Occasionally people show up and say 'IOP' is outdated, 'SMPTE' is the future. While there is SOME truth in this, it is a fact that currently all (but some very few) commercial DCPs delivered to cinemas are still IOP - features as well as trailers and ads. I could browse through all our DCP CPL/KDM database of the last 3 years and wouldn't find a single occurrence of SMPTE DCPs. Except for those that I created myself with DCP-o-matic for test use only ;-)
There is no penalty with using Interop. Even 25fps Interop, which is 'formally' wrong, works on most servers nowadays.
Some people mix the 'old' MPEG2-Interop with generic 'Interop'. And in so far, they would be right, 'MPEG2-Interop' is not used anymore.
The only DCPs actually being delivered in SMPTE wrapping currently are ATMOS and HFR DCPs, because SMPTE formatting is needed to support HFR and ATMOS. But then even the 5.1 and 7.1 or 24fps versions of these features are delivered in IOP again.
This is a statement from the recent ISDCF meeting notes, regarding the future switch to SMPTE DCPs:
SMPTE-DCP:
Disney’s movie “Finest Hours” in January is planned to be issued in SMPTE-DCP over DCDC locations. Norway and Holland for “Finest Hours” SMPTE-DCP as well. This should be with feature set similar to Test Package B (including CPL metadata and markers).
Warner Bros. is going to release “How to be Single” on Valentines Day. - hard drive and DCDC - fairly wide release - US for sure, probably Canada, not International. Plan for NO Interop-DCP (except in emergency). First drive out 2 weeks prior WITH ISDCF Test content B1/B2 with instructions for playback on all screens.
All other studios interested, but nothing planned at this time.
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So, even in 2016, 'real' SMPTE-DCPs will only turn up in small controlled environments.
Also, bear in mind that 'SMPTE-DCP' actually refers to some formal changes in the wrapping, as well as certain optional extensions (like CPL Metadata, audio track assignments, markers, etc.) .
However, a SMPTE DCP does not need to carry ANY of these extensions, while still being formally correct. Carl may comment on this, but so far I think DCP-o-matic is only creating that smallest denominator when creating SMPTE-DCPs. And that's why they work on existing servers already now.
Even the first commercial SMPTE releases announced for early 2016 will probably be of this type. It will be a long time until the full feature set will be seen in common use. Even then, IOP will still have to be supported for compatibility reasons.
Long story short - use IOP!
- Carsten