If your film is screening theatrically, whether at a festival or a one-off cinema showing, a digital cinema package (DCP) isn’t optional; it’s essential. It’s how a cinema projector plays your film.
A DCP is a structured package of image and sound files built specifically so a digital cinema projector can read it correctly, with the right colour, framing, and sound channels all in place.
So why not just make one yourself? When you have a right budget, that may seem tempting. There are software tools out there that claim anyone can create a DCP, and, technically, that’s true. But “technically possible” and “reliably correct” are two very different things. DCP authoring involves precise colour space conversion, exact frame rate and aspect ratio handling, correct audio channel mapping, and compliant file encoding. Missing out any one of these can leave your film with washed-out colour, a bright green line running across the screen (see image above), scrambled audio, or a package that a cinema cannot play. These are exactly the kind of problems that surface at the worst possible moment: minutes before your screening, with a room full of people waiting.
That’s the gap DCP-Solutions fills. We take your finished master and build a fully compliant, screen-ready DCP, then quality-control it before it ever reaches screening, checking playback, sound, and picture so problems are caught by us, not by an audience. It means one less technical unknown for you to manage on top of everything else that goes into finishing a film, and it means your film gets seen exactly the way you made it, the first time it plays.
Our services are competitively priced, as highlighted in positive reviews from clients, and we also provide tailored quotes to suit your budget, so do get in touch if we can help. Don’t let your hard work, time and effort go to waste by trying to shave costs by making your own DCP.