I can't remember what release first carried the splice cache update. There was no visual indication that an update occurred (or was being downloaded).
I can only assume that the update was the same for the DA20 and CP500 since the Dolby Digital decoder in the CP500 was a DA20 but with a bit rate converter taking the place of the DA20 DAC card and without the cinema processor interface card. They both used the same Cat. 673 system services card that contained the software.
Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 06-28-2015, 05:21 PM:
I have the feeling that the code is embedded in the machine printing the track in the lab; once the latest code was uploaded the code would be printed on every print. It's just a guess but it would make sense.
The processor would then ignore the code if not newer.
If it was only done on specific prints, then some houses may never get that update.
Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 06-28-2015, 05:56 PM:
Lonny Jennings knew the story of recalling the DA10's but it was in the interest of making SR.D work better.
The upgrades were stored in the DA20 section or 673 card and not in the CP500 684 card. So, even if the upgrade did not work you still had analog audio.
Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 06-28-2015, 09:10 PM:
Someone...I want to say Brad Hohle but I could be misremembering...said they did do some updates that way. My question was what if you had a 500 as NOS...would it play back a modern track. I think he said yes. What about the updates the 500 never got over the years? Well, according to him they are are still in all the prints. Run one movie and you're up to date.
Or maybe I just had a dream where someone told me this.
Posted by Lonny Jennings (Member # 365) on 06-28-2015, 11:37 PM:
You all pretty much got it right. I guess multiple foggy memories equals a crystal clear picture.
Dynamic loader was used several times to upgrade the Dolby Digital playback units; DA10, DA20, CP500, CP650. It could but, never was, used to update the firmware of the CP500 itself. After much discussion I finally decided that it was too risky to do that. Besides the aforementioned quandary of upgrading a processor's operating system without the tech's knowledge or consent there was the hopefully unlikely but, possible, scenario that the upgrade package would be flawed and cause all of the CP500's to fail. You would still have bypass operation and playback from the analog track but, it would be probably a couple of weeks before a patched version would restore all of them back to working order. This was simply unacceptable and so it was never done or even considered. One little detail to consider about the dynamic loader system: there was no on/off switch. If there was a new firmware package on the film soundtrack there was no way to prevent it from being loaded into the unit for good or bad!
The DA10 was capable of being updated multiple times and was. It did, however, have one episode of a flawed firmware update via dynamic loader. I've long since forgotten the title of the film but, after several DA10's in the LA area ran the film and got upgraded (on Friday afternoon, of course) they started exhibiting load pops and snaps during the Friday evening shows. It was determined that there was a glitch in the new firmware and the Dolby guys in the LA office went out to deal with it.
In both the DA10 and the DA20 (that includes the CP500, of course) there was always a “backup” copy of the Dolby Digital firmware called the baseline copy. This was an image of whatever the current version of firmware was at the time the unit was built. It was separate from the “running” version and could not be updated by dynamic loader. It was designed into the system for exactly this failure scenario. It would get the unit up and running again, albeit with an older version of firmware, but you could get by until a patched version was created and put on later titles for patch/upgrade. On either the Cat. No. 609B card in the DA10 or the Cat. No. 673 card in the DA20/CP500 you turned the small rotary switch to the bottom position and that would load the baseline copy. It did not, however, stop it from receiving any more dynamic loader updates. Whenever the patched version was released and put on a soundtrack the DA would be updated when that title was played. Dolby would keep track of who had the flawed version and after we were sure that it had been correctly upgraded the switch would be returned to the “0” position and the now patched version of the firmware would load and run. Dynamic loader was a good system that did work several times over the years without problem apart from that one episode and even then, the baseline backup saved the day.
That one episode however, was NOT because it was specifically DA10 code. It could just as easily have occurred in the DA20 package. Due to the considerably greater numbers of DA20's even then it was fortunate that it was only the DA10 package that was flawed but, it wasn't an inherent flaw with the DA10 itself or the dynamic loader concept.
However, shortly after that it was decided to stop supporting the DA10 and we proactively replaced all of them with DA20's at no cost to the customers This was done, not because of any limitation in the DA10 but, because it was decided that it was cheaper to get rid of all the DA10's than to continue having engineering write two versions of code, one for each design. Besides the obvious differences in the number and type of DSP boards between the units it also required two, totally different firmware packages to be written and then extensively tested. It just came down to practical economics to replace the DA10's and just write one version of the updates for the DA20/CP500 only.
Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 06-29-2015, 03:50 AM:
That's very interesting, it's sad we've lost all of that when Digital came in.
I hope you don't mind if I ask a couple of more questions!
Was the new code on a single reel or on the whole movie?
I do have an old 500 salvaged from the skip. I have a document that explains how to check all the versions inside the decoders. I understand there is a way to manually upload those versions too, is that correct? When was the last code released and do you have a history of releases?
Thanks
Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-29-2015, 05:30 AM:
Well there you have it...from the master himself!
Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 06-30-2015, 02:59 AM:
Well, thanks for the in depth info here.
Still, this makes me wonder, are those updates still included on the recent 35mm Dolby Digital releases?
Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 07-05-2015, 12:23 PM:
Quoting a public discussion on Facebook:
Me: "I'm curious what happens if you get a NIB old CP500 or DA20. Do films still have the software updates built into them? I thought they gave that back channel over to slowly caching data ahead of the reel break."
Brad Hohle (Dolby): "All reels of DD films carry the complete load of playback software plus cache data. Neat huh?"
Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 07-06-2015, 03:25 AM:
interesting. So to make sure my 500 is running the latest software I just need to acquire a recent reel of whatever!
Thanks
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 07-06-2015, 07:48 AM:
So, what happens if a theatre plays a new film for a week and then plays an old film the next week? Does the SRD software get downgraded?
Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 07-06-2015, 08:53 AM:
I'm not an expert on the matter but I believe it would be easy for the system to just check the version before applying the upgrade!
Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-07-2015, 09:42 PM:
All Dolby digital upgrades are backwards compatible.
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 08-18-2016, 05:30 PM:
It has been 407 days since the last post.
Posted by Steve Roberts (Member # 9544) on 08-18-2016, 05:30 PM:
I have been given a CP500 and it has a password which is not 0000, 1000, 1234 or 4321.
Can anyone help me out with the password reset?
thanks.
Steve
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-18-2016, 05:40 PM:
click here
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
.
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
) was on a particular print that saw lots of repertory use and kept downgrading back to the buggy firmware.![[Smile]](smile.gif)