Film-Tech Cinema Systems
  Home     Products     Store     Forum     Warehouse     Contact Us    
Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE


  
my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home
  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Dolby CP500 Password (Page 2)

 
This topic comprises 4 pages: 1  2  3  4   
Author Topic: Dolby CP500 Password
Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001

- posted 06-27-2015 09:10 AM      Profile for Ken Lackner   Email Ken Lackner   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Slightly off topic, and speaking of updating, I very vaguely recall reading a long time ago that there was the potential for software updates to be carried on the SRD track and applied automatically when a print was run. (I have absolutely no clue where I read this; maybe a sales brochure, maybe an online discussion. Who knows?) Did this ever actually come about? I imagine lots of folks would be pretty upset if their equipment was updated without their knowledge or consent. However, if there was a menu option that enabled or disabled this feature and I could choose whether to apply an update if I knew it was carried on a print I was running, that would be pretty cool. I can't recall ever seeing such an option, so I'm guessing this never happened.

Not that any of it matters now. Just curious.

 |  IP: Logged
Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 06-27-2015 10:00 AM      Profile for Marco Giustini   Email Marco Giustini   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The main software was not updated, the Dolby Digital decoding section has been updated a few times.

The feature that enabled the buffer so DD wouldn't drop anymore at reel change was indeed enabled by dynamic update! Crazy, for some black spots on a print...

 |  IP: Logged
Sam D. Chavez
Film God

Posts: 2153
From: Martinez, CA USA
Registered: Aug 2003

- posted 06-27-2015 10:03 AM      Profile for Sam D. Chavez   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
There was this feature and it did happen once with less than wonderful results so the idea was shelved. I don't recall the excat details.

There were also upgrade loops.

 |  IP: Logged
Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

- posted 06-27-2015 11:45 AM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
I would be curious to know if when implemented if it would look to verify it was UPgrading instead of DOWNgrading.

It would be interesting news if a buggy "upgrade" (not that such a thing has ever happened!!! [Razz] ) was on a particular print that saw lots of repertory use and kept downgrading back to the buggy firmware.

Case in point on a Dolby server once you hit 4.5.4.2 or higher a clean install looks at the hardware raid card and does a good upgrade from Dec 2013 that was issued by the manufacturer. However if you ever "downgrade" the Dolby software to below that, it also downgrades that raid card.

Their installer SHOULD have been designed in such a fashion that if newer software was detected on the raid card, that the install would pause for 15 seconds and give the option "newer software detected on raid card: keep and proceed press ENTER or install will downgrade to previous software in 15 seconds".

Sad that these software engineers can't seem to grasp the concept that just because a new version is newer that does NOT guarantee it is an actual "upgrade".

 |  IP: Logged
Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 06-27-2015 12:21 PM      Profile for Marco Giustini   Email Marco Giustini   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
well, if you are downgrading the software, it is assumed that you don't want the new one.

If the software engineer followed your point, the installer would ask if you want to downgrade every piece of software/hardware on the machine. It seems reasonable that if you are downgrading... you're downgrading!

I see your point that you would like the ability to use bigger HDD's on your DSS200 on 4.3.5-9, but then I may want to use the cat 862's FW only and so on.

 |  IP: Logged
Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

- posted 06-27-2015 12:45 PM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
I'm not suggesting permitting people to mismatch items that won't work together, such as the server software vs. media block. However the raid card upgrade simply permitted larger drives and had no influence on the rest of the server. Anytime there is such an "upgrade", there should be some sort of option, even if as I wrote the default is hard-coded into the installer so no action will put it the way they assume everyone would want.

 |  IP: Logged
Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 06-27-2015 02:16 PM      Profile for Marco Giustini   Email Marco Giustini   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Brad Miller
mismatch items that won't work together
That's the point. How do they know if the new FW would work well with the older software? You never know, maybe the newer 862's FW would work great with an older version. The 862 is a video decoder, what the ShowShore is doing is merely passing it data.

 |  IP: Logged
Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

- posted 06-27-2015 03:00 PM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
Really???

