The main ‘DCP-o-matic’ tool is designed to create a single DCP containing a single Composition Play List (CPL): in other words, a single folder containing one film, trailer or advert that can be played.

However, it is also possible to have a single DCP folder containing multiple CPLs. A projectionist can then ingest (copy) a single thing onto their playback server but have the choice of several different things to play. This is often useful to package up different versions of a film (perhaps with different subtitles or audio tracks) into a single folder.

The difference between a single folder multiple CPLs, or multiple folders each containing a single CPL, is not great, but sometimes a single folder is more convenient.

In an ideal world, perhaps it would be possible to create multi-CPL DCPs from the main ‘DCP-o-matic’ tool. This is not yet possible (mostly because I find it hard to imagine a user interface that allows it without complicating the more common ‘single CPL’ case). Instead, there is a separate tool, the ‘DCP-o-matic Combiner’ that allows multiple DCPs to be combined into a single one.

Loading the DCP-o-matic Combiner shows a small window:

First, click Add... to add the DCPs that you want to join. Fill in an annotation text (a title) for the combined DCP. Finally, choose an output folder, click Combine and your combined DCP will be prepared.