Is a professional file interchange format designed for the video post-production and authoring environment. It was created by the Advanced Media Workflow Association. The AMWA develops specifications and technologies to facilitate the deployment and operation of efficient media workflows, working closely with standards bodies like the SMPTE.
CPL (Composition Playlist)
On a DCP every composition is defined by a Composition Playlist, or CPL. As the name suggests, the CPL defines and orchestrates the playback of all Track Files that comprise the Composition. It does so temporally, in a reel-by-reel fashion. Each version of a title will have a unique CPL This could be a version having a certain picture type (a particular aspect ratio, or 2D vs 3D), a different sound mix (say, 5.1 or 7.1), a sound track in a particular language, subtitles in a particular language, and so on.
DCDM (Digital Cinema Distribution Master)
A DCDM contains all the content required to provide a Digital Cinema presentation. (image, audio, subtitles, picture, metadata) in uncompressed and unencrypted form.
DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives)
Is a joint venture of major motion picture studios, formed to establish a standard architecture for digital cinema systems. The organization was formed in March 2002 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,[a] Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. The primary purpose of DCI is to establish and document specifications for an open architecture for digital cinema that ensures a uniform and high level of technical performance, reliability and quality.
DCP (Digital Cinema Package)
Is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams. The term has been defined by Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC in their recommendations for packaging of DC contents. General practice adopts a file structure that is organized into a number of usually multi-gigabyte size Material eXchange Format (MXF) files, which are separately used to store audio and video streams, and auxiliary index files in XML format. The MXF track files contain image and audio essence that are compressed and encoded in order to reduce the huge amount of required storage. Encryption is an optional solution and is used to protect from unauthorized use. The image track file contains compressed JPEG 2000 essence and the audio is a wrapped 24-bit linear PCM multichannel WAV file. The adopted (optional) encryption standard is AES 128-bit in CBC mode. The newer SMPTE standards are used to conform the recommendations among different tool vendors and producers. Interop, the legacy DCP standard, is still required to be supported by DCP players.
DSM (Digital Source Master)
The Digital Source Master (DSM) is created in post-production and can be used to convert into a Digital Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM). The DSM can also be used to convert to a film duplication master, a home video master, and/or a master for archival purposes.
EDL (Edit decision list)
Is used in the post-production process of film editing and video editing. The list contains an ordered list of reel and timecode data representing where each video clip can be obtained in order to conform the final cut.
HDR (High Dynamic Range)
High dynamic range is a technique used in imaging and photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than is possible with standard digital imaging or photographic techniques.
KDM (Key Delivery Message)
KDM is required to play an encrypted movie on a DCP. Each KDM enables one version of the movie to play on a target playback device for a limited duration, which could be hours, weeks, or months. The KDM is the vehicle for securely delivering symmetric content encryption keys to authorized playback equipment. A KDM targets only one playback device, and is an expression of trust in the targeted device. Further, the trust conveyed by a KDM is only expressed for one encrypted Composition.
MXF (Material eXchange Format)
Is a container format for professional digital video and audio media defined by a set of SMPTE standards. Developed for the exchange of audio and video data and metadata between different work stations, applications and equipment.
OMF (Open Media Framework)
The OMF (Open Media Framework, also known as OMFI—Open Media Framework Interchange) file format is typically used to exchange data with Digidesign Pro Tools software. The OMF format only supports the exchange of audio data (audio media and the use of this audio media in a project)—MIDI and automation data is ignored when using the export functions.
SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers)
Founded in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is an international professional association, based in the United States of America, of engineers working in the motion imaging industries. An internationally recognized standards organization, SMPTE has more than 600 Standards, Recommended Practices, and Engineering Guidelines for television production, filmmaking, digital cinema, audio recording, information technology, and medical imaging.
XML (Extensible Markup Language)
Is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. The W3C's XML 1.0 Specification and several other related specifications—all of them free open standards—define XML.