Ingest errors using combiner

[Legit Trappings]

Hello, I detected a problem using the DCP-o-matic Combiner and decided to share it to understand whether I did something wrong or if it could be considered as an improvement suggestion. I have been adding subtitles through VFs in many DCPs and, in order to make ingest easier for the operators, I combined OVs and VFs with the tool. I decided to test a few of them randomly at a partner cinema before sending the films for exhibition. Right on the first ingest test I encountered an error, which repeated in other films, allowing me to identify a pattern: all DCPs in which the file "font_0.ttf" was included, both SMPTE and Interop, could not be ingested on IMS1000 and ShowVault servers (the ones I have available for testing). The issue can be easily solved by repackaging the DCP, making the subtitled version an OV. I have not yet had time to understand what causes the Combiner to create the font file in some DCPs and not in others, but in any case, it does not seem to me that this ingest problem should be happening.

Thank you and sorry for my chatgpt english!

[Legit Trappings]

Attaching a screenshot of the error (as you can see, it was not too difficult to figure out what was causing the problem).

[Carsten]

So, at first you have a non-subitlted OV in it's folder, then a subtitled VF in another folder, and then you create a Multi-CPL package using combiner?

Where you successful ingesting these two individual OV and VF DCPs?

[Legit Trappings]

I received the OVs from the filmmakers and created the VFs, then combined both to create DCPs with dual CPLs for each film. Some of those packages failed. After the first failure I ingested both the original DCP and the VF separately and succeeded with both; the issue only occurred with the combined package. One additional detail is that there was a significant change in the folder structure of the combined DCP compared to the VF. In the VF, the subtitle and the font were together in a folder, separate from the CPL, PKL, ASSETMAP, and VOLINDEX, whereas in the combined DCP all files were placed in the same directory

[IoannisSyrogiannis]

This is valuable info, Legit. What you describe, the font file(s) on the base folder of the DCP is no standard practice.

Yet, you write that

[...]all DCPs in which the file "font_0.ttf" was included, both SMPTE and Interop[...]

What does that mean?
What kind of DCP (SMPTE/IOP) is the OV, what the VF and what the final package?
Is it O.K., if you share an image of the "menino" folder created by the combiner?

Also, what version of DCP-o-matic are you using? (So, maybe, we can try to reproduce the same ourselves.)

[Legit Trappings]

The first DCP with error was an interop one. The original DCP was interop, so I created an interop VF, and combined both. The next one that had an error was SMPTE, and was the same error, so I assumed it was not an Interop X SMPTE thing.

My DoM version is 2.18.20

The images attached shows the original DCP folder, the VF I created and the combined (from google drive, cause I deleted the not working DCP from my pc and from the theater). The folder name was menino just in the theater, created to download files one by one to avoid google drive zipping, but not much different from the name of folder created by Combiner (any chance of issue here? most of the time the folder name, with regular characters, does not matter)

[IoannisSyrogiannis]

Well two things strike me as peculiar:
On the files on the computer, there is one DCP with no subtitles. Yet, on the cloud, there are two subtitle files, one with a character more on its name. (...743.xml vs ...7430.xml) If I were to guess, based on that folder on the top, the second has been renamed.
The font file is only one.

I have bad experience from Google Drive, when it came to DCPs.
It would download big files with _001, _002, etc. at the end, before the file extension.
And the text files were often corrupted (possibly different code page, or other formatting factor) and I would need to ask to attach on email and send as zip.

On SMPTE packages, there shouldn't be any .ttf file. The presence of one in the folder seems as strange as the subtitle files being out of folder on IOP. My first blame would have been to the Google Drive.

I will try to experiment with the latest version. Even though there shouldn't be any chance to the combiner. I will let you know (probably tomorrow) if there is something similar going on.

Edit:
Yep. I see the same on Interop:

Combiner2_18_22.PNG

If you haven't, I will file a bug.

[Legit Trappings]

Thank you! I also saw that doubled sub xml, but couldnt check if it was the same case in other errors. For what you said about the font_0 file I believe that I may be giving some wrong info about SMPTE, it may be an interop thing. Im sorry, but in the hurry we are here I probably mixed up everything in the ingests

[Carsten]

Hmm, weird. Guess we need to do some testing around this.

[carl]

This should work better in 2.18.23 - let me know if you still have problems there.