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You’re working for the Digital Cinema and On-Demand Video industry with optimized workflows and leading software like DaVinci Resolve?
You deserve to work with the best software available!
easyDCP Plus and IMF Studio form the leading solutions for the digital cinema supply chain and are acknowledged as Netflix Post Technology Alliance products. Benefit from our exclusive offer for users of the easyDCP Resolve Plug-in.
Extend your services with the capabilities of easyDCP Plus and/or IMF Studio
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Beginning with version 2.1, easyDCP Creator+ is capable of opening encrypted DCPs and using these DCPs as basis for new DCPs. There are basically two ways of providing the keys in order to allow easyDCP Creator+ to decrypt the content for the preview and for generating a new DCP.
If keys are provided by means of a proprietary Fraunhofer Digest file (*.dcpdig), it is assumed that the user generated the content and that he is in charge of the sources used for the original DCP generation. In this case you can alter all properties in easyDCP Creator+, including the deactivation of the encryption or the generation of a new encrypted DCP and Digest file.
If one provides the keys by means of Distribution KDM (or KDM), easyDCP Creator+ does not allow to disable the encryption nor does it generate the Fraunhofer Digest for the new DCP. In order to understand this behavior we have to explain that the Fraunhofer Digest stores the encryption key as plain text on the hard drive. If the Digest-option were not disabled, one could easily open an encrypted DCP together with a (D)KDM, generate a new encrypted DCP and store the encryption keys in plaintext. Since content-owners are very diligent with their content, Fraunhofer IIS decided to disable the option from the beginning.
Since the software does not permit you to generate a Digest, there has to be another way for communicating the encryption keys to another software. Using easyDCP Creator+ version 2.1 or higher this can be done by generating a (D)KDM directly from within easyDCP Creator+. The “Generate DCP…” dialog was extended to offer you to generate KDMs. By design, one (D)KDM will be generated for easyDCP Creator+ itself in order to make sure that one can open the DCP on the same computer using easyDCP Creator+ later.
A second (D)KDM can be generated for another software being able to open (D)KDMs, including easyDCP KDM Generator+ and many other 3rd party hard-/and software tools.
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easyDCP Creator(+) from 2.2.X, easyDCP Player(+) from 2.0.X and easyDCP KDM Generator(+) from 1.4.1X and above can be directly activated from within the application.
Known limitations:
macOS: Only easyDCP 3.5.5 or higher can be run as of macOS 10.12 (Sierra)
Windows: Only easyDCP 3.4.10 ot higher can run on Windows 10
Please watch our video tutorial or proceed as follows:
Note: This way of activating your easyDCP Product is only available from easyDCP Creator(+) 2.2.X, easyDCP Player(+) 2.0.X and easyDCP KDM Generator(+) 1.4.1X or higher.
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To edit existing DCPs, the following options are available:
The easyDCP Creator can open, edit and regenerate unencrypted DCPs. Changes to the metadata can be applied within seconds using the "Save Package" function, without time-consuming new image and sound data generation.
With the easyDCP Creator+ even encrypted DCPs can be opened and regenerated as encrypted or unencrypted DCPs. Please note the limitations for editing encrypted DCPs in the following FAQ:
Why does easyDCP Creator+ generate KDMs since version 2.1?
The easyDCP Player+ can open unencrypted and encrypted DCPs, unpack and export them to j2c / dpx / tif / wav formats. If desired, an easyDCP project file (.dcpproj) will be created automatically to load the unpacked DCP later in easyDCP Creator or easyDCP Creator+, in which all metadata is supported. Subtitles or other language versions can be added directly here, but other changes can also be made, including re-encryption.
The re-creation of an unpacked DCP in easyDCP Creator+ is almost as fast as copying, since the image sequences are already available in the appropriate JPEG 2000 format. Please note that for each video track, color transformation and letterboxing, as well as global JPEG 2000 re-encoding, must be disabled:
The easyDCP Resolve Plugin can be used to load unencrypted and encrypted DCPs as well.
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A Distribution KDM (DKDM) is technically identical to a regular KDM.
