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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Digital Cinema Forum   » Best Server? (Page 3)

This topic comprises 6 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6

Author Topic: Best Server? Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-22-2012 08:02 PM                        Agreed with Brad. I just get a bit annoyed when people use the word "scam" to mean "not a good value for money." It is fairly high on my list of over-used and mis-used terms. If GDC claimed that their server would cure cancer and bring world peace, that would be a scam (unless it did those things). If they claim that it will play movies and it does, then it is not a scam. It may or may not be a good value, but it is not a scam. And I agree that it would be unethical for a dealer to recommend a product to a customer because it benefits him to sell that product when he actually knows that some other product would serve the customer's needs better.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-22-2012 10:16 PM                     I would say the only unethical part is that they charge for their 4K license on the existing IMB and it really doesn't pass true 4K...I doubt many/any customers know that and most installers. it is like a dirty little secret of the industry. Their new IMB due out any minute is said to be a true 4K IMB.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-22-2012 11:32 PM                     Steve, to play devil's advocate, (and this one works from either a dealer OR an end user standpoint) if you asked GDC if there was any fee to run their VPF reporting software and they said no, and then after you made the sale/purchased the equipment they said you had to buy the TMS license for every screen, would you feel that careful bit of word shifting was unethical, or was it your fault for not phrasing the question in a very specific and careful manner? Likewise to further play devil's advocate, if you owned a theater chain and told GDC you were buying all 4K projectors did they have a 4K solution, and they told you they had a 4K IMB and you went and bought them, would you feel it was unethical to not tell you that even though it was *technically* a 4K image, it wasn't really a 4K image (due to the downscaling and upscaling)? To say something is unethical or not requires a bit closer examination, and often requires putting yourself into other's shoes. YOU know what specific questions to ask, and you are stubborn enough to keep rephrasing the question over and over until you get the true answer out of someone, but few other people know what or how to ask things of this nature.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-23-2012 12:06 AM                     to date i have nothing but praise for gdc techsupport i findthe server interface a bit cludgy but tms is fine and we have had no problems  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-23-2012 12:46 AM                     Fully agree, "Gord", I've worked with GDC servers and find them very reliable and everything else with them in tune with the quality. Just that we were using 2K units with NEC 1600C units at my prior occupation. quote: Brad Miller but few other people know what or how to ask things of this nature. Like the .05% of us who knows this stuff, where the 99.95% haven't a clue ... and most of the decisions are simple boardroom decisions. quote: Scott Norwood unethical for a dealer Gee, don't we see this at some high volume, major name brand car dealerships?  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-23-2012 06:37 AM                        We have had THAT problem from the beginning of time. Louis  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 07-23-2012 09:21 AM                       As cinema dealer it has always been our role to advise the non technical cinema owners on getting full value by buying good product. Sometimes they like bling and are subject to a pitch from unethical manufacturers sales reps and all involved get stuck with the outcome.  |  IP: Logged Marnix Koster Film Handler Posts: 12 From: Wehl / Gelderland / Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 07-24-2012 02:46 AM                     Here in the netherlands we had a project to upgrade all cinema's to digital with the help of the government and other organisations. Because of that project also small independent arthouses (run by volunteers) could upgrade. I am a volunteer at one of those small theaters. AAM runs the project here and also has made a list of equipment we could choose from. To help us advise on the equipment we got two local service company's over and check our location. They both gave us an different advise. After that AAM comes over to check en 'advise' and also gave a different advice. Our opinion was that AAM wants us to choose the equipment they make most profit on. They local company don't make profit on the projector/server equipment because those are delivered from aam through the project. What we did is take a look at different cinema and made an appointment to check the equipment they use. And made our choice based on advise and what we see on different locations. What did we choose? A Christie CP2210 and a Dolby DSS200. The dolby was choosen because the easy interface. Our first choice of projector was Barco, but we needed to change our cooling what as going to cost us a lot. The Christie was easier on the cooling.  