Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What is the best way to show ads/commercials in-between shows?

This is topic What is the best way to show ads/commercials in-between shows? in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Grant Chambers (Member # 7051) on 09-03-2012, 01:39 PM:

We have an NEC NC2000C projector running on the Dolby DSS200 Server. I was hoping there was a way to plug in a commercial or two before the trailers. I understand that the Dolby reads Jpeg2000 and Mpeg-2 file formats, but will those need MXF wrappers on them for the server to read the files? If so, what is the best way to make an MXF file? Any good software out there? I'm just not sure the best route to take right now and would love some input and recommendations. Thanks.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 09-03-2012, 06:06 PM:

MPEG-2 and j2k need to be MXF wrapped and in DCP structures.

You could also get into framerate trouble, although most servers nowadays can play 30fps DCPs.

There is free software for DCP creation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Cinema_Package#DCP_creation_tools

I suggest you start with

http://code.google.com/p/opendcp/
and/or http://www.dcpbuilder.com/

- Carsten

Posted by Grant Chambers (Member # 7051) on 09-03-2012, 06:30 PM:

Awesome! Thanks, I'll check it out.

Posted by Yinghong Wu (Member # 6908) on 09-03-2012, 10:46 PM:

Yes,OpenDcp is the good way to create DCP to ingest DSS200,My way is use quicktime pro to output the tiff file and mono audio file(left and right),The tiff file should be 1920X1080,1998X1080,2048X858,8 or 16 bit;The audio file should be 24bit 48khz and frame rate should be 24.This is my way,good luck buddy.：)

Posted by Grant Chambers (Member # 7051) on 09-04-2012, 04:30 PM:

Thanks Yinghong Wu! I did exactly that.

Posted by Grant Chambers (Member # 7051) on 09-04-2012, 09:51 PM:

Ok, so I believe I did everything correct: however, the server says the file is corrupt... any ideas?

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 09-05-2012, 10:19 AM:

Which app did you use, and which material did you convert - video resolution, framerate, audio channel count, bitrate, quantization depth?

Servers are a bit picky and not every DCP creation software checks content for compatibility.

- Carsten

Posted by Terrence Meiczinger (Member # 5059) on 09-05-2012, 01:37 PM:

If you used OpenDCP, the most common cause of a "corrupted" DCPs on a Dolby is not using 24-bit Mono WAV files.

Posted by Grant Chambers (Member # 7051) on 09-07-2012, 01:21 PM:

BOOM! Got it! Looks great! Thanks ya'll. it was the audio. not 24bit.

Posted by Philip Jones (Member # 6677) on 09-07-2012, 02:17 PM:

I've been having a bit of a play with OpenDCP with varying results.

I'm taking the video I have, outputting the TIFF image sequence and audio with quicktime and going from there. I've tested it on our dolby server and it looks good but seems a bit "juddery" for want of a better word.. the motion isn't smooth like it should be. It sounds great though.

I've done some still images with and without sound which have worked perfectly.

The video I'm starting with is 1080p, so is it the mismatch of resolutions that is causing it? In OpenDCP it prompts me to click the "DCI resize" box.

Is there a program I can output the video to TIFFs at the 2k resolution rather than 1920x1080? I don't mind black bars, I'd rather the motion is smooth.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 09-07-2012, 02:28 PM:

Most likely you will have source material which is NOT 24p, but either 25p or 30p.

Once these are image sequences, framerate doesn't count anymore, but your export/conversion process might use wrong parameters.

It's hard to tell remotely, but resolution will not be the problem here, but frame rate.

Few people will have access to real 24p footage, and if you convert footage with other framerates, you will get into audio sync issues.

However, most servers nowadays also support 25fps and 30fps in DCPs, so you might want to try other framerates, ideally same as your source framerate.

- Carsten

Posted by Philip Jones (Member # 6677) on 09-07-2012, 02:32 PM:

Thanks very much for the quick reply.

How do I tell the frame rate of the original video?

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 09-07-2012, 02:49 PM:

Quicktime player will show you if you press <apple/cmd>+<i>

Do you actually use the Quicktime Pro Player to export image sequences? It has no scaling option in this mode, but it has a frame rate option, which is usually preset to something like 12fps - try to set this to your source file framerate.

For scaling/cropping, you could FIRST export your source file to an intermediate video file with the scaling/letterboxing/pillarboxing enabled, then load this file again and export the image sequence.

You should use a low compression or lossless format for the intermediate file, like ProRes.

The 'Size' Dialog in the Quicktime movie export options will give you scaling and boxing options. But I would simply try to use the original size, HD 1920/1080 should not be a problem.

- Carsten