The best common practice is to deliver the DCP in a Cru Dataport DX-115 hard drive caddy with USB 2/3 adapter. These hard drive caddys loads directly into a lot of digital cinema equipment. Like Dolby/Doremi and the new Sony media block.
Updates:
-Some film festivals only accept Cru-DX115 hard drives.
-You are now allowed to have many DCPs and Assetmaps on the same hard drive according to the ISDCF Disc File Format guide and updated SMPTE standards.
Updates:
-Some film festivals only accept Cru-DX115 hard drives.
-You are now allowed to have many DCPs and Assetmaps on the same hard drive according to the ISDCF Disc File Format guide and updated SMPTE standards.
Standard DCP deliverables are made from these parts:
A Digital Cinema Package (DCP) is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams. The term was popularized by Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC in its original recommendation for packaging DC contents. However, the industry tends to apply the term to the structure more formally known as the Composition. Reliable data transport. The standard for a good reason. With over 1 million products in the field, the Data Express DX115 DC is the de facto standard for the duplication and distribution of Digital Cinema content worldwide.
The Cru Dataport DX-115 harddrive carrier/caddy:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB 3.5 Inch Hard Drive or similar :
The Cru Dataport Docking Station DX115 USB 2/3 with USB 2 cable, universal power supply
To transport these safely you could use a Pelican 1400 Case:
Together these could look something like this:
Upgrades to the old DX115 package
Replace the USB 2 cable with a USB 2/3 cable.
Use a more robust Solid State Drive (SSD) and a smaller Pelican 1200 case (I recommend SSDs >240, I have tested some 240 that worked and a 120 GB that did not work in the DX115) :
Together these could look something like this:
Alternative 2
You could use a USB 2 /USB 3 hard drive like the Rugged Lacie mini 500 gb.
You could use a USB 2 /USB 3 hard drive like the Rugged Lacie mini 500 gb.
or a modern SSD portable hard drive like the Samsung T5 250 GB USB 3.1
in a smaller Pelican 1120 case
Together these could look like this:
Note:
You are allowed to deliver DCPs on USB 2 hard drives, but the DX-115/movedock adapter also works with equipment that does not supply the standard power on the USB 2 port. You can supply a Y cable with the lacie rugged hard drive to support powerless USB 2 ports. (Cinemas with non-standard USB2 connections most likely have their own adapters.)
You are allowed to deliver DCPs on USB 2 hard drives, but the DX-115/movedock adapter also works with equipment that does not supply the standard power on the USB 2 port. You can supply a Y cable with the lacie rugged hard drive to support powerless USB 2 ports. (Cinemas with non-standard USB2 connections most likely have their own adapters.)
Alternative 3
Fast USB 3 flash drives like the Corsair Flash Voyager Slider
in a Pelican 1010 microcase
Together these could look like this:
These USB 3 flash drives are fast, but you will only get USB 2 transfer speed on older digital cinema equipment. But a USB 2 transfer speed of 25-35 MB/sec is still much better than the 5-10 MB/sec transfer speed you get on some older/cheaper flash drives. If the cinema transfers the content on the flash drive to their own DX115 hard drive they can get 60-100 MB/sec USB 3 transfer speed to the DX115 and 100 MB/sec speed from the DX115 to the digital cinema equipment.
Alternative 4
Cru DX115 DCP kit #2 with 500 GB hard drive
Cru DX115 DCP kit #2 with 500 GB hard drive
The physical medium specification for DCPs
The physical medium specification for DCPs is a USB 2/3 external hard drive formatted as MBR Ext 2/3. (2 TB limit)
Doremi and Sony (and others) support MBR NTFS, but the recommended format is the linux format Ext 2 or Ext 3 with a inode size of 128 that is read and executable only.
Source: ISDCF Disc File Format
Doremi and Sony (and others) support MBR NTFS, but the recommended format is the linux format Ext 2 or Ext 3 with a inode size of 128 that is read and executable only.
