my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Smart MOD IIB: Good or not good? (Page 4)

This topic comprises 5 pages: 1  2  3  4  5

Author Topic: Smart MOD IIB: Good or not good? Ian Parfrey Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1049 From: Imbil Australia 26 deg 27' 42.66" S 152 deg 42' 23.40" E Registered: Feb 2009 posted 08-20-2010 08:12 AM                     quote: Randy Stankey But, unfortunately, I just got a 50% pay cut last week. Then do 50% less work. One of these days, those idiot bosses will realise that it is the ground level workers who give the fat cats their company's reputation. Good pay = good workers = good reputation. Bad pay = bad workers = bad reputation. Still, I guess they have to pay for new company cars somehow.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-20-2010 08:17 AM                     If things don't get better I'll be doing 100% less work there and 100% more work some place else. I'm already printing the resumes, hence the silence except for an occasional random comment.  |  IP: Logged Ian Parfrey Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1049 From: Imbil Australia 26 deg 27' 42.66" S 152 deg 42' 23.40" E Registered: Feb 2009 posted 08-20-2010 08:23 AM                     Good on you Randy. From what you've posted here, you have gone above and beyond the call, and to cop that kind of cut just isn't fair- to the patrons who expect quality, but particularly to you and your skill base. I'm willing to bet both nuts that there are venues crying out for your kind of effort, and are willing to value that accordingly. Best of luck, mate, and I hope you get some decent recognition.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-20-2010 10:36 AM                     I just had a nice visit with the operator at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center's "Big Green Screen" theater last evening. We had a nice chat for about 20-30 minutes and I got a tour of the booth. He said to drop off the resume. Already have a dozen of them printed up. Tom Ridge Center website: http://www.trecpi.org/ I have called the GM at Cinemark Tinseltown where I used to work. As you know, payroll is directly proportional to the number of butts they put in seats. Now that we're going into the fall doldrums, there isn't much room. I am on his list, through. I'll be dropping off a resume to make it official. But, honestly, there just isn't much more for movies in this town. There is a 6-screen dollar theater but that is owned by Cinemark, too. I'll drop off a resume there but I don't have a lot of expectations. After that, I don't know what to do. I might have to commute or travel for work. Ever since last week life has felt like a toothache that won't go away.  |  IP: Logged Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-20-2010 10:55 AM                     Randy I hope you go somewhere where your dedication will be appreciated. Now you can hook the reverse scan directly on the amp of the centre speaker without any pre-amp! Demetris  |  IP: Logged Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-20-2010 11:08 AM                     Randy, If I can be of any help at Presque Isle, let me know. I don't remember, but I think thats a Kinotone machine in there. I spent a few days there training the operaters on the sound system after the install. I didn't do the install, just the training on the sound system.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 08-20-2010 01:37 PM                     quote: If I can be of any help at Presque Isle, let me know. I don't remember, but I think thats a Kinotone machine in there. I don't think I could trust the help from someone who can't spell the brand name right. Just tweaking your tail Richard. Randy I work with Kinoton machines and can also help you out if needed. Best of luck in your job search.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-20-2010 01:37 PM                     I got a tour of the booth last night. It's a Kinoton 4-deck platter and a Kinoton 35/70 projector. It's real nice! It'll take me some time to get up to speed but I don't think it'll be a problem. I'll probably need a check ride and some break-in time but the learning curve looks quite manageable. It's probably not going to be full time. That's why I hadn't applied there sooner. But, now I have nothing to lose.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 08-20-2010 01:40 PM                     Cool deal, you'll like working there. The platter is one of the best, especially for 70mm.