Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DA20 current firmware

This is topic DA20 current firmware in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Christos Mitsakis (Member # 143) on 02-05-2008, 03:20 AM:

Actually moving the discussion from e-Bay junk post:
Anyone is aware what the current version of the firmware is?
On my DA20 I read the following:

Video front end A
Ac3 4
System services (FRED code) C
Boot 0
Second stage loader 1
System Services baseline C
Video Baseline A
Ac3 Baseline 4
Serial port ROM load 4

I bought the unit used and it performs during summer time.

Christos.

Edit: Note for administrator: Please move the post to Film Handler's Forum as accidentally I posted it in Film-Yak. Thanks

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-06-2008, 11:28 AM:

Christos, forgive me for jumping in on your question -- but I have a very closely related one and once the good gentlemen here start posting their replies, perhaps they can answer mine as well:

I am trying to purchase a DA20 (used, of course -- thank you Mr. Dolby) and I need to know what to look for in terms of those firmware specs. Are all DA20s created equal? If they are older units, can firmware be upgraded easily....does it need to be upgraded? What do I ask for in terms of the firmware parameters? If a seller says the unit "works," is that good enuf?

EDIT -

Steve answers this issue in the Junk on Ebay post in Film Yak -- If I understand him correctly, you don't have to worry about the firmware version in a DA20 because every new film that you run has firmware information in the bitstream and will update the DA20 as needed.

[ 02-06-2008, 12:32 PM: Message edited by: Frank Angel ]

Posted by Christos Mitsakis (Member # 143) on 02-06-2008, 03:18 PM:

Frank,
You are welcome to intervene. Actually you are not. Look for a used unit from a recently closed theatre. My question is whether anyone bothered to look (via the rotary switch and alphanumeric display) for DA's firmware and if it is different - close - the same with mine.
My knowledge is that not every film has the firmware upgrade and as I understand, Steve mentions so, and also Sam Chavez confirms Steve's notion that Dolby stopped the dynamic loading of the code from the film.
Another question would be about the behavior of a DA20 left in storage for some time (hence older firmware) and brought back to decode a recent digital track.

C.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-06-2008, 04:31 PM:

I wouldn't worry about DA-20 updates. I have never updated one and all work flawlessly.

Likewise I have a few original (s/n under 25) CP-500's that run perfectly. Louis

Posted by Sebastian Binz (Member # 4567) on 02-07-2008, 06:32 AM:

I have found a picture of a DA20 rearview that shows a small yellow sticker on the left side that says "DA20 UPGRADED" and something in between, which is not visible. Does anyone know what's up with that?
Also, is there a difference between the old DA20's that have the "Dolby Stereo Digital" logo and the newer ones with "Dolby Digital" logo?

Posted by Christos Mitsakis (Member # 143) on 02-07-2008, 07:52 AM:

Some of the older units had certain gltches regarding slow switcing to digital after you pushed the digital format button at the processor. There was a Dos based ugrade program used to upload firmware fixing this problem. Most certainly this sticker refers to this upgrade.
There were also a certain defective batch of ram chips of a certain brand that Dolby notified through a field buletin to replace the defective cards. Again the sticker might refer to this upgrade.

Christos

Posted by Benjamin John Doman (Member # 4365) on 02-08-2008, 01:50 PM:

Hi,
The only thing I would say about the DA20 is that in the last year and a half we seem to be getting a lot of power supplies failing on them (and on CP500’s). This must be a wide spread problem (at least in the UK) as there is a 6-8 week wait for replacements. Guess they were all put in about the same time! Apart from that the DA20’s run and run and run without to many problems. Shame that Dolby stopped production of them.

Just as an aside for information, I had a very strange DA20 problem last year. A converted three screen cinema, 5 years old had two projection rooms. The projection room with two screens was fitted with CP65’s & DA20’s. They started having the left hand CAT671 cards fail randomly in both screens. A new card would be fitted and within a week it would fail again. To cut a long story short, after several conversations with Dolby, they suggested taking the mains feed for the DA20’s out of the rack and plugging straight into a ring main socket. Bizarrely, the projectionist’s have been switching the DA20’s on separately from the rack for over eight months now and haven’t had a card fail since!

Regards,
Ben