Posted this at a webforum:

HD workflows where the 1920×1080 container of HDCAM-SR tape is standard should be changed to 2K workflows for digital cinema work.

The 1.777 aspect 1920×1080 fits ok, but 1.85 or 2.39 inside a 1920×1080 container does not fit.

The RED 2K 2:1 2048×1024 resolution does fit the 2.39 digital cinema presets with cropping to 2048×858 (if this was intended when shooting), but to get to the 1.85 digital cinema preset you have to crop and scale to get to 1998×1080.

1920×1080 1.77 material can have black padding on the sides to achieve 1998×1080 or be scaled and cropped. Digital cinema servers can play 1920×1080 but the standard is 1998×1080 so it is preferable.

The reason that 1080 material fits better than 1024 material is that the side masking can be adjusted in a constant height cinema. I would recommend padding to 1998×1080.

If all the 2048×1024 information is vital scale to a 1998×1080 container, but remember that having this much black padding above and below the picture kills the contrast.

The main problem when making 24 fps DCPs from 25 fps material, even with software like time factory 2 which keeps the channels in phase and keeps the pitch, is that they could alter the sound mix in the conversion process and introduce artifacts. If you slow down the sound you get a pitch change. So being able to play 25 fps DCPs on the doremi cinema server is great. But it will not a Sony cinema server so 24 fps is still the safest option.

I did use the openjpeg encoder first to make DCPs but found it too slow for time critical use.

The biggest problem with mastering DCPs is the Quality Control stage. The best option is to check it where it will be played, if you get a DCP made or checked at a post house make sure they know what they are doing and tell them exactly what you want and what equipment the DCP will be played on.

edit: Answered a comment about DCP resolution:

All digital cinema projectors have one preset for Flat (1998×1080) and Scope (2048×858).
In a constant height theatre the resolution, side masking and zoom changes when projecting the two presets.

The flat preset has 1080 pixels in height, the Scope preset has 858 pixels in height.
When going from Flat to Scope the lens zooms and the masking widens.
The pixels beyond 858 would have hit above the screen if they were not masked in the projector.

The flat preset has 1998 pixels in length, the Scope preset has 2048 pixels in length.
When screening 2048×858 in Flat the pixels beyond 1998 is masked in the projector
and the image is letterboxed.

That is why you have to scale 2048×1024 down to fit the Flat preset or crop it
to fit the Scope preset even though 2K is 2048×1080.

You should always avoid black padding/letterboxing, it kills the contrast.
That is why 1998×1080 or 2048×858 should be your target.

It seems you have been to a constant width theatre were Scope is much smaller than
Flat. This is a terrible solution. But the common width theatre could also just have presets
for Scope and Flat. Those should always be your targets.

edit 2: Answered another comment about why you are going to loose pixels when using 2048 x1080 resolution.

At this lens searcher website from Sony you can see that projectors and masking is programmed with a minimum of Scope and Flat presets and that theatres are either constant height or constant width:

http://assets.sonybiz.net/Web/DCinema/10-02-17%20DCinema%20Lens%20Finder/TheatreLensSearcher/information.html

You can also see that some cinemas have both side and top masking. A constant height theatre could also have top masking so theoretically a 2:1 ratio film in a Flat container could be masked. Presets for masking 1.33:1 and 1.777:1 is common. 2048 x 1080 will not fit any of the presets. A custom preset could be made in a common height theatre if you program the side masking to go a little further than flat and remove the option to mask away pixels beyond 1998 in the projector. In a constant width theatre the custom preset could be programmed to use the same zoom as the scope preset, remove the masking of pixels beyond 858 in the projector and make a custom top masking.

I sometimes use the command line tool asdcp-test from Cinecert to change the sound in a DCP instead of making a new DCP from scratch in Easydcp Creator.

This comes in handy if the DCP takes 8 hours to make and you are screening the movie in 2 hours and the sound must be changed.

Link to a zip file of the Snow Leopard binaries files I tested with in June 2010 ( asdcplib 1.6.36/asdcp-test, patched opencinematools, SVN openjpeg 2)

To change the sound in a DCP:
Keep the movie.jp2k.mxf with the jpeg2000 sequence and make a new sound movie.pcm.MXF with the 24 bit 48 khz wav sound files in the correct order: L,R,C,LFE,Ls,Rs.