The difference is that it targets another mastering station instead of a cinema server.
You can generate a DKDM with easyDCP KDM Generator+. The procedure is identical to generating a regular KDM.
NOTE: Normally, the validity of a DKDM is significantly longer than a KDM distributed to a cinema playback system.
The other way around is also possible with easyDCP. Your distributor can generate a DKDM to your easyDCP Player+ or easyDCP Creator+ public certificate (they each have theire own certificate). easyDCP Player+ or easyDCP Creator+ are then able to open the encrypted DCP.
Starting with version easyDCP Player+ 1.3 the DCP can be exported and loaded into easyDCP Creator+.
This is explained in the section: I have an existing DCP. Is there a way to import the DCP into easyDCP Creator?".
Please check also: I have an existing DCP. Is there a way to import the DCP into easyDCP Suite?
How to generate KDMs and DKDMs in easyDCP:
easyDCP KDM Generator(+): see manual section from section 4
easyDCP Creator+: see manual section 10
easyDCP Creator+ is bundled with a tool called easyDCP KDM Generator. A demo version of easyDCP KDM Generator is included in the easyDCP Creator+ trial version.
easyDCP KDM Generator generates Interop- and SMPTE-compliant KDM files for DCPs created with easyDCP Creator+.
easyDCP KDM Generator has a separate manual that explains the procedure in more detail.
A full commercial version of easyDCP KDM Generator is part of the easyDCP Creator+ product.
Please note: easyDCP KDM Generator is not upgradable to easyDCP KDM Generator+
Playback of digital cinema content, so-called DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages), requires standardized encoded image-files packed in a standardized container. These standards are specified by the SMPTE and - for transitional use – in certain Interop-specifications.
easyDCP Creator and easyDCP Creator+ enable the production of SMPTE- as well as Interop-compliant DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages) easyDCP Creator allows to encode unencrypted 2D DCPs. easyDCP Creator+ additionally enables 3D as well as mastering of encrypted digital cinema content.
For instance DPX, TIFF, JEPG2000 or QuickTime sequences can be used as input files.
For further information please refer to:
If you plan to create KDMs for your DCP - the application easyDCP KDM Gnerator is availabel. For automatic generating and distribution of KDMs the online service KDM Studio is available at www.dcptools.com.
KDM Studio is developed by the DCPtools Team based on easyDCP KDM Gnerator+.
Digitally equipped cinemas need Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) for playback via a digital cinema server. Conventionally, feature films are encrypted while advertisements and trailers are not encrypted.
easyDCP Creator and easyDCP Creator+ enable the production of SMPTE- as well as Interop-compliant DCPs.
easyDCP Creator encodes unencrypted 2D DCPs. easyDCP Creator+ also allows for mastering of stereoscopic (3D) packages, encrypted packages and IMF packages.
For instance DPX, TIFF, JEPG2000 or QuickTime sequences can be used as input files.
For further information please refer to:
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Imagine the following situation:
Tipps:
Please note:
This template was created with easyDCP Creator+ Version 3.7. Previous versions may not yet include this feature, but in newer versions the process may be slightly different.
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easyDCP applications require different kinds of certificates
Server Certificates:
Is required to be able to receive KDMs. If a partner wants to send you an encrypted DCP, they will need your public server certificate so that they can issue a DKDM for.
Signer Certificate:
Will be used to digitally sign content of encrypted DCPs or KDMs. Generally, all DCPs should be digitally signed to ensure that they will be ingested without any problems into a digital cinema server. Only for unencryted DCPs with Interop conformity, a signature is optional.
Which easyDCP application needs which certificates?
Application |
Signer Certificate |
Server Certificate |
easyDCP Creator |
- |
- |
easyDCP Creator+ |
X |
X |
easyDCP KDM Generator |
X |
- |
easyDCP KDM Generator+ |
X |
X |
easyDCP Player |
- |
- |
easyDCP Player+ |
- |
X |
easyDCP JPEG2000 Transcoder |
- |
- |
How you get your Signer- and Server- certificate?
