Odd question - transferring a DCP from cinema server BACK to a hard drive???

[samstuder]

Pardon me if this is inappropriate for the DoM forum. I've also posted on reddit, and if its unacceptable here I'll take it down. Just hoping to find people familiar with DCPs in a short time frame.

The owner of the theatre seems to think that it's impossible to transfer a DCP back onto a hard drive once its in the cinema server. I have a hard time believing that, but also, DCPs are a strange beast. Basically, I need the audio portion of the DCP that is locked on the cinema server. But that's the question, is it really "locked" on there?

The reason is long but here's the short answer - there was trouble with the video portion upon our pre-screening. I went home to figure it out, dropped my external, and was only able to salvage the project because the theater had a week old DCP on a hard drive. (Don't bother with reminders about backing up your files, I thought Davinci was doing it, turns out I did it incorrectly).

Anyway, I've taken the old DCP and made a .mkv, but if I could just access the file on their server, I could use the up to date audio, and essentially re-create the project as it wa

[carl]

Do you know what make/model of cinema server it is?

[Carsten]

Most do allow to access DCPs - basically, to aid network transfers between multiple servers that will show the same content. Some servers have an explicit 'export' function that usually works towards a locally connected ext2/3 drive. Some servers allow an external computer to connect through FTP and download a DCP or parts of it. But it's in no way standardised, and in most cinemas, it is not a daily procedure, so, local staff will most likely not know about it.