/usr/local/bin/asdcp-test -p 24 -L -l 5.1 -c movie.pcm.mxf folderwith5.1sound/sound.L.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.R.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.C.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.LFE.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.Ls.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.Rs.wav


Then make the new metadata with opencinematools:

/usr/local/bin/mkcpl --kind feature --title test --annotation test movie.jp2k.mxf movie.pcm.mxf > movie.cpl.xml

/usr/local/bin/mkpkl --issuer KES --annotation test movie.jp2k.mxf movie.pcm.mxf movie.cpl.xml > mymovie.pkl.xml

/usr/local/bin/mkmap --issuer KES movie.jp2k.mxf movie.pcm.mxf movie.cpl.xml mymovie.pkl.xml

I also did a test to see if you could use these open source tools with 25 fps DCPs in June 2010:
Openjpeg does not have a 25 fps option, only 24 and 48 fps. The 24 fps settings worked ok on the Doremi DCP-2000. The 48 fps setting could also be a possibility. ASDCPLIB and Opencinematools supports 25 fps.

Here is a link to a zip file of the snow leopard binaries files I tested this with (asdcplib 1.6.36, patched opencinematools, SVN openjpeg 2)

This is the now outdated thread on openjpeg google groups where the author of Opencinematools describes how to use the tools:
link to openjpeg google group

This is the updated commands I used to make a 25 fps DCP:
(I had used a trial of Adobe After Effects CS5 to make a 16 bit TIFF sequence with color and gamma converted to XYZ and 2.6)

Use terminal or make shell scripts that run these commands:
/usr/local/bin/image_to_j2k -cinema2K 24 -ImgDir foldername with Gamma and colorspace converted TIFF sequence/ -OutFor j2c

/usr/local/bin/asdcp-test -p 25 -L -c movie.jp2k.mxf foldername with jpeg2000 sequence

/usr/local/bin/asdcp-test -p 25 -L -l 5.1 -c movie.pcm.mxf folderwith5.1sound/sound.L.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.R.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.C.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.LFE.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.Ls.wav folderwith5.1sound/sound.Rs.wav

/usr/local/bin/mkcpl --kind feature --title test25 --annotation test25 movie.jp2k.mxf movie.pcm.mxf > movie.cpl.xml

/usr/local/bin/mkpkl --issuer KES --annotation test25 movie.jp2k.mxf movie.pcm.mxf movie.cpl.xml > mymovie.pkl.xml

/usr/local/bin/mkmap --issuer KES movie.jp2k.mxf movie.pcm.mxf movie.cpl.xml mymovie.pkl.xml

There are also some old binaries for Windows of acdcp-test, Openjpeg and opencinematools here:
http://code.google.com/p/opencinematools/

To compile asdcp-test yourself:
Source for asdcp-test/ASDCPLIB:
http://www.cinecert.com

Source for opencinematools:
http://code.google.com/p/opencinematools/

Patch for opencinematools to work with the newer ASDCPLIB:
Wolfgang Wohl´s patch
...Change opencinematools-1.1.2/src/mkcpl:592
592c592
< sprintf(buff, “%u %u”, ADesc.SampleRate.Numerator, ADesc.SampleRate.Denominator);
-
> sprintf(buff, “%u %u”, ADesc.EditRate.Numerator, ADesc.EditRate.Denominator);
to fix it.


Tested a 25 SMPTE DCP made with Fraunhofer Easydcp Creator 1.3 beta on a Doremi DCP-2000 cinema server. It worked, but not all cinema servers supports 25 fps SMPTE DCPs yet. Update: Have also tested a 30 fps DCP on a Doremi DCP-2000. It also worked. To fix the sound in a 29.97 video file you could use cinema tools like I describe here:
How to make dpx and wav files that can be converted to a DCP (Digital Cinema Package) with Fraunhofer EasyDCP Creator using Final Cut Studio 2 or 3

Links:

Fraunhofer Easydcp Creator

Final Cut Studio 3 with Apple Color and Soundtrack Pro

Step 1.

Export a TIFF or DPX image sequence Hopefully from an 10 or 16 bit application like Apple Color or Adobe After Effects. Quicktime Pro 7 is as far I know not capable of more than 8 bit.

