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Easy DCP, Final DCP or something else?

Perry Paolantonio

Perry Paolantonio

We're getting enough requests now for DCP creation that it seems like the right time to pull the trigger on this. One option is the EasyDCP plugin for Resolve, which seems to be the least expensive way to go. On the other hand, since we're upgrading the Resolve hardware soon, there will be a reasonably quick PC available as a standalone machine, and I've been following FinalDCP for a while, thinking of setting up that machine for just DCP work.

Requirements:
*2k and 4k DCP creation
*2k and 4k DCP playback for QC
*No need for encryption right now
*Reliability. I like software I can get set up to work the way I want, and then not have to worry about.

Most of what we do will be pretty straightforward: indie films, feature films, no sequencing inside the DCP, just straight playback of one contiguous movie.

Pros and cons of each? Any limitations on the Easy DCP plugin we should be aware of? Other software we should be looking at?

Thanks!

-perry
 
Quite a long term finaldcp user here.

I think the biggest difference you get with finaldcp is that it's way more flexible and has more options. Multiple cpl's, just as an example, are not possible with the easydcp plugin. Finaldcp also supports subtitling now, I believe. And you can buy rendernodes and spread the workload over multiple machines in a network, if you want/need that. My average renderspeed on a 2k dcp is about 24 fps, with a 6 core i7 3930k.
 
Thanks - that's pretty quick. Quicker than I expected.

If we have it on a standalone machine, it'll be an i7 5930k, with 64GB of RAM and probably a GTX 980ti. If we run on the new Resolve (which I'd like to avoid, just to not tie up that machine more than necessary, dual Xeon 14-core E5-2660v4 with 64GB RAM and dual GTX1080 GPUs.

Does FinalDCP play nice with DPX sequences?
 
Just one thing I run into at a facility I frequent, they have the slEasyDCP plugin. The license is apparently really hard to transfer and if you're locking it to a Resolve, you're probably locking it to a machine you primarily want to use as a grading computer. In their case they can't make DCP's when someone is grading and they cant prep sessions when rendering DCPs. Apart from the 'coolness' of being able to render straight from Resolve and making longer render batches, I don't really truly see the plus side.

Being a bit cheap and coming from an IT background I usually work with either OpenDCP or DCP-O-Matic. Granted they're a bit slower, but they don't have the insane maintenance costs the other ones have and DCP-O-Matic really seems to be maturing. What I'm missing is a good player that can do KDM's so I might have to bend over and buy either the EasyDCP, FinalDCP or NeoDCP player.
 
FinalDCP also here.

Works very well for me, 40-50 fps @2k on my mac pro 5.1 (dual 6 core with 2.9x ghz)

Does give me:
*2k and 4k DCP creation
*2k and 4k DCP playback for QC
*Reliability.
*Separate app / module for QC with reports
 
Also, something that can save a lot of time, finaldcp has the ability to change just the audio (or just some other component) of a dcp without having to re-render everything. Things like that happen more often then you think. It's a bit of a swiss army knife.
What I really don't like about Finaldcp is the pricing model. The purchase is quite high and the development quite slow, so when after two years you finally see some new and usefull features in the latest release, your contract has expired and you need to pay again.
 
Yeah I noticed the FinalDCP suite has some really good features but those high annual fees just don't make sense to me. The software is pricey AND the maintenance is pricey. It does one thing (well, by your reports) and it's very important but it seems a bit off.

Repacking without re-rendering is absolutely important and relatively easy to do when doing it manually (even if you're replacing part of the image sequence). So the fact that you can hardly do anything from the DaVinci plugin makes that just not an option IMHO.
 
Perry Paolantonio said:
Thanks - that's pretty quick. Quicker than I expected.

If we have it on a standalone machine, it'll be an i7 5930k, with 64GB of RAM and probably a GTX 980ti. If we run on the new Resolve (which I'd like to avoid, just to not tie up that machine more than necessary, dual Xeon 14-core E5-2660v4 with 64GB RAM and dual GTX1080 GPUs.

