Correct channel mapping for 5.1 surround DCPs

I don't know what you mean by "channel ident."

Audio Line-up Tones. e.g. BLITS 5.1 Ident.

BLITS Ident.png (244.04 KiB) Viewed 2796 times

Still not understanding. Is that an app that I need to acquire? What deliverable?

This may assist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26 ... tlings.com

I still have no idea what you are suggesting that I do.

since you asked:
P.S.: Please let me know if you find an improvement for this instruction or any mistakes and I will edit it.

i'm ripping the orignal instructions as they are well laid out, but to my mind, overly complicated and error prone

My results have been validated in hundreds of DCP's running in real cinemas world wide

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1) Import your 6 mono audio files.
i start here as well....

*this is where i differ, i make a 5.1 track, and select "convert to linked group"

3) Put your 6 mono audio files on the mono audio tracks in the correct order, which is:
A1: Left
A2: Right
A3: Center
A4: LFE
A5: Surround Left
A6: Surround Right
* i also do the same, but the tracks are already labeled for you in the timeline

< i now ignore the the next steps>


* back at step 7/b:
7) Go to the Deliver Page.
In the Render Settings go to the Video tab.
Check the box Export Video.
As Format choose jPEG2000.
chose an optimal sample rate, frame rate and name


8) In the Audio tab check the box Export Audio.
For Codec choose Linear PCM.
For Sample Rate choose 48000.
my choice of the nest step is to select track 1, it will automaticly recognise it as 5.1, so ignore the next steps

Leave the Render as discrete audio tracks box unchecked. *
*i wrap inside a Qt wrapper, video off, make sure the frame rate and in / out are identical
Choose a Location.
Render.

*I open JPEG2000 seq, and .Qt audio in DCP-0-Matic, the audio will again automaticly map it's self correctly

hit go, and it re-wraps. / copies the existing JPEG seq and audio without changeing anything (ps, it's really fast)



10) You can do a very basic test to see if there are no major mistakes:
The DCP folder should appear as one file in the Media Page in the Media Browser.
When you start playback check the peaks in the audio meters.
The first 6 channels should show peaks (if the played scene has actually sound on all 6 channels).
(To show audio meters look under Audio –> Embedded Audio –> Meters.

* after a picture / audio spot check, I validate the DCP with the Venera Pulsar QC system

the audio flows through trouble free, untouched, mapped correctly from the media pool -> cinema this way

In my case I don't have a mixdown to 6 discrete tracks, but I render the DCP from the 5.1 bus of my original timeline. That should get me to the same starting point though, right?

The levels in the meters (peak indicators in your description) all appear to be on the correct channels and in the correct order. Question though: why is important to uncheck the "discrete audio tracks" option? (The resulting DCP still has only one audio file.)

My problem may be occurring outside of Resolve, since I had to run the Resolve-generated DCP through DCP-o-Matic in order to get closed captions packaged in the DCP. (Resolve will only export the subtitle file outside of the DCP, but DCP-o-Matic will include it.) For some reason the CP750 doesn't get the correct channel mapping from the DCP-o-Matic DCP. So I have a quandary: I can either have correct audio mapping or closed captions, but not both.

Looks like I'll have to download Venera Pulsar QC from https://www.veneratech.com/pulsar-automated-file-qc/, and hopefully the trial version will work for my 66 minute feature.

i would make a 2 min DCP, not run the entire 66 min if only validation is needed, i bill for making a DCP, and factor in the cost of running through a Qc. software into the total invoice, if i was trying to get my first DCP out correctly, runing full Qc is a bit of overkill and. an expence that won't get absorbed by a client i;m guessing

maybe try exporting audio as i do and useing that to wrap in DCP-0-Matic

that path is rock solid and trouble free for me

The Resolve manual says "Render as discrete audio tracks checkbox: This checkbox ... still outputs one channel per track. However, discrete tracks have no positioning info, nor do they group as multi-channel clips (2.0, 5.1, etc.)."

What does it mean by "no positioning info?" Where is positioning info stored? Is it in a human-readable file?

The Resolve manual says "Render as discrete audio tracks checkbox: This checkbox ... still outputs one channel per track. However, discrete tracks have no positioning info, nor do they group as multi-channel clips (2.0, 5.1, etc.)."

What does it mean by "no positioning info?" Where is positioning info stored? Is it in a human-readable file?

I don't think the DCP carries positioning metadata, the positioning is determined by the order of the tracks. So first track is L, 2 is R, 3 is C, 4 is LFE, 5 is Ls and 6 is Rs

InterSociety Digital Cinema Forum (ISDCF) provides a 16 Channel Audio Packing Guide with channel ordering for recommended audio wiring in cinemas.