In Apple Color:
Import shot

Change the Project Settings
Render File type: DPX
Width and Height : Cinemas has two presets:
Scope (2.39:1) = 2048 x 858 and
Flat (1.85:1) = 1998 x 1080. HD (1.77:1) 1920 x 1080 will fit nicely inside the Flat preset.

Broadcast Safe: I have this on. The material should be graded so black is not below 0 and white is not above 100. Everything below and above will be clipped.

Choose a render folder with a lot of free space. Each frame is 8 mb.

Sometimes you want to fix the geometry. Scope film inside a HD container (1920×800) will have to be zoomed and RED (2:1) material in 2048 x 1024 does not fit either of the presets so something has to be cut.

Example: zooming in on a scope film inside a HD container. Choose 2048×858 in project setting and zoom in on the Geometry tab.

Lastly you want to export the image sequence:
In the Render Queue. click on the the clip, click add selected and start render. Then the start render button will turn into rendering,

Step 2.

Make the sound files

Drag the video file to a multitrack project in Apple Soundtrack Pro

Click on the sound to highlight it and export it (cmd + e)
Use these settings:
File Type: Wave File
Create multiple mono files
Bit depth: 24 bit
Sample Rate: 48 kHz

step 3

Make the dcp

Start Fraunhofer Easydcp 1.3

Choose a Project name
2K
uncheck “Use interop instead of SMPTE packing”
Choose framerate 25 fps
and Create

Add picture track

Choose the first DPX image from the Color render to select the image sequence

Add sound track

Use the sound files from Soundtrack Pro export

Drop the track files in the new reel window.

Give the project a name and double click the perforation to the right of the name input field to edit the composition settings. Choose Feature or Trailer.

Check that the frame number match and click the Generate DCP button.

Read more at Prolost

Mac OS X v10.6: About gamma 2.2

The preview window in Fraunhofer Easydcp now has the correct gamma out of the box on macs.

Example:

Convert a short film in 1920×1080 16/9 25fps 10 bit Rec. 709 ProRes 422 (or 4444) with 5.1 sound to a standard DCP (DCI, 24 fps XYZ colorspace, 5.1 sound) .

Use Cinema Tools to convert to 24 fps

• Make a copy of the ProRes file or just rename it to 24 fps and open it in Cinema Tools
• Meny: Clip – Open
• Meny: Clip – Conform: 24 fps

Video

Open the 24 fps conformed Cinema Tools prores file in Apple Color to export a DPX sequence

• Import the 24 fps conformed prores file
• Go to setup tab- Project settings
• Change Render Dir to where you want to render
• Resolution Presets: 1920 x 1080 (or 1998 x 1080)
• Render File Type: DPX
• Printing Density: Linear (0 Black – 1023 White)
• Go to “Render Queue” Tab
• Click “Add selected” button
• Click “Render” button

Sound

Open the 24 fps conformed Cinema Tools prores file in Soundtrack Pro to export wav files (without pitch shift)

• In Soundtrack Pro: Drag the Prores file from browser to a Video track in a Multitrack Project.
• Select Audio Track
• Export
• All Tracks, Wave, multiple mono, 24 bits, 48 khz

These files can now be used to make a DCP with Fraunhofer EasyDCP Creator. Choose the first image in the DPX sequence to make the picture part. Compare the frame count with the sound part, they should be the same.

Link to Fraunhofer EasyDCP Creator (mac/pc)


A mistake some people do when making DCPs is to clip the blacks when converting to a RGB dpx sequence. When converting to RGB in Color you see what values are below zero and can rescue them if you want to.

To ingest a DCP on Cinema Server like the Doremi you can use a NTFS disk with NTFS-3G driver and macfuse or use a linux tool like gparted to format a external USB harddrives to linux ext2/ext3 that the DCP can be copied onto. I use Virtualbox or Vmware Fusion to run Ubuntu on top of MacOS X. Using a Gparted boot cd is also an option. link

In gparted choose the USB disk and make a msdos partition table then format it as ext2. There are some software that lets you access the linux ext2 disk in Mac OS like macfuse and fuse-ext2. link

Fraunhofer EasyDCP assumes the DPX files are in the REC.709 colorspace. If you grade on a 10 bit HD monitor with AJA or Blackmagic video hardware the resulting DCP should look the same in the cinema as on your monitor.

