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Author Topic: Carmike installing 2300 Christie/AIX DLP systems Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-03-2007 01:37 PM                     quote: Bobby Henderson Even with just one gigabit ethernet cable, a 6 to 8 hour estimate on moving 250GB of data would amount to pretty poor performance. Even a garden variety USB 2.0 connection can do better than that. Download time from a hot swappable drive of a typical 2 hour file in the Dolby Server is just 20 minuites... from USB just under an hour! but no one has included USB network connections that I am aware of. So if you're going to operate a large multiplex from a central server then time has to be allowed to move files... usually done at night. That is assuming that each screens server has its own droves. Whay Carmike has done with theor SAN Server is to just locate a huge bank of drives at a central point. All of the screens servers do not have alot of storage and the files are served fomr that central point. This is possible with a SAN Server system. In a sense any screen can play any films file but the file originates from the SAN Server. All in all not a bad idea. However I do like the Dolby Servers ability to continue operating with up to two bad drives. I wonder when the SAN system has defective drives... do you loose that films file that happened to reside on the bad drives? Does the screen being served by that drove stop functioning or does the SAN systems droves operate with mirror copies? I found a good explanation of what a SAN Server is for those interested.... This makes it very easy to understand what they are up to adapting these for DC. "Storage Area Network (SAN) is a high-speed subnetwork of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that contains nothing but a disk or disks for storing data. A SAN's architecture works in a way that makes all storage devices available to all servers on a LAN or WAN. As more storage devices are added to a SAN, they too will be accessible from any server in the larger network. In this case, the server merely acts as a pathway between the end user and the stored data. Because stored data does not reside directly on any of a network's servers, server power is utilized for business applications, and network capacity is released to the end user." The Dell SANS will operate at speeds up to 4gbps but you still need that high speed Transceiver and those will make any system like that extremely expensive which is why even medium sized SANS servers with 4mbps connections cost around 20,000.00! The Agilent 4gbps transceiver alone costs in excess of $11,000.00 but that is telecom quality... in other words very well built. That speed won't be seen for a number of years over any small fibre networks at a reasonable price. The reasoning for installing GB optic links now is that the fibre cable costs a little less than its copper equivelent since copper is at an all time high, and that the system is ready for very high speed by just upgrading the transceivers at some time in the future. Keep in mind while you're posting that the DCI security does not allow anything "Garden Variety".  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 02-03-2007 07:16 PM                     The files for the showlists at each screen are stored at those screens. The same files can be/are stored at the LMS but only for purposes of transfering to other screens. The content does not play off of the LMS, it plays off of the Doremi. As far as transfer times, more like 2-3 hours as opposed to 6-8.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-03-2007 07:48 PM                     quote: Mark Gulbrandsen Download time from a hot swappable drive of a typical 2 hour file in the Dolby Server is just 20 minuites... That sounds impressive, but isn't that transfer time coming from a MPEG movie file running at a significantly lower bitrate? The Doremi server, as far as I can tell, only plays JPEG2000 movies that operate at higher bit rates, often up to 250Mb/sec.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-03-2007 09:31 PM                     Bobby, Right now all servers play both MPEG and JPEG files because films exist in both file formats. Eventually MPEG will disappear but not all studios fully support JPEG yet... hopefully sometime soon though. Last I heard Disnay was the only studio shipping 100% JPEG... but that may have changed... hopefully. Not sure if the load time quoted at Dolby was for JPEG or MPEG but a JPEG file couldn't take that much longer. I can find out locally here in SLC though. Also not sure 100% but I think Dolby is the only one supporting hot swappable drives for shipping files on... at Showeast everyone was loading from USB drives... and waiting and waiting and waiting. Some of the DoRemi servers were still loading for the first couple of hours of the show. Again... I encourage you to go to Showeast(not showest). You will be in awe when you see the technology actually working and how it functions and so on. Mark  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-04-2007 