During „License & Certificate Request“ and activation via webshop www.easydcp.com Signer- and Server Certificates will be provided in "License & Certificate".
What kind of certificate are required, if at all, depends on the easyDCP application.
How I can access to my previous Signer- and Server Certificates?
Please use license status on www.easydcp.com: Manage certificates
This option is available for customers with valid service extension
Comments:
Please note: Every "Certificate Request" will be secured with a password specified by you.
You select the password when you fill in the request and will be prompted to enter it again, whey you import the License & Certificate Set and whenever a KDM is accessed.
The password cannot be recovered!
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Imagine the following situation:
Benefits:
Please note:
The timeline feature is only supported in easyDCP Creator+. The procedure also works without Timeline in easyDCP Creator 3.6.3. standard. This template was created with easyDCP Creator+ Version 3.6.3. Previous versions may not yet include this feature, but in newer versions the process may be slightly different.
JPEG 2000 files generated with the easyDCP Creator meet the required requirements.
You can also import pre-generated JPEG 2000 files. Make sure that the input format "Option", the entry "JPEG 2000 Re-encoding" is disabled. In this case, easyDCP Creator does not check if these files are compatible with current standards. The software merely copies the files to the DCP.
This may eventually lead to a rejection of the DCP by certain playback devices / digital cinema servers. In such cases, we recommend checking the entire DCP with the DCP validation function of easyDCP Player + or easyDCP Creator +.
Currently, we are not aware of any problems with DCPs that are generated by easyDCP Creator.
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easyDCP Creator+, easyDCP JPEG 2000 Transcoder are highly optimized for running on multi-processor/multi-core machines. On Windows and from easyDCP Creator(+) 3.3.X can also use one or more CUDA® enabled graphics devices.
We recommend the following minimal system configuration:
For best performance, opt for the following specifications:
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Imagine the following situation:
Tipps:
Please note:
This template was created with easyDCP Player+ / Creator+ Version 3.6.2. Previous versions may not yet include this feature, but in newer versions, the process may be slightly different.
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easyDCP 3.6.0 and above will be activated within the application/preferences.
For macOS users: minimum macOS 10.12 is required for easyDCP ≤ 3.8.9 products. easyDCP Plus / IMF Studio ≥ 4.0 require macOS 10.14.
Please watch our video tutorial or proceed as follows:
Note: This way of activating your easyDCP Product is only available from easyDCP Version 3.6 or higher.
easyDCP Creator and easyDCP Creator+ can render SMPTE- as well as Interop- compliant DCPs. When you start a new project, just pick the project type and whether you want Interop or SMPTE conformity.
easyDCP Creator allows to encode unencrypted 2D DCPs (2k or 4k). easyDCP Creator+ additionally enables 3D DCPs as well as mastering of encrypted digital cinema content. Support for creating IMF packages as also a feature exclusive to easyDCP Creator.
easyDCP introduces a new and important function with easyDCP+ Version 3.4: easyDCP DCP/IMF-Package Validator
The function is integrated in easyDCP Creator+ and easyDCP Player+. Validation can be performed on encrypted and unencrypted files.
The easyDCP validation check includes:
- Syntax checks of the metadata
- Compliance check of image and sound files
- Review the current and desired DCP / IMF-Package naming convention
For immediate diagnosis, the easyDCP Validation Report provides a traffic light view with OK, warnings and "red" for errors.
The easyDCP Validation Report also includes a detailed evaluation. It consists of an HTML file, which can also be opened offline with any browser.
This file provides detailed information on the results of the validation and, if applicable, specific notes on the occurrence of warnings and errors.
A sample of DCP validation can be found here:
To perform a validation:
easyDCP Player+
easyDCP Creator+
Remark:
easyDCP Validation Report as proof of quality:
Fraunhofer IIS provided the essential prerequisite for the DCI Compliance Test Plan. With the new easyDCP Validator you get the perfect tool to run the test plan fully automatically. The conclusive easyDCP Validation Report can be attached to DCP delivery or IMF package delivery as a quality and compliance proof.
easyDCP Validation verifies the following conformities:
as well as other "Common Practice Tests" which have resulted from years of experience. E.g. Digital Cinema Naming Convention, checks of subtitles outside of the area that can be read by the creator.