Are you not actually reading what I wrote or am I composing my posts so poorly that you cannot follow them?

 |  IP: Logged
Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

- posted 06-27-2015 04:52 PM      Profile for Marcel Birgelen   Email Marcel Birgelen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Sam D. Chavez
There was this feature and it did happen once with less than wonderful results so the idea was shelved. I don't recall the excat details.
Do you recall they put this upgrade code? Was it on a separate reel? Since the bitrate of SRD really is quite limited (320 kbit/s or 40 kbyte/s), you'll need quite a few feet of film to provide any reasonable update, even if it's just a few hundred kilobyte.

A lot of other issues come to mind... what if there is a non-recoverable read error? Rewind and restart? At least during sound playback, you could still fall back to analog or live with a minor glitch every now and then, but a software update cannot. The transfer needs to be flawless. You could compensate with more error checking, but that would hurt your limited bandwidth even more.

On the bright side, you could accompany such a "software upgrade reel" with a great on-screen progress animation. [Wink]

 |  IP: Logged
Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

- posted 06-27-2015 05:18 PM      Profile for Lyle Romer   Email Lyle Romer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Marcel Birgelen
Do you recall they put this upgrade code? Was it on a separate reel? Since the bitrate of SRD really is quite limited (320 kbit/s or 40 kbyte/s), you'll need quite a few feet of film to provide any reasonable update, even if it's just a few hundred kilobyte.
There was leftover bandwidth on the film. Not enough to increase tot he next level of AC-3, but more than need for 320 kbps including FEC. I don't remember the exact bandwidth but it was something in the range of a dial up modem speed. If I recall correctly, it was this data path that was used to send the redundant data blocks for the reel change.

The splice caching update was definitely sent via release prints. I remember our Dolby Digital would drop at the reel changes a many times no matter how carefully they were done with clear tape. After the release went out, it stopped dropping out and our tech never did an update via laptop.

 |  IP: Logged
Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 06-27-2015 05:50 PM      Profile for Marco Giustini   Email Marco Giustini   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Lyle,

Same with my old 500, I thought they had improved the way the prints were printed. Amazing what they could do with so little data!
It would be interesting to know if every print was carrying the latest firmware on it? I mean, what happens if I run a recent print with a 500 which has been on a shelf for 15 years?
I have the feeling the upgrade is part of the printing process and every print has the latest code on it. Even more amazing.

Brad,
No, we simply disagree. It happens.

 |  IP: Logged
Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

- posted 06-27-2015 06:14 PM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Brad Miller
I'm not suggesting permitting people to mismatch items that won't work together, such as the server software vs. media block.
quote: Marco Giustini
You never know, maybe the newer 862's FW would work great with an older version. The 862 is a video decoder, what the ShowShore is doing is merely passing it data.
No, I'm pretty sure you just aren't reading. That happens too.

 |  IP: Logged
Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 06-27-2015 06:33 PM      Profile for Marco Giustini   Email Marco Giustini   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I read your post and you misunderstood mine - or I wasn't very clear.

What I am saying is that if we followed your point every piece of update on a new release should be allowed to be kept in case someone decided to downgrade. You are assuming that the 862 newer FW wouldn't work with a lower version of ShowStore/Manager.

Now, it happens that Dolby set a flag and the ShowManager would say "software mismatch" if you tried to run different versions. But what if they allowed people to run newer versions of mediablock FW with older software? I may want the latest improvements on the mediablock but not the latest bugs on the software. Why not?
Then can we ask the developers to add a line of code to allow us to downgrade just what we want? I don't think so.

If you want the RAID controller to the latest version, you can still upgrade it manually. The file is somewhere in the file system. I feel this is the only viable way to do so; if I were a developer I would do exactly as Dolby are doing.

I call this a disagreement [Smile]

 |  IP: Logged
Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

- posted 06-27-2015 07:50 PM      Profile for Lyle Romer   Email Lyle Romer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Amazing what they could do with so little data!
Plus they also had leftover bandwidth that they decided to use to draw a Dolby logo instead of something useful. I guess even with that space, they couldn't get to the next tier of AC-3.

 |  IP: Logged
Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 06-27-2015 09:48 PM      Profile for Randy Stankey   Email Randy Stankey   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I was under the impression that the double-d was there so that the machine track and decode the dot patterns.

 |  IP: Logged


All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
This topic comprises 4 pages: 1  2  3  4   
   Close Topic    Move Topic    Delete Topic    next oldest topic   next newest topic
- Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:



Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM 6.3.1.2

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.

© 1999-2020 Film-Tech Cinema Systems, LLC. All rights reserved.