The Difference Between DCP and The Other Two Distribution Methods

For all intents and purposes, DCP (Digital Control Program) is a form of hardware-based logical disarray control. It is essentially a digital-to-analog converter that takes analog signals and translates them to digital signals on a particular network's computer network. With DCP, you can create an interface between the hard drive and other peripheral devices like printers, scanners, cameras, modems, USB drives, and other network hardware via satellite uplink. A DCP enabled device will then be able to communicate with the PC or host operating system over the network. With this control, a user will be able to do many things like copy files, change settings on the hard drive, and do other tasks.

One of the most common uses for dcp distribution is when a person owns a dcp enabled device and wants to transfer the video from one location to another. For instance, if an entrepreneur owns a movie theater and wants to transfer his or her favorite movie to a laptop, he or she would need to use a dcp software to connect the laptop to the theater's video monitor. The dcp software will then enable the laptop to view the movie through the small screen at the movie theater. The advantage of this partial dcp distribution is that the laptop or computer using the dcp distribution can also use a standard input/output device (SIOCD). This means that the owner can control what is displayed on the computer monitor. For example, if someone desires to see only the first half of the movie, he or she can simply "set it to skip" the part that is missing.

Another popular use for dcp distribution is when the authoring author wishes to provide a preview of the work he or she has produced. One popular format used is the JPEG 2021 file format. JPEG 2021 is widely used as a universal file format, but it has some limitations when converting it to dcp. One limitation is the lossy compression quality of the image. Thus, although the authoring author can provide the preview in JPEG 2021 format, the final file created may not be as good as the original in JPEG.

Another format often used is the proprietary format of the DCP. Although the DCP allows the authoring author to control the display and playback of the video content, the file can only be decoded on machines which support the decryption layer. One disadvantage of the JPEG compression is that the compression can only be performed on the image data, not on the metadata or the layout data. Thus, although the JPEG2000 format can compress the file size, the image quality will be lower than with the DCP.

The last type of distribution is the Multi CPL distribution. A DCP compatible system must have support for at least one CPL decryption layer and at least one DCP compatible file format. Multi CPL is ideal for DCP systems that need to show a lot of interactive animation or for systems that have to support a wide variety of display formats, such as wmf and so forth.

For video games, DCP is very important because there are certain standards and limitations that must be followed. For instance, since the game has to be submitted for certification and Licensing, it must conform to the Video Game Content Rating. The game would be a failure if it does not meet this requirement. The authoring software for the game could only compress the audio and the video, which is why DCP is much better than the other two distribution methods mentioned. The authoring author must ensure that he complies with the Video Game Content Rating.