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With the new version easyDCP Creator+ 3.7.3 or higher, a significant increase in performance for Windows systems in GPU mode could be achieved with maximum values of up to 125fps.
System | TIFF 2623 frames, 2K, 16-bit |
ProRes 2400 frames, 2K, 12-bit |
---|---|---|
System 1 | 77.15 fps | 66.67 fps |
System 2 | 109.29 fps | 96.00 fps |
System 3 | 124.90 fps | 96.00 fps |
The following settings were used in easyDCP Creator+ 3.7.3:
The source image material and the destination folder were in all cases on an SSD, if possible on an NVMe SSD.
To optimize workflows in postproduction it can be useful to work with color transformed and compressed JPEG2000 files from an early phase on. This makes it easier to transport files to another location for further processing or to accelerate the transfer from one storage-device to another.
easyDCP Creator, easyDCP Creator+ or the easyDCP JPEG2000 Transcoder enable the production of SMPTE or Interop compliant JPEG2000 files.
easyDCP JPEG2000 Transcoder in particular is a low priced option to work with prepared and standardized JPEG2000 picture sequences long before the mastering of a DCP.
For further information please refer to :
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Note: As part of the conversion to the new easyDCP Plus and IMF Studio packages or easyDCP Plus / IMF Studio 4.0 individual licenses we have removed the easyDCP 3.8.9 licenses used for the migration from the previous License Status and as a reference in a own view Show Previous Lizenses.
Comments:
How to get access to the older versions:
Information on licences and certificates
Both easyDCP Creator and easyDCP Creator+ enable the creation of 2k (2048 x 1080) DCPs on MAC or Windows PC.
One requirement to create 2k-Content for digital cinema is that one dimension (length or height) is 2048 respective 1080 pixels and neither width nor height is larger than the dimensions.
For further information please refer to:
If you plan to create KDMs for your DCP - the application easyDCP KDM Gnerator is availabel. For automatic generating and distribution of KDMs the online service KDM Studio is available at www.dcptools.com.
KDM Studio is developed by the DCPtools Team based on easyDCP KDM Gnerator+.
It is not possible to playback QuickTime files via D-Cinema playback systems since these devices only playback standardized SMPTE or Interop DCPs.
easyDCP Creator and easyDCP Creator+ allow to convert QuickTime-Videos to DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages). Again, the input material must comply with the required size specifications (see link above).
For further information please refer to:
Imagine the following situation:
HINTS: The solution lies in the usage of small supplemental packages, also known as version files. It is very similar for DCPs and IMF packages.
AND: The replacement of frames is very similar for video and audio
The result is a DCP or IMF package with a new composition that replaces the desired frames. In case of supplemental, please note that a supplemental package is not self-contained, which means that it must be loaded together with the OV track files in order to play correctly.
HINT:
If it becomes necessary to create another Supplemental DCP / IMF package, load the Supplemental DCP / IMF package that has already been created and proceed on the basis of the previously created supplementals exactly as you have done before.
s For later use in the cinema or on Netflix both supplementals in the correct order are necessary. The naming convention provides for consecutive numbering VF-1, VF-2 and so on.
Please note:
Creation of Supplementals is only supported in easyDCP Creator+. This template was created with easyDCP Creator+ / Player+ Version 3.5.8. Previous versions may not yet include this feature, but newer versions may run slightly differently.
Since version 2.1 of easyDCP Creator+ it is possible to open encrypted DCPs and to use these DCPs as a basis for new DCPs. There are basically two ways of providing the keys in order to allow easyDCP Creator+ to decrypt the content for the preview and before generating a new DCP.
If one provides the keys by a Fraunhofer Digest, we assume that the user generated the content and that he is in charge of the source content used for the first DCP generation. In such a case you can do everything in easyDCP Creator+, including the deactivation of the encryption and the generation of a new Digest when generating a new DCP.
