A DCP Problem and A Refresh On Troubleshooting

From The MailBag Episode 74

Problems Copying A DCP With A Refresher On Good Troubleshooting Techniques

If you work in postproduction long enough, you’re likely to encounter frustrating problems – sometimes daily or even hourly!

Sometimes it’s a render, sometimes your computer just refuses to cooperate, or sometimes it’s a feature that’s supposed to work one way and in reality works another.

Recently, I encountered two related and frustrating issues while trying to output a DCP for a client.  While I eventually overcame both problems with the help of Mixing Light contributor and good pal Joey D’Anna, I was reminded of how important methodical troubleshooting is in our industry.

In this installment of From The Mailbag, Joey joins us once again while Dan is still sequestered on a big HDR project.

The DCP Problem

Like many of you, I work on a lot of feature-length documentaries. The thing about docs is they often lead multiple lives – they’re sold to broadcasters, appear on the web, and in festivals.

What I’m getting at is these projects can often be 29.97, 25, or even 59.94fps and not the standard ‘film’ frame rate of 24 fps or its cousin 23.976.

As we’ve discussed in a previous Insight, Interop DCPs are always 24 fps, and Interop is the most universal DCP format. SMPTE DCPs, along with the ability to have additional features like Dolby Atmos, also support other frame rates like 25, 30, 48 etc.

The project I was working on was 29.97. Because of this, I knew that I’d have to make an SMPTE formated DCP, but here’s the thing – there are no fractional frame rates for an SMPTE DCP.  For things to work, it has to be true 30 not 29.97 for example.

DaVinci Resolve Studio both with the built-in Kakadu encoder and with Easy DCP (paid plugin) properly handle the necessary ‘pull-up’ from 23.98 > 24 for Interop and SMPTE DCPs, but as I found out, the Kakadu encoder does not handle this pull-up properly for 29.97 > 30 (this seems to still be true in the shipping version of 16, I’ve not yet tried 16.1 Beta).

In the episode, we talk about how I overcame this, but I ran into another problem after successfully authoring the DCP!

Because I’m in the middle of a facility move, the Linux system that I usually use to format DCPs was not available, I follow the incredible write up that Joey contributed to this Insight.

In place of using a Linux computer, I decided to use DCP transfer that I recently wrote about – which as you’ll hear, came with its own problems!

Troubleshooting 101

In the process of trying to solve the problems I was having with the DCP,  I was reminded by Joey about the importance of methodical troubleshooting. Joey’s engineering background lends itself to this approach vs. my approach of ‘blow it up’! And to be honest – it was refreshing and insightful to see how Joey’s mind worked to fix the problem(s).

While the blow it up approach might fix some problems, you’ll often be left without answers as to what the problem actually was.

In the second half of the episode, we discuss the importance of troubleshooting through problem identification and elimination.  Even if you consider yourself an excellent problem solver, this discussion is a great reminder on how to properly troubleshoot any issue.

Have A Question For Team Mixing Light?

Remember, if you have questions that you’d like to get an opinion on please use the contact form

Your questions can be aesthetic, technical or even client related. We’d love to hear from you, and your question might make future episodes of From The MailBag.

Enjoy the MailBag!

-Robbie

Comments

Homepage › Forums › A DCP Problem and A Refresh On Troubleshooting

• Creator
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• August 29, 2019 at 9:20 am #32452
  
  Robbie Carman

  Participant

  This is the discussion thread for the Insight: A DCP Problem and A Refresh On Troubleshooting

• Creator
  Discussion

• 
  R Neil Haugen

  Guest

  August 31, 2019 at 11:18 pm

  Running my own shop, from a full pro “wet” photo lab through now digital video … trouble-shooting has been a LARGE part of my daily workload for 40 years now. Loved hearing Joey talk about the way he was taught, and how he approaches things. This isn’t the process most people try to make it. You just can’t cut the corners and be sure any result you come up with will hold for the next issue.
• 
  Amogh K

  Guest

  September 8, 2019 at 8:06 pm

  Hey! So by the end of the discussion Joey mentioned that he installed Baselight STUDENT on his Mac and that caused some troubles. Does this hint on a Baselight video tutorial coming soon? 🤓
  This really matters in my case as in Mumbai, India baselight is the industry standard.
• 
  Adam L

  Guest

  October 15, 2019 at 4:13 am

  Has anyone found the solution for the validation issue? I have yet to be able to use DCP Transfer.
• 
  Manas d

  Guest

  January 8, 2020 at 5:29 pm

  i am so looking for baselight insider tips and tricks. Perhaps a highquality course that i can keep as my handbook. In mumbai i m craving but unable to find a proper highend advance knowledge sharing. coz its so niche. also coming from davinci, python and baselight is so vast and wud really like to master it. Here Most In person training session are just guys mugging up the basics and also not cost value to what i get, also just the workflow but knowledge to troubleshoot and going creative in baselight it so scarcity . Would be really good if you guys could accept that baselight and davinci both are useful for highgrade industry standard & please include baselight properly in mixinglight.
• 
  François Dompierre

  Guest

  February 27, 2020 at 5:50 am

  They finally have a fix. They sent me the latest beta today and it works. The bug was with Paragon and they worked it out with the team at DCP Transfer (it took many months!). They say the new version should be out within two weeks.
• 
  Robbie Carman

  Guest

  February 28, 2020 at 3:06 pm

  excellent. Fast few months I’ve just been using a virtual machine to do this formatting when I’m not around the Linux box at the office. This is good to know! Thanks for the update!
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