Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DTS License disk

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Posted by Steve Roberts (Member # 9544) on 08-11-2017, 05:35 AM:

I have just bought a DTS XD10 to go with my 2 DP70's.
I have never used a DTS system so can only go what I have read.
This XD10 has the Video card but no license and I do not have the disk that should have come with it. Is there some way of getting a disk or a copy of a disk to enable the video?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Steve

Posted by Allan Lyman (Member # 9449) on 08-11-2017, 08:16 AM:

Only DTS(datasat)can provide you with the license.Its based on the ser.no and mac.adress.the same goes with css license.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 08-11-2017, 11:33 AM:

Just to be clear- - If you are using the DTS to only play back film
sound tracks on your DP-70's, you don't need any license.

Posted by Steve Roberts (Member # 9544) on 08-11-2017, 05:50 PM:

Thank you for the information.
As I said having never use the DTS system I was not sure at all what the video was for.
Also there are inputs for a mouse and keyboard that I understand do nothing?
Steve

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 08-11-2017, 07:03 PM:

The video card was for the CSS subtitling and certain video playback formats that one could license seperately
the XD10 manual in on this site it has details of each feature

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-11-2017, 09:56 PM:

I believe that the XD-10 and XD-20 enabled a subtitling system whereby you hooked a separate video projector (like a classroom or boardroom type thing) to its VGA output, which sat next to the film projector in a booth, and projected subtitles for foreign language movies or the hard of hearing. As others have pointed out, if all you want to do is to play DTS audio from film prints, you don't need any extra keys or licenses.

I would suggest replacing the hard drive (the one in there is likely to be around a decade old and therefore on borrowed time) and the CMOS battery, and clean installing the latest software version. The ISO is available in the warehouse section of this site. The XD-10 takes IDE drives, and as far as I know, they aren't made any more, so you'll need a SATA one plus a SATA to IDE converter board.

Posted by Daniel Schulz (Member # 1881) on 08-11-2017, 11:29 PM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
I believe that the XD-10 and XD-20 enabled a subtitling system whereby you hooked a separate video projector (like a classroom or boardroom type thing) to its VGA output, which sat next to the film projector in a booth, and projected subtitles for foreign language movies or the hard of hearing. As others have pointed out, if all you want to do is to play DTS audio from film prints, you don't need any extra keys or licenses.

There were two separate licenses available. One was for the CSS system, for projecting open captions or subtitles via a secondary projector. There was also an option to play back 1080p video for advertising/preshow purposes. Unfortunately the mechanism for loading such video content was unwieldy and so there was never any real commercial uptake for that feature.

Posted by Steve Roberts (Member # 9544) on 08-12-2017, 02:01 AM:

quote: Daniel Schulz
There was also an option to play back 1080p video for advertising/preshow purposes. Unfortunately the mechanism for loading such video content was unwieldy and so there was never any real commercial uptake for that feature.

I am sure that this is the feature I wanted the license for but, it sounds as if it is not worth the hassle!

I will have a look at the hard drive for a date and give it a health check. The COMS battery was flat.
When I check the "INFO MENU" for the Version I get the following:-
XD10 2.2.06
Dec 8 2010
General Model
Copyright 2009
When I checked the setup program in download section it is Fedora Core 5 Release, copyright 2006 Red Hat Inc. If there is a more up to date version I must be missing it.
I have to say I was very happy to see it was a Unix system as that is what I have used for over 20 years.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-12-2017, 03:00 PM:

Just yank the video card out and reboot. If it comes up not looking for it then just leave it out.

Mark

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-12-2017, 06:57 PM:

The battery should ideally be a BR2032, not CR. Nothing bad will happen if you use a CR - it just won't last as long. The difference is in the battery chemistry: BRs are designed for very low drain over prolonged periods (e.g. maintaining the CMOS memory when the motherboard is without power), whereas CRs are optimized for occasional short bursts of high drain (e.g. a car remote keyfob).

2.2.06 is, AFAIK, the final software version that was published for the XD-10 and 20 (though there was one patch after that that I know of, which was a workaround for a printing error on one of the reels of Interstellar), so you should be good there. Whenever I'm installing a previously used machine like this into a new system, though, I always like to "clean install" the software image, to avoid settings from its previous home being left in there and possibly causing a problem later down the line.

Posted by Steve Roberts (Member # 9544) on 08-13-2017, 01:47 AM:

Thank you for the information Leo.
I intend to remove the HD later today and make an image of the drive so I can fit a new drive.

I am told that this unit was part of an action held in LA.