The SMPTE 2014 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (SMPTE 2014) featured a number of new and emerging technologies including high frame rate recording and display. In particular, the session track entitled “Higher Frame Rates” featured theatrical display of several segments captured at 120 fps and higher. To meet this challenge, SMPTE Conference Co-Chair (and TMS Consulting President) Jim DeFilippis turned to colleague Brian Quandt and his product AutoDCP.
“We were looking for a product that was easy to use, but also packed some serious horsepower,” said DeFilippis. “We were looking to create DCPs that would play at 120 fps. I asked Brian if AutoDCP could do this, and he assured me that it could.”
The online nature of the AutoDCP product allowed DeFilippis and his team to begin testing right away. This was extremely important in the conference environment where envelope-pushing content was coming in from a variety of sources.
“We didn’t have to wait for overnight services or couriers,” said DeFilippis. Each of our presenters could test the DCP process via the online system and we could see the results right away. The tight integration with Dropbox and drag and drop simplicity meant our team got up to speed very quickly. And since cloud-based AutoDCP has basically unlimited capacity, we were able to process a lot of really large files simultaneously.”
Jim DeFilippis notes that another significant advantage of the cloud-based approach is that he could use the tools when he needed them. Whether late at night or right that instant when he was ready, AutoDCP was ready to run his job without having to worry about weekend or rush fees.
“AutoDCP has taught me to expect instant gratification,” Jim said. “I once called annoyed that AutoDCP didn’t always start jobs immediately. (Sometimes it would take a few extra minutes.) Right away, I got to talk to someone. And I found out they were already working on a new update to shave off those few extra minutes. It’s always amazing to see people like Brian who are listening to our industry and responding to our schedules.”
When asked what he liked most about the AutoDCP product, Jim enthused, “Look, it just works, okay? So often these new products come out, and they aren’t built with the proper understanding of the market or the work environment. Brian and his team have been in this business a while. They already figured out what would probably go wrong and what might go wrong and built a tool that can work around those problems. It saved us time, it saved us money and it saved us headaches, because no matter what we threw at AutoDCP, when we pushed the button, it just worked.”