DCP issue

[Leach]

Hello all,

i've made a shortfilm in fcpx in 1920 x 803 25fps
i followed this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG10VAggDew

so I scaled the movie to 2,39 scope
in DCP is used DCI scope
i left the it to INTEROP
i did not had to crop
we exported to my mac desktop, copied on an xfat drive, copied it back to an NTFS drive and in theater they copied it to an XTE formated drive.

my issue is that when we test the DCP in the movie in the theater (in Belgium), the movie is not centered, it leans to the right, also we lose some upper and lower image...but the center is the main issue. What am I doing wrong?

[Carsten]

I don't think you did something wrong - DCP-o-matic always centers the vsible image. Even if you crop asymmetrically from the sides, only the amount you loose varies, but the resulting image is always centered and then should be centered in the cinema.

We had issues like this before, and most of the time it turned out that actually the projector preset is setup wrong. You only notice if the filmmaker himself watches his own movie in that preset.

Please load your DCP on you computer in DCP-o-matic player and check weither it's properly framed.

If you still have the metadata file of your project (it contains all the settings), please load it up here as an attachment, we would have a look wether everything is setup properly, but I am quite sure that the DCP is okay. Can you check in another cinema? Make sure they activate their standard scope preset. Even if they use flat, the image will be smaller and have black bars, but should still be centered and displayed completely (except for some crop at both sides).

There are 'official' test DCPs that show asymmetrical setup of projectors. You should maybe dig one up, bring it to the cinema, and let them play it. Maybe an 'official' DCP will convince them that their setup is wrong.

https://isdcf.com/t/SMPTE-DCP-Tests/framing-chart.html

Carl also put two framing charts up here:

https://dcpomatic.com/dcps.php

Here is an image that makes a scope framing chart:

https://isdcf.com/t/FramingCharts/ISDCF ... -9_RGB.jpg

When you play the 2D-2.39 framing chart, ideally, the green/pink triangles/arrows should just 'touch' the screen edge. The red bars should never be visible (full container/flat area).
It is quite normal that a few pixels (say: centimeters) are cut of, there is always a bit of overshoot. But it should look symmetrical, there should not be an offset visible straight away. Some cinemas use uncommon screen shapes - e.g. 2.0:1 (in order to find a better compromise between flat and scope features). These MAY cut off a lot more in order to fill the screen (the owner and cinema technician decide how they set these up). But again, it should never be asymmetric. Sometimes there is a slight offset vertically on such screens in order to make sure that subtitles are never cut off. But even then, it should still look 'okay'.

ISDCF_v1_2D_239_2K_r1-9_RGB.jpg

- Carsten

[Carsten]

This is how DCP-o-matic player shows a proper Scope DCP - it should be easy for you to see wether there is something wrong with your DCP:

Bildschirmfoto 2019-09-08 um 22.49.04.png