If one provides the keys by a Distribution KDM (or KDM), easyDCP Creator+ does not allow to disable the encryption nor lets it generate the Fraunhofer Digest for the new DCP. In order to understand this behavior we have to explain that the Fraunhofer Digest stores the encryption key as plain text on the hard drive. Without disabling the Digest-option one could easily open an encrypted DCP together with a DKDM, generate a new encrypted DCP and store the encryption keys in plaintext. Since content-owners are very diligent with their content, Fraunhofer IIS decided to disable the option since version 2.1.
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Note: You can get the demo version here
With the free demo editions of the easyDCP Plus Package almost all functionalities of the full versions can be tested. However, there are the following restrictions:
CPU-accelerated encoding with CUDA®-enabled graphics card was introduced in easyDCP Creator 3.3 and easyDCP Creator+ 3.3 (Windows® only).
You can now encode DCPs faster than real-time.
We recommend enabling GPU-accelerated encoding in the menu "File|Options|Image Processing|GPU Encoding" as it usually outperforms the CPU-based encoder significantly:
Please note: The easyDCP JPEG 2000 Encoder also supports GPU acceleration. The easyDCP Publisher does not yet support GPU acceleration.
easyDCP Creator 2.2.x (and newer) supports the following frame-rates when using the SMPTE packaging mode:
2k HFR: 4k HFR: 2k - 3D HFR (Creator+ only)
24 fps 24 fps 24fps
25 fps 25 fps
30 fps 30 fps
48 fps
50 fps
60 fps
At the time the above frame-rates are DCI-compliant and should be process able by today´s cinema playback systems.
If you need higher frame-rates for experimental purposes, please contact us at info@easyDCP.com.
The Digital Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM) is a hierarchical set of uncompressed, unencrypted and unpackaged files. It can be used to exchange the image, audio, subtitles and auxiliary data to other studios, encoding or playback systems or film archives. The DCDM can also be used as the direct starting material for the production of a DCP.
easyDCP does not fully support the DCDM format as specified by the DCI (http://www.dcimovies.com/specification/index.html). However, using Creator and Player+, it is possible to create a DCDM-like set of files with the following restrictions:
Please ask your partner if this format is sufficient.
To create a DCDM from the Digital Source Master (DSM), start a Creator project and arrange everything as if you would do a DCP:
1. Create an easyDCP Creator project and click on "Preview Project" to open it in easyDCP Player:
2. In easyDCP Player, click on "Asset > Export" (or shortcut "e") to start the Export Wizard. In the first page of the Export Wizard, choose an output folder, select "Export sequence" and press "Next":
3. On the second page, enter the name of the composition "File Name Prefix" and select "Export from Reel":
4. For Video, select "TIFF", "Color Depth 16" and select the appropriate color space of your source material (here: "sRGB") and target color space to "XYZ (DCI)":
5. For Audio, select "Split-channel WAVs":
6. When the export is complete, click on "Browse Folder", move and rename all reel folders to "CompositionName.Reel_#". Also, move and rename all files to "CompositionName.Reel_#.FrameNumber.tif". In addition, copy all subtitle and auxiliary files to its appropriate reel folders.
The conversion of DPX or TIFF sequences (as well as many other video formats) is one of the basic functionalities of easyDCP Creator and easyDCP Creator+.
In order to outsource the time consuming conversion to another workstation or to operate in parallel, each version of easyDCP Creator+ contains a free single version of easyDCP JPEG 2000 Transcoder.
Additional licenses can be purchased on demand.
DCPs use the CIE X’Y’Z’ color space with a gamma of 2.6.
Since the source footage is often in an RGB color space, they have to be converted first.
easyDCP Creator supports a variety of input color spaces and can be extended to work with custom color space settings or 3D lookup tables (LUT)s as well.
For further information please refer to:
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Licenses of easyDCP software prepared for offline mode can be installed only on one computer system.
Hint: Sometimes this method is required as well to solve license issues when the hashcode doesn't match to the previous license anymore or you have lost the password.
However, if you need to move the easyDCP license to another computer or operating system you can do this easily using Migration function in the web shop:
easyDCP Resolve Plug-In customers can get additional important informations for migration here.