07:38 PM                     Not everyone is using JPEG and remeber that the business model still doesn't actually work  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-05-2007 09:00 AM                     quote: Gordon McLeod Not everyone is using JPEG All servers here in the States are thus equipped since atleast Disney is 100% JPEG.. probablt a copuple of other distributers too. It is the ultimate destination for D.C. at least for a while. quote: Gordon McLeod and remeber that the business model still doesn't actually work What buisness model... There isn't one. Mark  |  IP: Logged Jarryd Beard Expert Film Handler Posts: 229 From: Hellertown, PA Registered: Jul 2004 posted 02-05-2007 10:29 AM                     quote: Dustin Mitchell I am pretty sure than once a file begins playing it doesn't matter if a key expires, though I haven't had a chance to test this yet. Can anyone confirm this? It would be great to know for sure. We wouldn't be so concerned about the keys that expire at 11:59.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 02-05-2007 01:27 PM                     The only way to know for sure wouold be to test it. I'll see if I have the opportunity this Thursday.  |  IP: Logged Allison Parsons Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 630 From: East Peoria, IL Registered: Oct 2004 posted 03-14-2007 06:59 PM                        Well, they are hauling in the projectors as of friday. Rumor has it we will be up and running for at least two screens by monday. I have two questions for those who work at Carmike: 1)The managers were told that they had to download the keys from home. The GM does not have internet acess at home, and neither does the assistant. Will Carmike bite the bullet and install it on the computers at work? I'd be up for doing if I get a big enough pay raise....(which won't happen) 2) can you screen movies? Or once you ingest the movie, is it set to play only at the first show on the opening day? Thanks! I'm sure I will have a trillion more Q's in the upcoming weeks.  |  IP: Logged Paul Konen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 981 From: Frisco, TX. (North of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-14-2007 08:07 PM                     Allison, you can screen them. My keys have typically opened up at 6am Thursday morning. Drives don't arrive until Wed of opening. I get the initial keys on a thumb drive shipped separately from the drive. Any holdover keys are sent via email to the theatre address and then unzipped onto a thumb drive. Are you also getting the storage / distribution system?  |  IP: Logged Allison Parsons Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 630 From: East Peoria, IL Registered: Oct 2004 posted 03-14-2007 08:32 PM                        Hi Paul! The problem is, is that we DO NOT have internet connection on the computer at the theater. GKC did, but Carmike uninstalled it when they took over. We have a DSL but no internet access. We've already gotten two movies in (hard drives). But like I said, the projectors themselves are coming in on Friday/Saturday. They have the sound cabinets, exhaust systems and most of the wires hooked up already. As for the storage/distro drive: If thats the big tall cabinet that can injest all the movies and you can tell which movie goes to what theater in just one counsel, then yes. But that won't be hooked up for a while. I have NO idea on what does what, where goes where, so your going to have to excuse my lack of knowledge and terms for a month or so  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-14-2007 10:37 PM                        Allison: I take it that your location is not running the famous OS IQ-2000. If it were, you would be on a DSL connection and would have access to get the keys emailed to you. I know MY opinion on it.. it is NOT the manager's, or ANY staff members responsibility to pay for a service AT HOME for any WORK RELATED item/duties. Carmike should bone up and pay the damn money for the DSL line and a PC. Of course, with the DEEP FREEZE they are in right now, that's not likely to happen... I am still amazed, two years after leaving, that they are still so penny wise and dollar foolish.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-14-2007 11:03 PM                        Are the "keys" that big of a file that they'd require a high-speed connection?  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 03-14-2007 11:10 PM                    no, you can use a 56k modem if you have to.  |  IP: Logged Allison Parsons Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 630 From: East Peoria, IL Registered: Oct 2004 posted 03-14-2007 11:49 PM                        Jason, Yes, we have the IQ2000. I guess I should say we do not have a way to get on the 'world wide web'. Our computer does not have an option to surf the internet. Does downloading a key require web access? My opinion on certain, um.... issues ...during this whole process will probably not be said since I still work for the company  |  IP: Logged

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