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-24-2012 06:36 AM                     Brad: Your instructions for replacing a Doremi flash card are inaccurately over complicated. There's no need to do anything to the RAID. Unless somehow damaged in the event that killed the flash card it remains intact and all content and playlists are still present. There's no need to change the default VNC password: if you're using VNC you need a secure network segment: it's inherently insecure and password obscurity is pointless. Network and macros do have to be set up. Doremi realized that's a pain and provide a very simple alternative. Once a server is set up, you run a single terminal command as root OR ingest a backup package and reboot. This backs up all individual settings to the RAID hard drives. If the flash chip fails you execute another command or ingest the recovery package and reboot after replacing the flash card. Done. The system is on line and fully functional. You also simplify restoring a Dolby system. My understanding: Create a boot CD (from an ISO file available only to dolbysecure.com registered techs). Then insert this CD, reboot the system with it, and remove CD. Then configure the system (not so simple if you chose to change from the default "our way or the highway" IP scheme). Then recreate or ingest any serial automation cues. And then I don't know if the content is still there, I haven't done this yet (very few DSS200 systems under our support).  |  IP: Logged Olivier Lemaire Expert Film Handler Posts: 118 From: Paris, Ile de France, France Registered: Jan 2010 posted 07-24-2012 12:04 PM                        Dave: that's what Brad call "playing devil's advocate" More seriously, seems to be a consensus about Doremi and Dolby (some will prefer one brand, others will prefers the other brand) as "best (liked) media block servers".  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-24-2012 03:36 PM                     Dave, fair enough on the vnc password, but I've only changed a SSD on a Doremi a couple of times where the raid wasn't damaged. That shouldn't be the case, but it has been. In fact as of today I have had an over-100% failure rate on the SSDs in 4 year's time. That just isn't a problem with Dolby. FYI changing the Dolby IP scheme is essentially the same as on a Doremi, just a slightly different layout. You would probably be quite surprised to see just how similar they are. I would like to see your detailed instructions if you have the time to write it out though. I'm just doing it the way the doremi guys taught me, but if you've got some tricks, please share (and be sure to tag any files needed that are only available to Doremi registered techs from the FTP site).  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-24-2012 04:52 PM                     An Installation disc on Dolby WILL wipe the drive...there will not be any content there as such...they don't leave it hanging about for just anyone to "try." The time it takes to set the Dolby IP is on the order of a minute, two tops for an experienced tech...15 minutes for your first time through. Reloading default content is as fast as your Ethernet is (I keep a copy on my laptop and our local computers)...the rest of the content will need to be reloaded via normal means. Having to deal with the serial commands via a USB stick is definitely something I'm not fond of, I'll admit that. On an installation, it isn't a big deal since I have them handy and it is just part of the procedure.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-24-2012 05:07 PM                     Ignoring posts directed at you? That doesn't sound like the normal Steve I know.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-24-2012 09:16 PM                     If you are referring to the unethical post...I have never been told I didn't need to get their TMS for VPF reporting so my experience is inconsistent with yours. I have already commented on the sudo 4K IMB and stated that I thought it was a cheat if it did not process the 4K image as 4K.  |  IP: Logged Antti Nayha Master Film Handler Posts: 268 From: Helsinki, Finland Registered: Oct 2008 posted 07-25-2012 04:13 AM                     Going a bit off-topic, but where does the DSS200 store the KDM files? I recently upgraded the 500 GB hard drives on a DSS200 to 1 TB ones: powered the server down, removed all drives and mounted the new ones, turned on the server and reinstalled the OS (by first installing an earlier version and then upgrading to 4.3.5.13). All content was gone as expected, but to my surprise all the KDM's were still there. Also, I don't know if this is a common phenomenon, but after the OS reinstall all the projector cues had disappeared from the "Build" interface. Running the .13 upgrade disc again fixed that.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 6 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6

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.