Does FinalDCP play nice with DPX sequences?
Click to expand...

perry i have been using the stand alone easy DCP creator for about 3 years now and does the job pretty well, the new version has CUDA acceleration for encoding on the windows ..i have been using the mac version on a old mac 5.1 with 2 x 6 core 2.4 and its pretty much real time ish

we use it for features/promos/ and a lot of TVC ...i just found it really easy to set up and use, you need to read and write from separate fast SSD / or raids to get it running fulling speed

with the plugin version especially for TVC,S is just a bit annoying for all the annotated text you need to add in for some cinema advertising systems

on the standalone version you can just type it in on the plugin you need to hack the xml

so we went with the stand alone ( but you used to get a complimentary plugin lic as well so long as resolve was on the same machine )

i think both final and easy do the job

and as for DPX yes it plays very well
 
The Resolve plugin + the standalone version is a solid combination. Like Pepjin said, you will need to revise a DCP, and you can't do that easily with only the Resolve plugin, but I think you'd be fine with the Resolve plugin + open source tools (if you're comfortable with them).

We initially bought Final DCP, had issues (that are now fixed), so we bought easyDCP in the heat of battle and haven't looked back.

For speed, the easyDCP plugin gets close to 2x real time on my box, so not a big bottleneck for us. We have other Resolve stations, so no issues not being able keep working.
 
brandon thomas said:
You can drop a DCP into a Premiere timeline to play it back.. Way cheaper/easier than any other dcp player options.

If you're linux savvy, look into dcp_inspect for some QC tools.
Click to expand...

Wow I just tried that Premiere thing. I had no idea, it works perfectly! Saves unpacking just to verify minor issues. It doesn't really read the CPL but I've been using dcp_inspect for integrity checks for a while now.
 
Roel Videler said:
Wow I just tried that Premiere thing. I had no idea, it works perfectly! Saves unpacking just to verify minor issues. It doesn't really read the CPL but I've been using dcp_inspect for integrity checks for a while now.
Click to expand...
Yep, it's not a substitute by any means for a lot of qc tasks, but beats the heck out of other ways to check a DCP for picture/audio issues.
 
I'm using EasyDCP. As cheesy as the name sounds it's a very straightforward process. I do like that the developers for EasyDCP actually do a lot of work for DCI - so in terms of specifications they are spot on.

I'm not actually using EasyDCP for jpeg2000 compression these days. I export jp2k straight from the Scratch timeline. This way if I need to tweak something I can just select the frame range and overwrite those frames and repack in EasyDCP.
 
brandon thomas said:
It is super convenient and very fast, though!
Click to expand...

I'm sure it is. but we have all our important machines on a 40GbE network. So having the DCP creation tool on a separate machine means not having to tie up the Resolve system while we work on something else. There are usually 3-4 projects in progress around here, so a couple hours of render time for a feature film means a couple hours the Resolve machine can't be used for color...
 
I am surprised no one uses Doremi, now Dolby CineAsset. It is effective as EasyDCP and allows you to pull apart, and put back together a DCP. Build Multi CPL, and Supplement versions, KDMs, QC tools, Player with Blackmagic card support. And, its created by the same development team as the bulk of the DCI-players in the world are. DCP2000/IMS1000/IMS2000 etc... So it's incredibly reliable in terms of making certified DCPs. Also supports AUX-track, Atmos etc.

Like FinalDCP, it licensed the Kakadu J2K codec, so I expect it of equivalent speed...

Just on that, Those still using OpenJPEG tools, in my experience, the more modern and continually developed encoders, like Kakadu/EasyDCP(fraunhofer)
do better quality per bit. So keep that in mind.

I use it in my studio (www.finishingroom.com.au), but we also run EVERYTHING we master through a real DCI projector and IMS2000 for QC.. Make sure the Graded master matches the DCP master. Also when doing the HI/VI and OCAP and CCAP.

But then again, I have been working with Kakadu and trying to get Chamberlain/Resolve to implement the Kakadu J2K encoder. My personal preference is to master directly out of Resolve to J2K (All colour accountability based on that render) Then from there use your DCP creation tool of choice, EasyDCP, CeinAsset etc, to construct the DCP with all the Audio tracks, Atmos, Subtitles, Captions etc..

Do me a favour, Email Peter and ask him where the Kakadu J2K encoder support is. They have the code, they just have to drop it in.


Finally, I want to also remind everyone that this kind of workflow will be very common in the coming years as IMF, based on DCP, becomes the defacto standard for deliverables. It is now we need to consider this development and the "better" workflows to take considering this.

Ie considering the developments and capabilities of IMF, and the task of "building" the IMF deliverable with all the potential capabilities, I expect an "IMF Studio" type product line to develop outside of the simple render to MediaFile from Premier/Resolve/whatever. Best we render to J2K images that will then go into the 'IMF Studio' software of choice. That'ss going to be an interesting battleground over the next few years..
 
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