5.1 and 7.1 files

[Armand Daiguillon]

Hi all,

Got a question. (shocking ...lol)

We recently upgraded to 7.1 sound in all our auditoriums and we are having a weird issue.
Our hard drives on the projectors are running out of space, where before we would just have the 5.1 version on the projector now the projector wont work without both the 5.1 and 7.1 versions of the files.
For example, Underwater opens this week, the 5.1 file lists as 120gb in the projector content manager (Nec 900c) and with it is another 7.1 version that is 128 gb.
Although only the 7.1 is listed in the playlist, if you delete the 5.1 file it wont work. Of course the 5.1 file will always play but the 7.1 file (although larger) will not play without 5.1 also being present.

Why is this happening ? If all our movies are now going to take up twice the space on each projector ...its going to be a problem.

Any advice on how to fix this, if even possible ?


Thanks !!

[Steve Guttag]

You're misinterpreting what is happening. The 5.1 version is the "OV" version (Original Version) which contains all of the picture elements, captions as well as the 5.1 audio. The 7.1 version is a "Version File" (VF) which JUST CONTAINS THE AUDIO elements for 7.1. The extra space need to add 7.1 is just the space for the those audio elements (under 1GB, typically). The file manager will show the larger size because once it is combined with the picture elements, yes it is essentially the same size as the 5.1 and possibly slightly larger those mostly the same size. The Server isn't storing two complete sets of picture and caption files, it just stores one set of each. The CPL (Composition Play List) file tells the server what the elements are that make up that show (5.1 or 7.1 or whatever format) so when you run the 7.1 version, you are really selecting the 7.1 CPL...which is just an XML file that has the instructions of what files to play.

You HAVE to have the OV version (5.1) because without it, all you have are audio files but again, the increase in server consumption is minimal (less than one trailer). If you are running out of space, it is something else that is consuming the space (too many features or, every bit as likely, too many trailers/ads that haven't been deleted. They may be only 2-5GB each but it adds up FAST).

[Armand Daiguillon]

So when the projector lists the 5.1 file as using 120 gb and the 7.1 file as using 128 gb in the projector's content list that is not accurate ?
If the 7.1 is just 8gb why not list it as 8gb and the 5.1 as 120gb ? It seems that is a very confusing way to represent things ?
Any idea why they list it that way ?

[Frank Cox]

The files are shared between versions. So you'll have a file (or several) with the video portion and a file (or several) with the 5.1 audio and a file (or several) with the last few channels to make up the 7.1 audio.

If you have 5.1 audio you ingest the 5.1 version and get the video and the 5.1 sound.

If you have 7.1 audio you ingest the 5.1 version to get the video and the 5.1 sound, and then you ingest the 7.1 audio to get the "6 and 7" audio on top of what you already had.

In other words the 7.1 version depends on the presence of the 5.1 version since it uses those files. You can look at the 7.1 version as being just kind of an add-on to the 5.1 version.

[Steve Guttag]

Furthermore, from a content transfer standpoint *server to server or LMS to server...it has to move 128GB, in this example for the 7.1 version because it will move all of that content. As far as the CPL is concerned, it is the full size...as far as storage space is concerned, your server for the individual screen, if it has both versions, will only need the capacity for the actual file sizes. You may not agree with it, but that is the way it is.

[Marcel Birgelen]

You may not agree with it, but that is the way it is.

Is this the day we started to accept Alternate Facts as being a thing here? :P

So when the projector lists the 5.1 file as using 120 gb and the 7.1 file as using 128 gb in the projector's content list that is not accurate ?
If the 7.1 is just 8gb why not list it as 8gb and the 5.1 as 120gb ? It seems that is a very confusing way to represent things ?
Any idea why they list it that way ?

It is both accurate and confusing... But those who built those machines also expect a bit of knowledge from the operator. You're not going to operate a train without knowing what the dials and switches mean, do you?

The 5.1 version takes 120 GByte and the 7.1 version takes 128 GByte. Yet since they all use the same "OV" file, they don't add up to 248 GByte.

Would it be better to list the 7.1 version as 8 GByte? Wouldn't that be equally confusing? Wouldn't you say... hey, how can the 5.1 version be a whopping 120 GByte and the one with more audio channels just 8 GByte?