Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 3D & 4K DCP's ?

This is topic 3D & 4K DCP's ? in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 08-06-2015, 11:15 AM:

so this is a two part question here:

since 3D encoding has been for the most part relegated and only possible in 2K DCP form - how is that IMAX-Laser and Dolby Cinema which is 4K based able to encode it's DCP's as 3D (or is it still 2K)?

with UHD 4K content around the corner for home video application will the technology advance so that 3D is acchievable in 4K? (UHD as yet to confirm that 3D will be in the specs for UHD-4K blurays - it might not be)

it doesn't seem that studios and home theater technology are on the same page - if 4K is supposed to become the standard (granted that the majority of theaters have 2K projectors) - why is so little actually released theatrically in 4K?

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 08-06-2015, 01:53 PM:

They do not play back 3D/4k content, they use 3D/2k content and upscale to 4k, as all 4k projectors do when playing back 3D content. Now, as with the mysterious DMR, they can add all sorts of attributes to 'THEIR' specific upscaling sauce.

- Carsten

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 08-06-2015, 06:33 PM:

I believe the only server able to boast 4K and 3D is the Barco ICMP. But it is a bit of a chicken/egg sort of thing. One wouldn't make the content if there isn't a way to play it back and one wouldn't redesign a system, at great expense, if there isn't a high probability of it being sought after (need to recoup the investment). In Barco's case, they were starting with newer technology and they took on the ICP themselves so they could get the higher bandwidth.

Most of the 4K stuff I see being "pushed" in the A/V circles is only 8-bit stuff so it probably doesn't pay to be an early adopter.

4K 2D for cinema is a painless thing, relatively. Every server and projector that is DCI compliant can "handle" it so even 2K servers/projectors can run it. As such, as studios desire to release in 4K, they don't have to worry about who can handle it. The same will not be the case for 4K 3D where it is beyond DCI specs and 99% (estimated number) of the equipment in use today. Since the "big sales" are now over due to the big conversion that has happened over the last several years, anyone developing new technology (server or projector) is going to have a long return on investment since you will be seeking the few new-builds or change outs due to early failure or perhaps age. This sort of technology is EXPENSIVE too so I wouldn't hold my breath on seeing 4K 3D any time soon. I'm sure Mr. Cameron desires 4K 3D and 60fps HFR (and probably HDR too)...I'm sure it can be done but it would be a very limited set of theatres that could afford it or would be special built for a lot of money.