Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DTS XD-10 Error Log?

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 03-28-2009, 10:15 AM:

Does anybody know if the DTS XD-10 keeps an error log?
I've looked all over the encyclopedia-sized manual and
gone through all the menu trees and haven't found any
info, but I thought the XD-10 kept a log.

I have reason to suspect that DTS sound is dropping
out for a few seconds SOMEWHERE during one of the
films I'm running, but I don't have the time to sit
there for 2.5hrs and watch the whole movie to see
exactly where it's occuring.

I was hoping the XD-10 had an error log so I could
scroll through events and see if I have problem I
need to correct.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 03-28-2009, 10:26 AM:

It does, but it is not accessible from the menu.
Are you familiar with Linux?

Plug in a keyboard and a VGA monitor.

After the machine boots, hit ctrl-alt-F1 to switch to the text console, rather than the X windows console (ctrl-alt-F7) that is the default. [This might not be necessary for you? It's necessary on our XD10, which has the CSS captioning option and uses X windows to display them].

It will log reel changes and edits and timecode drops to the console. You should be able to scroll back by screenful with shift-pgup (but the scrollback buffer goes away when you hit ctrl-alt-F<n>). There are only a few screens full of scrollback though.

This data is also stored in /rwm/log/sndtrk.log*, but that's difficult to get to, because login access is password protected. It stores a lot of data though. I think it rotates by file size, but you may well have weeks or months of data.

It would be nice if DTS exposed these stats through the user interface.

--jhawk

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 03-28-2009, 01:10 PM:

Log was available when I worked on some XD10 with the just-released 2.00.43 if I'm not wrong. I could save it on a USB pendrive and you could see everything into it.

To check if the unit is dropping, there is a simple task that you can use with DTS6/6D too.

Let's suppose your player is calling format 11 button on CP650. Setup one of the User button (let's say U1) with "Format 11" format and as soon as DTS locks on "Format 11" button, just push "U1". If during the show the player drops and lock again, you'll find the processor back on "Format 11" button instead of "U1".
This is valid for CP500 too.

Marco

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 03-29-2009, 09:46 AM:

Thanks, John for the info.
Yes, I'm familiar with Linux, so I'll give what you
suggested a try.

MARCO- Great tip and trick! Thanks! I'll have to
remember that for future reference. I know it will
come in handy.

For now, I've solved the immediate problem by borrowing
a set of DTS disks for the film I was having trouble
with from another theater, and loading those into the
XD-10 after deleting the original files.

That seems to have fixed the problem.

I'll try taking a look at that logfile later today.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 03-29-2009, 09:50 AM:

Actually there are Error Logs kept. I reccomend that you contact Mike Smith at DTS to find out how to extract them. I did it once at his request when we were having some strange problems with a unit and it was very easy... I don't recall if you need a monitor but I remember needing a keyboard. You save the file to a usb memory stick that you plug in the front panel USB port.

Perhaps Mike can chime in on this....

Mark

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 03-29-2009, 07:14 PM:

I'm sure I was able to save the LOG file on my USB key without any keyboard, but it happened 2 years ago, and then I haven't had any chance to work with another XD10, so I've forgotten the procedure.
If I'm not wrong there is a menu that allow you to save the logs on a USB key. Then you open the TXT log on a PC. But it was on 2.00.43 if I'm not wrong again! [Smile]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 03-29-2009, 07:21 PM:

Just found out today that I have two comming in for repair... Both just say "Initialization" so this'll be interesting to see whats up. I'll try to figure out the error log part while I have them on the bench... In the past this has typically meant just a bad Hard Drive though...

Mark

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 03-29-2009, 07:39 PM:

Found something

On this technote there are instructions about how to replace the HD.
ON page 2 you can see the menu System - USB Memory and then I see a "Log Files". I suppose you can save your logs there.
This of course if your system is booting up! [Smile]

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 03-29-2009, 09:03 PM:

I stand corrected.

Setup -> System -> USB -> LogFiles

then insert your USB drive, follow prompts.

If you're lucky.

On our 2.1.07 XD10, it expects a USB thumbdrive that Linux mounts on /dev/sda1, and you're SOL if you have one that mounts /dev/sda (like the one in my pocket). (That appears to correspond to whether the USB drive has a partition table (in which case sda1) or not (sda)).

--jhawk

P.S.: Mark, why did you say "Actually there are Error Logs kept" as if I hadn't initially said, "It does [keep an error log]" and even talked about how it was weeks or months long?

[ 03-30-2009, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: John Hawkinson ]

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 04-03-2009, 09:40 AM:

Just as a follow-up:
I tried dumping the "log files" to usb stick.

From what I can tell, the system does not keep a
specific "error" log, but has several different
types of "event" logs - - which keep track of
everything, errors or not.

It took a lot of sifting through a sh_tload of
data, but I was able to find the specific event
(and error) that I had suspected was happening,
but by this time I've already corrected the
problem.

But thanks for all the info! It's good to know
these files are there if I have some obscure
problem I'm trying to track down in the future.

And I'm still having a little fun sorting through
the reams of downloaded info and trying to decipher
what some of it means.

(and if that's my idea of fun, mabye I need to
getta life! Just hasn't been the same since
the girlfriend left and the cat died [Big Grin]

)

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 04-03-2009, 02:45 PM:

Hi Jim

Exactly, everything is logged. DTS should perhaps allow to download only errors, but I think that once you learn to read all the events, the log is very useful.

Marco