I'll be the first one to say that I am a projectionist, not a projector technician. However, I do try to deal with problems myself before freaking out and calling a tech. (After all, why bother them for something minor that I can handle on my own?) I'm fairly sure that I will have to call a tech for this one, I just want to see if there is anything else I could have checked and/or done before making that call. My SRD is not working.
The Digital Soundhead is a Cat. No. 700, and the SRD digital film sound processor is a Model DA20.
I'm not sure if the problem is with the reader or with the processor. But on the soundrack where a number (or sometimes an 'F') is displayed while a film is running in SRD, instead there is simply a '-'. Short, flat line.
I've already checked for blown fuses and loose wiring. All was fine.
The bulb in the soundhead is working fine, not burnt out.
All appropriate lenses are clean, and everything ought to be properly aligned (being at least a good 5.5 feet off the floor, directly over a beastly Century JJ2STA projector head, keeps things well out of harm's way as far as getting 'bumped' and misaligned!)

Mind you, I have no test loops, or hardly anything else in the way of equipment for running tests. And too, my knowledge of electronics is minimal.

I appreciate any advice that will get tossed this way.

~Gracia

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In some cultures, what I do is considered normal.
 

In these days where everything has an SRD track on it perhaps this one does not.

Is this the same on all prints and trailers or just one title?

Which print is it?
 

The Dolby Digital, SDDS and analog/DTS time code tracks all have separate light sources on the printer, so one can fail even on "quad" format prints.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
 

To all you other wise-guys, yes, the prints that I have run on the machine do have the SRD track! I know to look for Dolby's 'double d' logo in the gray shaded areas, and I can see it just fine without a magnifying glass!
Highlander: Endgame and The Way Of The Gun have both run on that machine. And Endgame was running in digital for a few days before the digital went the way of the dodo!
I may be a lot of things, but I am not silly enough to run a print without an SRD track on my machine with the SRD reader and expect to get digital sound!

~Gracia

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In some cultures, what I do is considered normal.
 

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
 

If you have tried another print which you know to be OK without success, then all I can think of is the following:

1. Exciter bulb on the way out. I know you said it's not blown but the light from halogen lamps gradually deteriorates during their lifetime. Just as you have to keep resetting the gain on an SR analogue (incandescent) exciter over the course of its lifetime to compensate for the reduction in light output, the same problem with digital will show itself as a gradually increasing error rate. Has the error rate gradually been getting worse on that reader over the last few days or weeks? If so try changing the lamp. If it's been in for over a year, then personally I'd change it anyway.

2. Optics (exciter and/or CCD) dirty. I know you said they were clean but there's nothing to lose by trying the following. Take a compressed air spray, pointing the jet laterally across the exciter lens and the CCD (metal tube next to the scanning drum), and give a brief squirt. Do not point the nozzle straight at it as the force of the air pressure could cause damage.

At this point, I'd give up and call an engineer, because unless I'm being really stupid and missing something, the only other possibilities are:

3. Optics and/or CCD have become misaligned. Have you had a platter wrap recently, or has the Cat 700 been knocked for any reason? If so this could have happened. You need to call an engineer to fix this - there's nothing you can do about it yourself.

4. Internal fault within the DA20 - ditto.

Hope this helps.
 

Will file the Cat 671 tip - many thanks.
 

Replaced the Lamp and now it holds between 3 or 4.
On mine the reflector around the bulb had some dull places I guess due to the heat.
Good luck
Marc Jones
 

Believe it or not, I had a DA10 that would get hot and work poorly. I put a small fan on it and it worked fine without doing anything else.
 

"
 

Please clarify these and we'll take it from there...

You are never getting a number, only a "-" on the display...right?

What did this particular auditorium typically run error-wise at before this incident?

Also, it just happened very suddenly one day and this was not a gradual thing, right?

Was anything done to the machine when it died? (Such as changing to a new lamp.)

Are you certain the bulb is fully seated properly in the holder? Take the back cover of the reader off slowly and peek inside. Sometimes the wire can twist the bulb a little bit and knock the lamp just slightly out of the socket which kills the light onto the ccd.

-only a '-' no numbers, no 'F', in the past 9 days

-the theater opened in late winter this year, and was open for at least a month before we actually got the SRD working, but once it was all squared away, we had no problems with it until last weekend; as far as numbers displayed, film trailers & policy trailers could get anything from a 6 to an F, but the prints generally got from a 3 to a 6

-it was not gradual, the SRD was working for three matinee shows, then I came in for the evening shift, and when I started the first evening showing on that projector, I immediately noticed the problem

-the only thing done to the machine when this happened was that had I threaded the film, then hit the start button!

Now, I am not aware of the what full extent of the initial problem was with the equipment, though it seems that the initial problem was with the DA20. At that point we had a projectionist / tech working for us, and he eventually got the ailments worked out. That person has since gone to work elsewhere in the country.
The bulb that is in the reader has been there for just under 8 months, and I do have a spare, but I am 99% certain that the bulb is not the problem.

Now, I did try to open up part of the reader to see if the cable was loose, but I ran into a problem - not being able to remove a particular screw, as the top of the screw seems to have been stripped a bit. And for whatever reason, I have at least half a dozen flathead screwdrivers, in various sizes among the booth tools, but only one phillips head screwdriver - and its a relatively small one. So it was relatively useless to me.
I'll have to bring in some of my own tools to take that witch apart and see if my problem is only a loose cable!
And yes, I already opened up the soundrack and checked to see that everything was connected on that end!

~Gracia

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In some cultures, what I do is considered normal.
 

I'm leaning more toward a bad card in the DA20 now. I think it's just about time for you to call the tech and have him hook up his scope and laptop to check the alignment and go from there.
 

Aaron

Even though you are getting a dash, go ahead and press the "soft key" assigned to Dolby Digital on the processor (assuming you are using a CP-500).

You will either see a pop-up message saying "not ready" or "not available".

"Not ready" simply tells you what you already know. No digital data seen.

"Not available" means a hardware fault. Check to see if the fault leds on the two 671 cards being used for aquisition are lit.

If the 222SR/A is faulty or mis-seated, digital will indicate "not available" as well.

You can also call Dolby on the phone and ask for Lonnie. If he can't fix it, then it simply isn't broken! (LOL)

He also speaks every-day English!

A ten minute phone conversation with him equals about 10 credit hours <grin>.

Russ
 

My SRD is working once again! :::does a happy dance:::
Here's what I did - (after bringing in my own, rather nice 2-in-1 screwdriver)
I had to loosen the bolts holding the electric changeover box, so I could move it enough to be out of my way. Then the back of the cat 700 was more accessible. Once I had the back off the cat 700, the problem was obvious. The cable that connects the reader to the processor had worked itself loose.

So after reconnecting the cable, and putting the rest of my machin back together, I tested it out by running our [generic] policy trailers on the machine. Granted, the policy trailers get used over and over and over and over, and as we have no film guard - the trailers are filthy. Even so, I got indication that the reader & processor are working...the first trailer bounced between an 8 and an F, the second one had a solid 7.
Hey, I'm just happy that it's working!

~Gracia

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In some cultures, what I do is considered normal.