Source: ISDCF Disc File Format
To format Ext 2/3 harddrives I have used:
-a PC running Ubuntu Linux
-Ubuntu Linux run from a USB pendrive made with USB linux creator.
-Ubuntu run in virtualbox on a mac. Read more here.
-a PC running Ubuntu Linux
-Ubuntu Linux run from a USB pendrive made with USB linux creator.
-Ubuntu run in virtualbox on a mac. Read more here.
You can copy the DCP to a inode 128 read and executable only EXT2/EXT3 hard drive in many ways.
This is one way:
In terminal. Install gparted.
sudo apt-get install gparted
Run gparted
sudo gparted
In Gparted
Click on “Device” – “Create a partition table”
Choose msdos.
Choose msdos.
Use add partition and format the drive as ext2 or ext3.
Note the name of the partition (like sdb1) and format it again in terminal with -I 128 inode.
ext3
sudo mkfs.ext3 -I 128 -L DCP123 /dev/sdb1
ext2
sudo mkfs.ext2 -I 128 -L DCP123 /dev/sdb1
Run Terminal
Run
Then copy the dcp directory to the harddrive in the Files/Nautilus file manager.
Then make the dcp directory read only and executable:
In Terminal use the chmod command on the folder you made.
Run
sudo Nautilus
in Terminal to get a root GUI file manager.Then copy the dcp directory to the harddrive in the Files/Nautilus file manager.
Then make the dcp directory read only and executable:
In Terminal use the chmod command on the folder you made.
sudo chmod -R 755 /media/kese/harddrivename/foldername
note:
To make the ext 2/3 partition without reformatting you can use parted.
More detailed explanation here
To make the ext 2/3 partition without reformatting you can use parted.
More detailed explanation here
In terminal. Install parted.
sudo apt-get install parted
Run parted to make a MBR partition
sudo parted /dev/sdb mklabel msdos
run mkpart and make a ext 3 partition
sudo parted -a opt /dev/sdb mkpart primary ext 3 0% 100%
then format the partition with -I 128 inode
ext3
sudo mkfs.ext3 -I 128 -L DCP123 /dev/sdb1
ext2
sudo mkfs.ext2 -I 128 -L DCP123 /dev/sdb1
Verifying
You can verify the hash values in EasyDCP Player or using this command:
openssl sha1 -binary 'FILE_NAME' | openssl base64
.If you use Extfs for windows or Extfs for mac to mount the linux harddrive you can enable it to be mounted read-only.
Note:
MBR NTFS 1 partition hard drives are readable by all digital cinema equipment and are used on some DCP hard drives.
If you are formatting a 1 partition MBR NTFS hard drive on a mac (high sierra) you can use Paragon NTFS for mac to format the hard drive in disk utility. In disk utility enable “show all devices” in View in the top left corner so you can choose the hard drive. When using erase (format) choose Master boot record as the scheme when formatting as Windows NT file system.
MBR NTFS 1 partition hard drives are readable by all digital cinema equipment and are used on some DCP hard drives.
If you are formatting a 1 partition MBR NTFS hard drive on a mac (high sierra) you can use Paragon NTFS for mac to format the hard drive in disk utility. In disk utility enable “show all devices” in View in the top left corner so you can choose the hard drive. When using erase (format) choose Master boot record as the scheme when formatting as Windows NT file system.
If you are formatting a 1 partition MBR NTFS hard drive in Windows using Computer Management – Storage – Disk Management you can right click a hard drive and see in the Volumes tab if the partition style is Master Boot Record.
Note:
Cinema DCP players often use the Linux OS and it does not natively support exFAT formatted hard drives.
Cinema DCP players often use the Linux OS and it does not natively support exFAT formatted hard drives.
Note:
Do not use folders inside folders like this: /DCP/MYFILM.
Do not use folders inside folders like this: /DCP/MYFILM.
Note:
Use only 1 partition on the hard drive.
Use only 1 partition on the hard drive.
Note:
The name of the folder will not be shown when ingesting the DCP on a Doremi.
The name of the folder will not be shown when ingesting the DCP on a Doremi.
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