FTR-2 on the Cinesend server earlier this week and they sent me the key for FTR-3 which I haven't seen hide or hair of.

So I just now sent them an email and I got a reply directing me to download a 300mb file onto my computer from their webpage which is supposedly going to make this into FTR-3.

But before I sent that email tonight I received zero information about any of this from Deluxe. And nobody bothered to send that FTR-3 file to the Cinesend server either.

[Gordon McLeod]

I got FTR-2 on the Cinesend server earlier this week and they sent me the key for FTR-3 which I haven't seen hide or hair of.

So I just now sent them an email and I got a reply directing me to download a 300mb file onto my computer from their webpage which is supposedly going to make this into FTR-3.

But before I sent that email tonight I received zero information about any of this from Deluxe. And nobody bothered to send that FTR-3 file to the Cinesend server either.

No theatre got the update file from cinesend they had to download it separately