Other stuff



Updated : This step is no longer necessary. Easydcp 1.2.0 support dpx sequences from Color and 16 bit tiff sequences.Convert DPX (changes endian type and dpx version)

Install Macports http://www.macports.org/

• Open Terminal
• Install ImageMagic with this command
  sudo port install ImageMagick
• Go to directory with DPX sequence eg.
  cd /Volumes/RAID/dpx/short1/1
• convert dpx with this command


find . -iname "*dpx" | while read f;do mogrify -verbose -format dpx "$f";done


Or try this: (thanks Eirik Schwenke. see comments for more info).


find . -iname "*.dpx" -exec mogrify -verbose -format dpx "{}" \;


Using Soundtrack Pro with pitch shift

Stretch the sound from 25 fps to 24 fps.
24 fps at 48 khz is 2000 samples per frame.
25 fps at 48 khz is 1920 samples per frame.
23,97 fps at 48 khz is 2002 samples per frame.
Example:
50000 samples 25 fps / 1920 = 26,041666 frames
26,041666 frames x 2000 = 52083,3333 samples 24 fps

source

• Use Process – timestretch to new samplerate.
• Save as Wave, 24 bit 48 khz. This works best if the 5.1 mix uses the center channel only, otherwise phase sync could be lost. Time stretch works best on the source audio files.

Notes on time stretch/pitch shift:

To keep phase sync on a 5.1 mix or music mixed in stereo try Prosoniq TimeFactory 2. Quote from their website: “Version 2 supports all popular file formats and offers 5.1, 6.1 and even N.1 surround processing in perfect phase sync – converting between different frame rates for film and TV has never been easier!”

The pitch change is: 0.706724268642822855 semitones
source

In Timefactory you can use the original sound from the 25 fps file and convert between 25 fps to 24 fps to get the correct pitch shift. You can also keep the formant with the natural setting.

One alternative is to get a professional to do the Pal to film pitch shift in Pro Tools. Bent Holm – Sound designer, Storyline Studios Oslo, Norway (bent at storylinestudios.no) gave me some pointers on pitch shifting:

He pitch shifts submixes/stems that has it’s samplerate changed to run faster or slower like a conform to 24 in Cinema Tools.

It’s easier to do a pitch change when going from 24 fps to 25 fps.

In theory you could use Soundtrack Pro to export three different 5.1 submixes (voice, foley/fx, music). And then use Timefactory 2 to change the pitch and then put the mix together again in Soundtrack Pro.

If the 24 fps mix is the most important, most of the sound mix could be done in 24 fps natively. Then change the pitch to do the 25 fps mix.

Also worked with the audio professional Rune Hansen (mr.rune.hansen at gmail.com) who uses different plugins to get an artifact free result when doing the 25 fps stereo and 5.1 mix to 24 fps 5.1 mix pitch corrrected conversion.

Knut Erik Evensen knut.erik.evensen@gmail.com
+4793262863

Prores deliverables

Storage media:
Data Bluray 25/50 gb. External harddrive (ntfs/hfs+/ext3).

Info:
Will be played out to the digital cinema projector from a mac with a 10 bit 422 hd-sdi video card.

Resolution:
1920 x 1080 1:1.77 or scope

Sound:
Stereo. Will be played out with Dolby surround decoding.

Alternatives(email me):
Deliver in dnxhd 10 bit 422 quicktime, blackmagic 10 bit 422 or aja 10 bit 422 and we can transcode it to Prores.

DCP deliverables

Storage media:
Data Bluray 25/50 gb. External harddrive (ntfs/hfs+/ext3). Will be copied to the doremi cinema server using ftp.

Info:
Will be played out from a Doremi Cinema server to the digital cinema projector in 12 bit dual HD-SDI. DCPs can be made with software like Fraunhofer Easydcp.

Resolution:2K 2048 x 1080 (1:1.85 1998 x 1080 or 1:2.39 2048 x 858). 1920 x 1080 1:1.77.

Sound:
Preferable 5.1 or 3.0

Alternatives (email me):
Deliver a 10 bit full range linear DPX sequence /seperate sound files preferably in 24 fps or Prores 422 10 bit 24 fps and we can transcode it to DCP.