After the migration is complete you can generate a new license for the new ware system. Please refer to the following FAQ on how to activate your product.
Note:
Migration with older Versions: For version easyDCP Creator(+)2.1.X and older, easyDCP Player(+)1.9.X and older, and easyDCP KDM Generator(+)1.47 and older, be prepared to use the new hashcode of your target hardware/software.
It seems with some QuickTime codecs, the gamma is slightly changed by the QuickTime framewok when frames are decoded. This is a known problem when using QuickTime.
easyDCP Creator allows to compensate this QuickTime-Gamma-Shift. By default, a value of 2.2 is set for gamma of the input color space. You can add additional color space transformations or adapt existing transformation settings.
To do this, please follow this steps:
Alternative solutions to prevent from Gammashift:
– Use an user defined sRGB to XYZ 3D-LUT compensating the corresponding Gammashift for the used codec.<
– Increase the gamma oft he Mov file´s gamma before you ingest it into easyDCP Creator.
– Use DPX or TIFF still image picture sequences instead of QickTime video.
easyDCP Creator+ generates a proprietary DCP digest file along with each encrypted DCP.
This digest file contains all track files keys used for the encryption during the DCP creation process. Whenever one wants to generate KDMs, you can load this digest file into a separate tool called easyDCP KDM Generator.
easyDCP KDM Generator is included in each purchase of easyDCP Creator+.
All you need to do is collect your recipient´s public server certificates and put them into a local folder. Use only the "cert.sha256" files. Usually, they have either a *.crt or *.pem suffix.
In easyDCP KDM Generator, you merely need to load the digest file, point to the folder with the server certificates and specify the start and end dates of the KDMs validity period.
Upon clicking the "Generate" button, easyDCP KDM Generator will create KDMs for all server certificates in a single batch job. Please note, that a digest file may contain multiple compositions, but a KDM only ever contains keys for a single composition. Thus, easyDCP KDM Generator will create x KDMs.
For more details, please refer to the http://www.easydcp.com/sync/manuals/easyDCP_KDM_Generator_User_Manual.pdf.
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All questions regarding the products and their features.
Prices for easyDCP products you can find here
Sales support is available for everyone. Please use the Service or contact form in Sales Support
Questions about activation, migration, available updates and upgrades as well as the status of licenses.
All technical service options are available in your web account www.easyDCP.com at My Products
License support is available for every customer independent from the service status. Please use the Service or contact form in Sales Support
Usage and troubleshooting for all easyDCP Plus / IMF Studio solutions
Technical support requires a valid subscription or a service contract for the respective easyDCP Package/application. Please use the Service or contact form in Technical Support.
Usage and troublshooting
Online Roaming requires a valid subscription or a service contract for the respective easyDCP Package/IMF Studio application. Please use the Service or contact form in Technical Support.
Customers can at any time extend and renew their subscription. The period to be extended is either seamlessly added to the term of the existing subscription. If the subscription has already expired, it will be reactivated when the renewal is complete.
Hint: Customers are invited to use the automatic renewal with every purchase. This can also be set up manually afterwards.
You can find more details here
Each new purchased easyDCP Plus comes with a valid service contract lasting for 6 months. Within this period, technical service, cost free updates and online roaming for the respective package are included without any additional payment.
Once the service is about to expire, customers will be notified by e-mail. It is highly recommended to extend the service extension from minimum of 6 months. It will always be appended to the end of the current service-period. If the customer decides for a automatic service subscription the service extendes for another 6 month automatically.
In case a customer decided not to prolong the support and no new version of specific package has been released, it is still possible to get back into normal service. A reactivation (calculated form the regular service fee) for the period between previous service and the date the client wants to get back into support has to be paid.
If a new version of specific package has been released during a non-support period, no prolongation of the (expired) service is in this moment possible. Here clients have to purchase a onetime fee in order to get the latest version of the easyDCP Plus/IMF Studio package. The update price depends on the date when the previous service extension has ended and the date the client purchased the update for his respective easyDCP Plus/IMF Studio package.
The younger the last license the lower the update fee.
