Converting DCPs to MP4 (Making MP4 from DCP) Easily

Convert DCP to MP4

Convert DCP to MP4

t is possible to convert unencrypted DCPs to H.264 MP4 (or other types of video files).  This guide is for windows.

To do this you first need to run cmd.exe.  You will be in your users home directory (e.g. c:\Users to start a windows shell). When started you need to create some directories

mkdir work
cd work
mkdir mov
cd mod
mkdir jpg

You then need to create a file called dcp2mp4.bat in the work directory you just created wit hthe following content.

del mov\sound.wav
del mov\movie.mp4
del /Q mov\jpg\*.*

@echo off

echo video file = %1
echo audio file = %2
echo FPS        = %3

pause

ffmpeg -lowres 0 -i %1 -q:v 2 mov\jpg\/image%%06d.jpg
ffmpeg -i %2 -y mov/sound.wav
ffmpeg -r %3 -i mov/jpg/image%%06d.jpg -i mov/sound.wav -ac 2 -ab 256k -crf 18 -y mov/movie.mp4

You also need to put ffmpeg.exe in this directory.  It is downloaded from http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/. You need to
download the ‘static’ version.  It consists of 7z archive which has ‘bin’ directory that had the exe.

To convert the DCP from the work directory run dcp2mp4.bat with the following command line paramaters:

  1. Full path of the …video.xmf
  2. Full path to …audio.xmf
  3. Frames Per Second

The first two are in the DCP file system.  If you drag and drop them from file manager to the command line it will put add the path and file to the command line.

I also offer a service for Digital Cinema Package (DCP) Mastering/Creation if you dont want to convert DCP to MP$ yourself and a Beginners guide to Digital Cinema Packages (DCP).

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