The main advantage of a DCP is that it’s really the only way to get your content played on digital projectors around the world.
- DCPs are secure. You can make a million copies of a DCP, he explains, but if you don’t have the KDM configured for your equipment, you can’t play them. KDM’s also specify the date and time a DCP can be played. This has led to some…embarrassing incidents at film festivals.
- DCPs are easily updated. Because DCPs are a package of files (and not one big file), they can be edited without having to update the entire production. One master file can be localized for dozens of regions. For example, by adding dub tracks or subtitles as small pieces of metadata.
- DCPs are verifiable. As soon as a DCP gets copied onto a cinema server, a SHA265 checksum validation automatically runs to verify the content “is in the same state as it left the lab,” he says. This ensures no unauthorized modifications have occurred.