Note: Updates comes without automatic prolongation of service extension.
Hint: Customers are invited to use the automatic service renewal with every purchase. This can also be set up manually afterwards. You can find more details here
Valid for Customer using their licenses with Offline Activation:
Migrating your easyDCP/IMF Studio offline licenes to a new hardware or re-activating a license after changing components in your existing hardware is always possible.
For security reasons, repetitive migrations are blocked for 6 months without prior agreement.
For further details please check: How can I perform a migration (hardware/operating-system-change)
Updates will arrive as needed. Estimate 2 to 6 updates per year.
Release Types:
Major releases (e.g. 4.2 to 4.3 or e.g. 3.9 to 4.0) - is free when service status is valid
always a new license is required.
For your support please check: How do I activate my easyDCP Plus oder IMF Studio product
Minor releases (4.2.1 to 4.2.2) - is always free within a major release
do not require a new license. In principle there is no need to update the certificates (signer and/or server) for a software update.
available for easyDCP Licenses < 4.0 and easyDCP / IMF Singlelicenes
The button Purchase Upgrade within your web account at Single Licenses shows the available and most cost-effective options for an upgrade.
If your question has not been answered please do not hesitate to contact use on the Service section or contact form in Sales Support
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IMF Studio (easyDCP Creator+/Player+ till version 3.8.9) and easydcp Resolve Plugin supports SMPTE IMF-Specifications: App2/App 2E
For more details "What is IMF" please check: IMF - Interopable Masterformat
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Closed Captions are timed texts that are intended for hearing impaired audience members. Captions usually include the dialog and descriptions of sounds ("phone rings", "door slams" etc.). "Closed" means that the captions are off-screen and not visible to the entire audience. On the other hand, "open" or "burned-in" means that the captions are on-screen and visible to all viewers.
The following caption file formats are supported:
To add closed captions in easyDCP Creator, simply drag the track file onto the reel. Then select the Display Type "Closed Caption (CCAP)":
You can add up to 16 Closed Captions per reel.
Please make sure that all referenced subtitle assets like fonts (.ttf, .otf) or images (.png) are available, otherwise package generation will fail.
Finally, please add the abbreviation "CCAP" to the composition playlist annotation text:
Please note: The DaVinci Resolve easyDCP Plugin does not yet support captions.
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Note: The preparing and copying of DCPs to hard drives is not a component of the easyDCP programs. We provide information about our customer’s experience from their practice
Quality and kind of hard disk are not important but it is recommended to use a powerful interface, e.g. eSATA or USB 3.0. Commonly, carriers from the CruDataPort series are used.
The file-systeme is very important. According to DCI specification:
EXT2
or
EXT3
is required. These file systems are supported natively by LINUX.
Third party drivers/emulations are available for MAC and Windows (e.g. Paragon).
Another recommendation is to install a LINUX system either on a remote or virtual system and have it share the mounted DCP via SAMBA.
The time it takes to copy a DCP onto a mobile hard-drive depends on the DCPs size and on the bandwidth. A 90-minute DCP can take up to 200 GB.
It is highly recommend to verify the DCPs integrity. To do that, you can start the DCP validation (included in easyDCP Creator+ and easyDCP Player+) and run a Hash-check (e.g. with MD5) of the DCP before copying to the hard disc. After copying run the Hash-check again. The results of the hash-check must be identical otherwise the DCP may crash.
This extra work is in no relation to later exchange of the DCP in the cinema.
Copying needs to be done independently from the easyDCP application, e.g. with Finder or Windows Explorer. Customers with macOS like to use the program DCP Transfer.
Also professional mass-duplication software is available and convinient for larger copy batch jobs.
Additional hint: Using of Digital Cinema Naming Convention is higly recommend to ease the workflow in the cinema server. Create correct syntax of Digital Cinema Naming Convention is embedded in easyDCP applications.
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Imagine the following situation:
Tipps:
The KDMs can now be conveniently processed and e.g. be sent by e-mail to the cinemas.
Please note:
This template was created with easyDCP KDM Generator + Version 1.4.411. Previous versions may not yet include this feature, but newer versions may run slightly differently.