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-20-2010 02:28 PM                     Randy... BEst of luck to you where ever you end up working. You're one of the few that shows he really cares about the work he does! You will go far in a short time! Mark  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-20-2010 03:40 PM                     Thanks! It's pretty hard not to be depressed, right now. I just dropped off my resume at the Tom Ridge Center. I dropped off a resume at my old job, Tinseltown and at the dollar theater. I don't know what will come of those. We're heading into the fall doldrums. Payroll at movie theaters is tight at this point. I can't expect to just walk back into my old theater and pick up right where I left off. I did get a tip that Cinemark might be recruiting some engineers in this area but I have yet to investigate that information. I'd love to get that position. I'm feeling a lack of confidence right now. I've been out of the business in a real sense for years. I know I'm pretty rusty. It took me a long time to tune up the A-chain on my Simplex when I just did it. It's something I used to be able to do, top to bottom in 15 minutes. I know... It's practice. I'll get the groove back. Then I think about all the digital shit I have to catch up on. I'll learn it. It's just hard to keep my spirits up right now.  |  IP: Logged Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-21-2010 01:48 AM                     Randy look how excited you look at your avatar pic How can you be feeling down. Listen, all troubles are made for something good to come out or at least that is what I want to believe. People with dedication like most in these forums are hard to find and you are not an exception. You might have a hard time at first finding a rewarding job but when you get into it I feel confident you will be recognised sooner than you think. Keep your spirit up and don't feel dismayed. And just for the sake of thread conversation, I did end up changing one of the Smart MOD6 units with a CP45 and the client is more than happy with the result. Demetris  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-21-2010 10:55 AM                     There's a lot of B.S. that goes on in the background here which I don't talk about to most people. You have heard bits and pieces but few have heard the whole story. Many people who have heard my stories think I'm just bitching and making stuff up. There are days when I have to fight to keep a positive attitude. Some days are better than others. The last two weeks have been difficult. My boss keeps asking me, over and over, "You're sure this will improve the sound?" I keep telling him, over and over, "Yes, yes, yes!" I have made it clear that there is NO WAY to make the sound 100% better just because of the design of the room. I tell him that the only way to get "perfect" sound is to put sound insulation on the walls and ceiling. Side note: Aren't there some venues which have movable baffles to change the acoustics of the hall from "live" for stage performances and "dampened" for movies and things? I seem to remember seeing pictures of a venue that had large, black tapestries along the walls which were made of woven fiberglass or something. They rolled up like window shades. When you wanted "live" you pressed a button and motorized devices caused them to roll up. When you wanted "dampened" they rolled down. I don't know... maybe I'm dreaming. Anyway, I'm telling him that there are other benefits besides simply improving the sound. 1) We will have the ability to use Dolby Digital for films. I won't be working there forever. Somebody is going to have to do A-chains on that projector at least once per year. He's not going to pay me $50/hr with a 4-hour minimum to do it for him as a private contractor. He's going to need redundancy in the sound system. Dolby will provide that redundancy. 2) We have to play the Met Opera on the same sound system. Right now, we are kludging the system together with "wire and gaff tape" to make the sound for the Met. A CP650 natively understands the AC-3 encoding the Met Opera uses. No more using signal combiners and junky solutions to "just make it work." The same thing applies here with DVDs and Blu-Ray. 3) Whether or not you like the Smart Mod-IIB, you must admit that its days are numbered. The company is out of business and there is NOBODY who officially supports those processors anymore. There might be a chance of finding somebody who will do repairs on the Smart Mod-IIB at a price. Furthermore, it will probably take a minimum of two weeks to get it repaired. I'm talking about an afternoon's work to un-install it and box it up. One to three days to send it to the repair shop, wherever that may be. One to three days for it to be shipped back to us and one day to reinstall it and test it. That's one week right there. If the repair shop takes just one week to repair the thing, that's two weeks. We're talking about simple stuff like slapping in a new card or replacing a chip. We haven't even considered the prospect of component-level debugging and repair. We haven't considered the possibility that the repair shop will have to order parts. It is easy to consider that a blown processor could put them out of business for two weeks or a month or even more. Replace the processor now while you still have somebody who can do it on-staff. Save yourself the trouble right now. Get a processor that can be repaired in a short time. If it breaks, order a new card, slap it in and be on-screen again in a day or two. 4) Maintenance. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the CP650 automatically adjust the LED brightness in the sound head in the fly? Even if it's doesn't, aren't there just a few clicks in the menu system to automatically calibrate it? Meaning that the current sound tech from Fact Audio (mentioned in another message thread) could read the manual and do this kind of "upkeep" if it was necessary. 5) Michael (my boss) has to consider that I might not be working for him very long. I won't be there to "just fix it." There are many times, virtually daily, when I make repairs and adjustments to things. It's almost transparent. If you weren't there when I did it, you might not even know it happened. Even then, you would have to know the significance of what I just did or you wouldn't understand. I won't be there to just tweak the lateral alignment on the sound head. This is a 10-second adjustment but you have to know how to do it or else you could end up being dead in the water. I won't be there to power-cycle the cinema processor if it locks up after it receives a static electricity shock while somebody goes to adjust the volume. Yes! The Smart processor is known to do that. Search the forums. I posted the question myself. There are a dozen little things that you have to know about the Smart processor. You can only know them by experience. The A-chains on a Mod-IIB have to be perfect. Even a little drift can cause them to sound like shit. They can be quirky and stop working for no apparent reason. I know a trick to get a really good A-chain on a Smart. A lot of you guys might know it too. I have a tektronix 465b scope. It has an A-B add function plus polarity invert. Both the left and the right preamps on the A-chain have to be EXACTLY at the same level. Using the scope to make them perfect can do a better job than even the null meter inside the processor. This is "shit" you just have to know. It's non-intuitive. Even if somebody explained it to you, it isn't everyday knowledge to somebody who doesn't have experience. If you don't replace that processor with something more up-to-date... something more future-proof... you could find yourself out of business until you can repair or replace it. There is likely to be no repairing it. You might be forced to replace it. I have found a good price on a used/refurbished Cp650 right now. So, you claim your budget is being cut and you can't pay me to do my job? Well, you could find your ass out in the street a year from now when you have to spend THREE TIMES the price you would pay today! Your car is running out of gas but you still have 1,000 more miles to drive before you get home. Will buying premium gas make your car run better? It might. But, even if your car runs exactly the same as it did on cheap, low octane gas, you still need to buy gas or else you might find yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way to get home. I'm offering you a full tank of premium gas at one-third of the price. You don't have to pay but, be warned! This is the last gas station for the next 100 miles! What's your decision?  |  IP: Logged Rodrigo Martins Film Handler Posts: 2 From: Além Paraíba/MG, Brazil Registered: Aug 2010 posted 10-20-2010 12:00 AM                     Hi Randy. I don't know jf you have solved your problem but I had a very similar situation ( in all aspects ) here. What I did was very unusual: a couple days of a very detailed sound system alignment with SIA SmaartLive ( I have some very peculiar situations here ) and after that I recreate the DolbySurround decode on a Yamaha O1V96 digital console and retired my SmartMod8 processor. Believe it or not, was an amazing and huge improvement. I can now either fine adjust my system with a laptop trough WIFI seating in the middle of the room. For more details, mail me. Good luck!  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-21-2010 07:34 AM                     a crappy-sounding room will undermine the benefit a good-sounding processor. given the cost of the dolby 650 processor -- and the fact that your boss doesn't seem too discriminating about sound quality -- i would recommend trying to get the room fixed first and/or upgrading to a less-expensive processor, like a used cp-65 or even a cp-45. i know the MOD-IIB processor quite well and i can tell you that it is capable of producing good sound (for its price point) -- your particular unit may be dying but i suspect it is not the biggest culprit in your overall problem. my concern (for you) is that if you talk your boss into putting a lot of money into processor -- and there isn't a significant net improvement in sound quality -- your reputation is on the line (and your boss probably won't have any money left to fix the room). p.s. -- how's the job hunt? did u get the gig that u mentioned??  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 5 pages: 1  2  3  4  5

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.