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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Digital Cinema Forum   » I have crossed over to the Dark Side...My first D-Cinema install (Page 4)

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Author Topic: I have crossed over to the Dark Side...My first D-Cinema install Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-13-2011 08:06 PM                     Scott: They have edit facilities available for combining clips, and they always rip the result to a dvd (or run it off a laptop as a .mov or .avi file). The Mini DV deck was mainly intended for the now-defunct "Film and Video Center" (FVC) program, where outside filmmakers have brought in MiniDV and DVcam tapes in the past. Those desiring to tape lectures have used film studies students to tape the lectures. I had thought about a fixed camera for use in that room but they didn't want it. James: Yep, we also have a student org (ASUCI) that deals with a lot of the film screenings (mainly sneak previews) now. The FVC program used to be my sweet deal there, anywhere from 8 to 14 35mm screenings per Quarter. I too have threatened to rip the balls off of ANY student or others who try to bring recording devices into any of my screenings. Some of the ASUCI shows have the full Security presence, and laptops, phones, etc. have to be left outside. On one show they even took MY cell phone away during the screening.  |  IP: Logged James Wallor Film Handler Posts: 26 From: Houghton, MI, United States Registered: Mar 2011 posted 12-13-2011 11:38 PM                     We used to deal with 35mm, but we haven't had a 35mm print since April of 2010. Everything since has been digital. I'd love to get another 35mm print, but there's a bit of work that needs to be done on our projector before it's ready to be used again, haha. Also, lucky them. We haven't had a sneak preview since Adventureland. But standard, we do at least 14 movies per semester. Often times we'll show something for another student org, but that's almost always something on DVD. Most orgs can't fork out the $1K to show the type of shows we normally do. Are there pictures in the warehouse of the setup they (ASUCI) use?  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-14-2011 10:58 PM                     Yep James, they run in HIB 100, pics are in the warehouse HERE The install I am speaking of in this thread is in the room I installed in late 2009, full series of pics will be sent in for the warehouse soon. LOL if I recall, Adventureland was also our last sneak preview.  |  IP: Logged James Wallor Film Handler Posts: 26 From: Houghton, MI, United States Registered: Mar 2011 posted 12-15-2011 01:16 AM                     I thought that might be it Tony, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for the confirmation though. Do you think it will ever be used for digital movies?  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-15-2011 09:52 PM                     You're welcome James. I have been pushing for a D-Cinema system for HIB 100, but it may never happen unless a donor steps up..or they see how it works in the room I am doing (with only 94 seats) and realize they NEED one in the "big room". The student organization is looking into funding a setup for a room in the Student Center, but it is not an ideal room.  |  IP: Logged James Wallor Film Handler Posts: 26 From: Houghton, MI, United States Registered: Mar 2011 posted 12-17-2011 12:00 PM                     It worked great for us and some other places. Can throw them This article too, if it helps. Hurry up and get pictures up, I'm eager to see this  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-29-2011 11:03 PM                     Update: After getting the projector very late (Fri 23rd) the install is almost done. I have pretty much finished all the wiring, conduits and so forth. I will be firing up the projector tomorrow and test with the alternate content. I will be getting a Trail Mix drive for testing next week, and the "secret" integrator will come out to do the fine alignment on the projector. It has been a much longer process that I wanted it to be because first off, due to a delay in payments, all the equipment got ordered later than I wanted, my rigger was tied up until today when we got the projector shelf reset for the much larger projector, and the AMX programmer I planned on using pissed me off so now I am going to have to do all the new code myself. But overall it has gone together pretty well. I have been way too busy to take "milestone" pics (and the booth was a disaster area for most of the time) so y'all will have to wait for the finished product. Stay tuned...my journey toward the Dark Side continues...  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-30-2011 10:36 AM                     This is becomming more of a black hole than just a dark side! You do all the grunt work and then give the gravy job to some one else?? It's too easy... You hand a wireless node on the local switch and sit in the auditorium and do all the adjustments... Learning to navigate the software can take a little while but you have to learn eventually. Mark  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-30-2011 09:41 PM                     Mark, I would prefer to handle all the projector setup myself, but I do not have the the color spectrometer to set the color balance properly, and more importantly I do not have the time to play around with it, this whole project is already behind schedule. If and only if I get into a situation where I can line up several more installs, you can bet I will get all the necessary gear and training and do the adjustments myself. On a humorous note, I powered up the projector today.....but couldn't even access the LampLoc to set the Xenon lamp...because I don't have the default passwords to get into the Admin or Service menus. Doh!! Oh, and the "lamphouse" setup on this projector is TIGHT....this was the first time in over 20 years I was ever nervous installing a bulb...and also the first time in over 25 years that I wore the full protection gear.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-02-2012 06:16 PM                     Tony, I'm just yankin yer chain but what I said is absolutely true! I'm glad you're not throwing int the towel and I think you'll be good with digital. Mark  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 01-02-2012 09:11 PM                     Thanks Mark. We'll see how this one turns out to see if I am DCI compatible.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 01-06-2012 11:07 PM                     Well, the results are in. After some more music-hall comedic errors and so forth, the system is up and running. The Christie projector rocks in both light output and image quality is much better than expected. (Of course I am on a fairly small screen (7'h x 16'wide) so I actually have too much light.) Convergence and boresight needed only minor tweaks, I set the masking stops, we set up the color settings to spec and it all went well. The Server and my "remote Client" host computer put up a fight for the IT settings but that got solved quickly. (Mainly my fault as I misunderstood a few things and set some things incorrectly.) We fired off the registration form to Dolby so they can get content. There is still more control integration to be done with the AMX system, but it is working to the level that they can control Alternate Content for classes which start Monday. Overall, I would say that I did indeed enjoy this first foray in the Dark Side, and I actually look forward to doing more. Now that I have the initial system done, I can say that future installs will go smoother, but also acknowledge that I have a lot more to learn. God help us all, I may actually begin to like D-Crapema(TM) and have to change the trademark I established.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-08-2012 08:45 AM                     I hope you put the server, projector electronics and associated stuff on a UPS!! You can put up a sign that reads... "After powering on the server go for coffee and come back in a half hour."  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-08-2012 11:52 AM                     Mark, have you been smoking the weed with Tom again?  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 01-08-2012 11:56 AM                     EDIT: Good one Brad!! And Mark, what server out there takes a half-hour to boot up from a cold start? The DSS 200 only takes a few minutes. And the projector cooldown cycle is 10 minutes max. END EDIT Mark, Mark, Mark.....you know me better than that. Of course all the vitals are on a UPS.....a 2200va Middle Atlantic to be precise. The following are all UPS protected: AMX system power, Dolby CP650, QSC DCM10, Projector electronics, DSS200 (both supplies), video scaler, remote client computer and monitor. The total load on the UPS is around 40% so I have about 15-25 minutes of runtime in an outage. The MA UPS is a pretty solid unit, uses a 48v battery pack, additional packs can be added hot at any time, and is a 2RU very heavy chassis. The only thing I am not fond of is their monitoring software, it is buggy. But it does log a lot of parameters and can send email alerts for any of the parameters. Pics will be coming to the warehouse in the next week or so...  |  IP: Logged

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