5.1:
1 - Left
2 - Right
3 - Centre
4 - LFE
5 - Left Side Surround
6 - Right Side Surround
7 - Hearing Impaired
8 - VI-N (Audio Description)
9 - Unused
10 - Unused
11 - Unused
12 - Unused
13 - Motion Data
14 - Sync Signal
15 - Sign Language Video
16 - Unused

If reproduction in theatre is faulty, confirm that the wiring is correct. One can also run ident and load the DCP back in to Resolve to confirm channel order visually if reproduction is an issue.

Thanks, but what does the Resolve manual mean by "Render as discrete audio tracks checkbox ... still outputs one channel per track. However, discrete tracks have no positioning info?"

Thanks, but what does the Resolve manual mean by "Render as discrete audio tracks checkbox ... still outputs one channel per track. However, discrete tracks have no positioning info?"

I asked your first question to ChatGPT and got this answer:

"When you check this option, each audio track in your timeline will be rendered as its own separate file, making it easier to edit or manipulate them individually later. If you leave it unchecked, all audio tracks will be mixed together into one file during the export process."

As per your second question, I believe Reynaud answered it with his definition from the ISDCF... the positioning is determined by the order of the tracks

If the positioning info is determined solely by the order of the tracks, the only way "no positioning info" would make sense would be if the tracks were scrambled or somehow mispositioned. Is that really what it means by "no positioning information?"

If the positioning info is determined solely by the order of the tracks, the only way "no positioning info" would make sense would be if the tracks were scrambled or somehow mispositioned. Is that really what it means by "no positioning information?"

I'm not sure I follow or if we're talking about the same thing.

I don't think I tried to define the concept of "no position". But in the case of a 5.1 DCP, the channel distribution would be determined by the track order. The channel order being 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5 and 6. So in a sense these have positioning info which would be 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th.

Noisy Post has templates up that are already set up.

Hello everybody,

Super useful instructions, thanks a lot !

I was trying to follow the steps creating a DCP for a short, but turns out my 6 mono tracks delivered by sound department automatically formed a 5.1 unique file on Davinci. The 6 tracks are correctly labeled (L, R, C, LFE, Ls, Rs) so I guess that's why ?

In Fairlight, everything seems in order, I just had to change de stereo bus to 5.1

Is that that easy now ? (I got suspicious haha)

Also, with this new automatisation, should I keep the export on Wild track format anyway?

Thank you

Hello guys,

Just to let you know that I got to try the DCP in theater and it has worked like a charm.

So correct naming = automatic correct mapping via DaVinci import tool I guess !

Thank you !

If you are doing DCP then don't try using single 5.1 track, but procedure described above. This is specifically made to produce compatible file. Resolve won't actually let you select anything else than WTF.
If you specifically want Jpeg2000 then use MXF/MOV container and then you can do what you want with audio.
(for single 5.1 track just use 5.1 track/bus and then export without selecting "Render 1 track per channel")

Curious if there have been updates here. I have done both methods and importing the folder of mono tracks as one 5.1 file and setting the track and bus format to 5.1 seem to give the same result as splitting the six channels. I import both DCP versions and they play the same.

I am just updating here that the output via the 5.1 mix that was done as a single track on a 5.1 channel played fine in a theatre-- the caveat here though is I had imported this DCP into DCP o Matic and merged a subtitle track for closed captions from within DCP O MATIC and re outputted again--- so.... Can't say for sure if that method will do fine but when I compared the original DCP and the DCP from DCP O MATIC in Resolve, they both had a single 5.1 track channel.

So if anyone else could confirm that dragging the 5.1 as a single 5.1 channel maps it correctly that would be awesome.

I'm usually making 5-6 DCP options anyway (stereo options and 5.1, and an interop option)...

works well in DCP-0-Matic

zero idea what flavor of messed up Resolve's rather forked trackrouter creates, i avoid that trainwreck and live a longer happier life as a resualt

worked a charm in v12.5, been a first class cluster ever since.... hence getting on top of DCP-0-Matic

made nine DCP's last week, all validated in a projector just fine, at no point did any of them come near Resolve's audio patching mess

works well in DCP-0-Matic

zero idea what flavor of messed up Resolve's rather forked trackrouter creates, i avoid that trainwreck and live a longer happier life as a resualt

worked a charm in v12.5, been a first class cluster ever since.... hence getting on top of DCP-0-Matic

made nine DCP's last week, all validated in a projector just fine, at no point did any of them come near Resolve's audio patching mess

Wondering if moving forward I should just create a 24 FPS prores from resolve (sometimes I get a 23.976 so super stoked that it does the conversion for me) w a single 5.1 track and bus routed correctly and just load those in to DCP-O-MATIC instead.

From there make it 8 tracks or 16 and set the marks that it requests and output.

Heads up! In DR 19.1.3 Build 7, using easyDCP to make a DCP in SMPTE, the tracks do not conform to WTF as they should. I reached out to easyDCP, and they are aware and asked BMD to fix this. Hopefully, this will be fixed in the next DR version.