Different versions of easyDCP can be installed side-by-side
However be aware that the all share the same user application data folder, where state settings, KDMs, server and signer certificate and license are stored.
The easyDCP Validator is paret of easyDCP Creator+ and easyDCP Player+.
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An entry in the list with the official "Studio Code" can be requested at ISDCF.
Whenever a new version of easyDCP Creator(+) is released, we integrate the latest list from there.
In the meantime, the "Studio Code" can be entered as follows:
The added "Studio Code" is now part of the local studio selection and can be used locally for the CPL naming.
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IMAX® DCPs typically have a resolution of 4K (3D) and a picture bit rate of up to 500 Mbps.
To create an IMAX® DCP, tick on the checkbox "Enable Higher Bit Rates" (HBR) in the "Package Options" dialog and set the slider "Maximum Picture Bit Rate" to 500 Mbps (see screenshot):
The naming convention for IMAX® DCPs is described here:
http://isdcf.com/dcnc/home/appendix-10-imax.html
Please note: 3D, HFR and HBR are only available in easyDCP Creator+.
A DCP contains one or more compositions.
Each composition consists of one or more reels that will be played one after another. Each reel has at least a picture an a sound track file.
Optionally, it also contains a subtitel track file. A reel´s track files must all have the same duration. In easyDCP Creator, you can edit in-and out-points by right-clicking a track file that you already dragged onto a reel.
This way you can skip a run-in or sync your audio and video track files. Keep ini mind that an Interop subtitle must not contain any time stamps beyond the reel´s duration.
Time stamps are relative to the reel´s first visible frame. A single track file can be refrenced from multiple reels of the same composition. This way it is easily possible to skip a scene or title by setting the track file´s instances´ in- and out-points accordingly.
An exemplary use of multiple compositions would be, if you wanted to distribute a movie in multiple languages. For each compositon you would use identical picture track files, but language-specific auto track files.
Compositions will not be played one after another. Instead, the cinema operator will choose which composition to play. Don´t forget to edit the composition´s names or otherwise the cinema operator might not find it on the server.
For example, the following two composition names indicate that one version has German audio ("DE") without any subtitles ("-XX") and the other version is Engish ("EN") with German subtitles ("-DE")
MYDCP_FTR_S_DE-XX_ 51_2K_20150707_FHG_OV
MYDCP_FTR_S_EN-DE_ 51_2K_20150707_FHG_OV
Hint: You can right-click the title and open an editor to compose a title according to the rules of the Digital Cinema Naming Converions.
The generation of personalized signer certificates for certain easyDCP applications is a free service provided by Fraunhofer IIS.
New personalized signer certificates will be issued with every License & Certificate Request during new installation of after migration of the software.
Requirements to get personalized signer certificates issued by Fraunhofer IIS are:
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The DCI specifications demand that for a 2k DCP, which has a container size of 2048x1080, one or both sides of this container must be completely filled and that the container size must not be exceeded.
However, commonly 2k DCPs are eigther Flat (1.85:1) 1998x1080 or Scope (2.39:1) 2048x858.
If your input material does not meet one of these resolutions, you can individually configure for each picute track file how it shall be resized, using a combination of pillar-boxing (black bars left and right), letter-boxing (black bars top and bottom), scaling and/or cropping.
To do that, just follow these steps:
1) Add a new Picture track file
2) Right-click on the track file to show the context menu
3) Browse to Letterboxing and select one of the entries
To see, what resolution is used, refer to the Metadata Inspectorwindow´s Target Resolution line.
Optionally, you can also scale your centent
Rather than repeating these steps for all track files over and over, you can also predefine a default pillar-/letterboxing setting in the global Preferences.
Just browse to the "New Track Defaults" tab and select the default letterboxing for new track files.
According to the specifications the following aspect ratios for DCPs are valid:
The pixel array size and frame rate shall be one of the formats listed in the table below:
Stereoscopic picture essence tracks shall be limited to the 2K formats, and shall have a frame rate of 48/1 and an edit rate equal to half the frame rate.