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Author Topic: End Of Production GDC Models Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-04-2018 06:00 PM                     It's the mediablocks that you won't get Mark. That is what won't be available (I've asked). Yes, the other parts will be but those aren't the big failure parts. The mediablock to MB or OS drive failure rate is about 20:1. And no, Dolby never did a trade in on their DCinema stuff...they did have the "wanted dead or alive" sound processor thing to sell the CP45.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-04-2018 06:25 PM                        quote: Mark Gulbrandsen You should also change the battery in the ICP at the same time. There are two batteries on the ICP board. The real time clock battery is user replaceable (BR3032), and TI recommend replacing it every five years. If it dies while in use, that's no big deal - you can reset the ICP's clock after installing the new one. As long as you have spares on hand, you don't even need to bother about replacing it pre-emptively. The other battery maintains the secure certificate and is soldered into its holder. This is not user changeable. Its service life is estimated at ten years, and once it goes (and you lose the cert), you need a new ICP.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-05-2018 01:22 AM                     Nope, have not seen any where near that ratio of failures here Steve. Out of 334 GDC servers I've had approximately 4 media blocks fail. The most failures I had were cert batteries, perhaps 8 or 9 units. I have had two customers already trade in their servers for new SR-1000's... Mark  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-05-2018 05:41 AM                     I'm sure you haven't Mark, you're "special" that way.I've had about half of the SX2001 mediablocks fail and over half of the SX2000AR IMBs. Granted, the SX2000AR IMBs were on the first generation and I don't believe I've had repeats on those. Conversely, I've had one Motherboard and maybe two OS drives. Now the PSD and eSATA thing...don't get me started...going out today to change another (again...this will be round 2 for those units...the drives and IMB itself already having been changed). On the batteries. Interesting note, the SX2000AR, which uses the same batteries and is the same IMB as the SX-3000 sans the OS portion, they can go MUCH longer than the SX-3000...YEARS longer. As in, they can go 5-years without dropping very low at all (well within spec). I dare say, that is NOT the case on the SX-3000 where even 3-years can be dicey. As for customers taking the SR1000 upgrade...that would imply you had failures in order to take advantage of the "deal." Conversely, I'm replacing my first DSS200 server due to a failed CAT862.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-05-2018 11:08 AM                     I donno what to tell you Steve... other than I have had really great luck with them. Perhaps NEC cools them better than Barco does. And I agree, that is odd on the batteries. But there is obviously something else the SX-3000 batteries are supporting other than just certs. Perhaps settings? Otherwise if they really were really identical then they would last just as long. The theater that replaced the servers with SR-1000's was going along just fine, in fact was a site where no failures ever occurred. The theater does very well and the owner just likes to take his tax write off on a different aspect of the building each year. I have had to replace two motherboards because of very occasional skipping and one OS drive, although that drive probably could have been repaired had I been there instead of the theater manager. I doubt that GDC is just going to toss the trade in units out. They are more likely to refurbish the parts and keep the older units going with those parts for a while. Mark  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-05-2018 11:19 AM                     Almost all our first generation ARn units had to be replaced as they blew up Most of the 3000 have had at least one major issue All installed in NEC or CHristie machines  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-10-2018 03:56 PM                     Are hotfixes going to be available for these older units that can't get updates? I know a few locations running 2000AR units.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-10-2018 07:59 PM                     Firmware will be available for all servers for a small yearly charge. Mark  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-10-2018 09:13 PM                        It'll be interesting to find out what their definition of "small" is.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-11-2018 07:48 AM                     The flaw in the yearly charge model is...there is no guarantee that they will issue new software and even if they do that it may fix any particular issue you may be having. For instance, Dolby has a "Software Warranty" on the CP750. How many software updates has it had in the last 5 years? I think zero. Servers tend to get some sort of updates but it definitely slows down as a server matures. In fact, one would hope update frequency slows down. Most "updates" fix bugs, which really shouldn't be charged for anyway. What was the last GDC update that actually introduced NEW FEATURES to their server(s) as a consequence of the update? At least on the Dolby DSS updates, one could point to a new feature of the server as a consequence of moving from say 4.8 to 4.9 and they also publish the list of new features and fixes. GDC doesn't publish their server fixes (release notes).  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-11-2018 11:02 AM                     The firmware/Support warranty is about $120 per server per year, discounted from there for more servers and also a two year signup. There have been occasional small new features added. But since the features are already fairly comprehensive, what's there that needs to added? Note that some of those small added features have been buttons on the GUI, but things like added resolutions and sound capabilities that didn't exist when the server was introduced. Mark  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-11-2018 02:14 PM                        There was a barrage of updates from all the major server manufacturers when the SMPTE DCP rollout started to happen on a significant scale, because bugs and instabilities that previously only affected a tiny minority of users started to be felt more widely. It's debatable whether these should really be considered bug fixes or functionality upgrades. On the one hand, the SMPTE standards that go into the SMPTE DCP have been around in pretty near their final form since 2014, but on the other, around 99% of DCPs in distribution were Interop until last year.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-11-2018 06:35 PM                     Very true Leo.... There was a rush to do SMPTE updates when they were released, then... nothing.... for almost two years! I suspect it was just slow adoption by the studios. Mark  |  IP: Logged Eric Richard Film Handler Posts: 33 From: Spring, Texas USA Registered: Dec 2014 posted 12-11-2018 08:15 PM                     What was the last word on the series 1's from Barco? I think I recall hearing something about new parts being available until 2018. We still operate with 14 DP-1500's and DP-2000's. I swear we have probably rebuilt half of them by now and that's not a crack on Barco. I just think it goes to the whole discussion on this thread. And yet I still have my three operational 35mm projectors ready to go at a moments notice with nothing to show.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-11-2018 09:59 PM                        A few months ago, Barco were willing to sell us a new light engine for a DP2000, after one failed in a customer's projector. Needless to say, it made no economic sense to go that route - the light engine would have cost significantly more than a low hours, near new condition Series 2 equivalent with an Enigma card in it, and not much less than a new one. But at that point, they had one for sale if we'd wanted it. What I've seen with Series 1 Barcos is that their weak point is the pressurized liquid cooling system. I'm constantly replacing hoses, pumps, and quick release valves on them, then flushing them out, refilling and re-pressurizing them. The usual cause of the call for help is that the lamp has shut down in response to a DMD overheat, and then I arrive to find a leak somewhere, and dried up, crystallized coolant deposits underneath the light engine. However, with the cooling system replumbed, I've never had to go back to one. I suspect that these components just have a shorter natural service life than the rest of the projector. If you have a DP1500, 2000 or 3000 and that's the only thing wrong with it, I'd say that it's worth fixing them. The pump is the same model as is used in the B and C series (Series 2), and the hoses, spring-loaded hose clamps, coolant and quick release valves are generic parts, easily available from third parties if Barco should ever stop selling them. However, if a big ticket part such as the light engine or one of the boards kicks the bucket, my instinct would be that it's only worth trying to fix the projector if you have a spare one to part out for donor components.  |  IP: Logged

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