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Topic: Automation won't accept 2nd cue

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-08-2010 03:07 PM

+100 on the cue learn. It has to stay on, for if not, it shuts down the sensor and will eventually shut down the system due to missed cues after a certain timeout.

Not familiar with CNA-200 units, but with my dealings with CPA-10's, you get educated and seasoned real good.

-Monte

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 05-08-2010 07:30 PM

quote: Steve Guttag
Sean...if you LEAVE it in cue learn...it will function just like ANY sequential automation.

unfortunately I can tell from experience that at a commercial 20 screen with many different "Supervisors" operating the booth there is tendency for them to take it out of cue learn or not to engage it. (It's been so long I forget if it stays in cue learn after a power cycle or not)

In theory it is a good idea but in practice causes problems if prints move or when running multiple prints on one screen if the operator forgets to switch programs or forgets to send or relearn the cues... What I DO like is that you can program a show without putting any foil on the print either by running a show in learn mode and standing there and pushing the manual cue button or by entering in the cue times. If i had my own 1 to 3 screen theatre I might consider using this type of automation in that way so that I wouldn't have to put any foil cues on the print.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 05-08-2010 09:22 PM

I leave my Strong automations in SYNC mode all the time so I can have a start cue. Nobody ever shuts off the sync. Just tell them to leave the learn cue thing on, there is no reason to turn it off and it will work better if it is left on. Do not tell trainees about the learn cue button so they will be afraid to touch it.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-09-2010 12:01 AM

quote: Sean McKinnon
unfortunately I can tell from experience that at a commercial 20 screen with many different "Supervisors" operating the booth there is tendency for them to take it out of cue learn or not to engage it.

Dang, who's in charge of upstairs if there is so much of this chaos .... ?

quote: Joe Redifer
I leave my Strong automations in SYNC mode all the time so I can have a start cue.

..which you don't need to do since the automation has a default, 7 second delay before it pops the douser open. It begins in "Cue-1" when you hit the "RUN" button. I used to take care of an 8plex that have CNA-100's and they would leave the "SYNC" engaged for this very reason, and have a cue on the splice where the leader joined the film. I told them that if they turned the "SYNC" off and discontinue that cue, the system will then operate as it was designed to do. They learned quickly on this procedure real good.

quote: Sean McKinnon
if the operator forgets to switch programs or forgets to send or relearn the cues...

Gonna ask a newbie question here since I'm not familar with CNA-200's: Can't you just leave the "Cue Learn" engaged and let the system learn cues on its own as the film is passing through the system? I'm basing this off of CPA-10's were we leave the "Cue Learn" on to get the "L" on the display so the system "learns" the cues as film does its first initial pass through the machine.

-Monte

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 05-09-2010 10:13 AM

But I don't want the 7 or 8 second delay. I hate that shit. I like long leaders and I do not like motoring or winding shit down. The platter for each projector is not the same exact length from the projector on each auditorium. There are so many other advantages to using longer leaders as well. Plus, it doesn't NEED to be countdown leader.

Start cues rule. Sync stays on.

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 05-09-2010 01:50 PM

I wished they'd been able to do that where I worked previously, but they had more auditoriums than the automation supported for sync loops, plus since I wasn't the one in charge I wasn't gonna go around messing with shit to reprogram the normal cueing setup.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 05-09-2010 06:50 PM

On Strong automations, when Sync is set to 0, it is not synced with anything. So they can all be synced to zero. Want to interlock? Change the sync to 1 or some other stupid number on the affected auditoriums.

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 05-09-2010 08:40 PM

quote: Joe Redifer
On Strong automations, when Sync is set to 0, it is not synced with anything. So they can all be synced to zero. Want to interlock? Change the sync to 1 or some other stupid number on the affected auditoriums.

That would've come in handy a year or two ago...

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 05-09-2010 09:12 PM

I apologize for not being currently able to give your past self this information.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-10-2010 03:28 AM

That's what was nice with Christie's 3Q automation: all cue based and no timers. And if you want to do interlock, flip up the "option 1" on any of the consoles in the network and you got it made.

-Monte

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 05-10-2010 03:49 AM

Were the 3Q automations designed and made by Kelmar? I have a couple of the Christie AM8s (made by Kelmar) and they are pieces of utter shit... but at least they have a "sync" button. [Wink]

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 05-10-2010 11:43 AM

quote: Monte L Fullmer
Dang, who's in charge of upstairs if there is so much of this chaos .... ?

The theatre in question I have not worked at in almost ten years I just remember that at the time they opened (before I worked there) they had many problems (Bad switchers, metal shavings from the HVAC ducts imbedded in the millenium's soundhead pinch roller, and automation problems) over time everything got worked out including the automation issues which were almost 100% due to the cna's not being put into cue learn mode. After that though every so often maybe once every 3 to six months a console would get bumped or someon's finger would slip and cue learn would get turned off. The observant people caught it. The thread and walk away type's didn't.

At one point I implemented the same idea as Joe keeping the cna in sync mode so that we could use start cues. It was very effective especially when higher up's directed me to unlock the auto starts (I had locked them out so that the operator had to be there when the machine started) because depending on where the operator had threaded the film they had a tendency to show leader on the screen (one of the reasons I locked out the auto starts) [Roll Eyes]

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