In the way that a film print comes as rolls of film contained in cans, a Digital Print exists as data stored on a hard drive. A Digital Print, known as a Digital Cinema Package (DCP), is a movie stored as a group of digital files as standardized by DCI, a studio consortium.  Then these files are transported to theaters on a specialized hard drive. The files are then copied to the theater’s Digital Cinema Server-a computer that stores, reads, and plays back DCP’s. From the server the movie is played back and projected onto the screen. A DCP is what is used as the content in all digital cinemas for the highest quality playback. For a number of reasons a properly mastered DCP would have superior image quality to everything else. All of the files in the folder are necessary and can not be modified in any way.

The package of files (Jpeg2000 XYZ MFX, XML & CPL) lives on Linux formatted (Ext2) CRU or USB hard drive. These drives are specifically designed for digital cinema and are DCI compliant. Using one of our drives is the only way to guarantee compatibility with all theaters play back servers.  They have been tested and are currently in use industry wide on thousands of screens. The drive and media cannot be read or played back on standard PC or MAC without special software. While we can send you the DCP electronically most theaters will need a Drive.  Festivals often allow it to be uploaded to somewhere. 

The top 5 reasons are:

• Broad Acceptance: Nearly all cinema screens will be Digital by 2015.
• Huge cost savings for a DCP mastering and distribution compared to Film Prints and even tape.
• Superior image and sound quality over everything else for commercial exhibition ( Film, tape, Blu-ray)
• Highly Reliability, less fragile media,
• Perfect digital copies exhibit the same on the 100^th screening as the 1^st.

In order to have the widest range of compatibility with all the servers in the world at the highest quality and be eligibility for the Academy awards the Academy of motion picture arts and sciences have set some rules and specs. (I.E. 24fps 2K with 5.1 audio). Also long as source files meet our submission guidelines we format every DCP to be an academy qualifying DCP.

Encryption is an AES 128Bit security measure to prevent anyone without a key delivery message (KDM) from viewing the DCP.  The Key is generated for a specific server/theater screen for a set time. A new key will need to be generated for every new screen it shows on at an additional cost. The added expense is required for studio theatrical broad released films, but may not be the best choice for festivals and special screenings for a small indie film. A film festival would prefer it to be unencrypted. We are happy to provide encrypted and unencrypted DCPs per your request. Even a DCP that is not encrypted has a number hurdles that must be overcome for it to be pirated.

For example,

• To access a DCP / view you will need special systems / software (Linux EXT file systems, Jpeg2000 MFX decoding of DCI compliant content)
• Once you have access the files they will be in XYZ color space and will need to be converted to correctly to be viewed without everything looking really bad.
• Each Digital cinema server is designed to only allow ingesting of a DCP and cannot export the CPL. This will not allow it to be moved to another server without coming from the source Hard Drive.

Part of what you’re paying for when you choose a facility is the peace of mind knowing that it will be done right the first time & the experience to support it all the way to festival or theater. After we create the DCP, we ingest, hash check, verify, and  Spot QC every DCP. We also only use standard CRU Hard Drives that have been thoroughly tested on thousands of servers and screens when we ship it. At your request we can deliver the DCP electronically via a high speed downloadable file or a onetime use Drive sent directly to the theater.