Should SMTPE really be advised to be used over Interop?

[sup]

When I try to make an Interop DCP, DOM advises me to use SMTPE standard. So I did. A DCP got created, it all looked correct. I sent it to a cinema. The cinema said it did not work (apparently it was loaded but could not be played without any error being reported). So I made an Interop version, which played fine.

Unfortunately, the cinema is unreponsive. My communication with it is indirect and over a language barrier, so I cannot provide any details (I tried to find out which server they were using but could not get them to respond to me). I was just wandering what the experience of others is over this and if there really is less problems wiht SMTPE then Interop?

[Carsten]

May I ask which country this is?

Did the DCP carry any unusal aspect - non-24 fps frame rates, subtitles, audio format, etc.

Unfortunately, without knowing the specific server and software version, it is impossible to even speculate about the cause.
It may be that some server still uses very old software that is incapable of playing SMPTE. In your case, it still may not necessarily have been a strict SMPTE issue.


Yes, it IS recommended now to use SMPTE - but Interop still works on every server, at least for standard format DCPs. Some specific types of DCPs explicitly need SMPTE, but DCP-o-matic should tell you if you were about to create a non-compliant DCP in Interop format.

In Germany, most DCPs we get from the big US studios are SMPTE now. But we still get many IOP DCPs, mostly european art house titles. None of them causes issues on our systems, and I don't hear about any SMPTE or IOP related issues on the german or US projectionist forums.

[jamiegau]

SMPTE is now the standard.
The industry cannot lock itself out of advancing and fixing issues just because a few small independents don't want to keep their equipment up to date.

If this occurs, you should really encourage the cinema to keep up with the industry standards.

Why your SMPTE DCP did not work is simply not knowable unless a tech analysis the issue.
But as mentioned by Casten, studios are sending out 24fps SMPTE files pretty commonly now without issue.

I could see it being a non-24frp DCP ending in this type of problem if landing on an older Cinelink/SDI type interface. Those units are not really tested to do much more than 24fps SMPTE and as they are deprecated, not much time is put into making them forward-compatible over the minimum requirements.

[sup]

Sorry for the late reply, I forgot to turn on the notifications.

It was a cinema in Germany (around Dresden), the movie was Czech, I do think it was a smaller cinema but the communication with them is really difficult, they mostly do not reply.

I created the DCP from a prores file, I kept settings to defaults where possible (subtitles were burned in in the prores file, I did not touch the audio settings, FPS was 24). I guess it will remain a mystery, it is really impossible to communicate with them.

[Carsten]

Hmm. Weird. Hard to track it down. German cinemas currently get a mix of SMPTE and Interop DCPs, and any commercial cinema - big or small - without the ability to play SMPTE, would be in trouble. Also because, as a cinema, you are never notified in advance wether a title you book will be SMPTE or Interop. You have to play what you get.

[sup]

I do not think they lacked the ability to play SMPTE in general. They only could not play the one I created with DOM. But it is hard to know if DOM is doing everything properly and their equipemnt is faulty or the other way around if they do not communicate. I think we dealt with them a year or two in the past two and I think we might have had the same problem. But I am not sure, there is always some problem with them. I am not even in direct contact with them, I just talk to a person running a small festival, so any troubleshooting is basically impossible. I would just let it be for now – it clearly is an exception.

[Carsten]

It would be interesting to learn about the type of equipment they have these problems with.

Can you name the festival - publicly, or via personal message? I happen to know a few cinemas and people around that area, and one festival there as well.

[sup]

Sent through Pprivate message.

[Carsten]

Okay, unfortunately, I don't know these, and their cinema does not have a description of their equipment on their website.

I do know their management, though, they operate quite a few cinemas, a few major arthouse screens in Berlin as well. I can't imagine they let this house run on severely outdated equipment.


Hard to say. Maybe a quirk.