Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Dolby Server manual?

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Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-15-2009, 07:26 AM:

Is there a PDF manual available for the Dolby servers?

- Carsten

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 11-15-2009, 10:00 AM:

There is no manual for he user interface. Just for installation.
Demetris

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-15-2009, 11:32 AM:

How do you learn to program shows?

I heard that the Dolby GUI is the most ergonomical and user friendly, but does that justify to leave out a user manual?

Is the installation manual available for download?

- Carsten

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 11-15-2009, 11:49 AM:

Installation manual shows nothing about creating shows. In any case it is very easy to create shows in the Dolby Server. There is an immediate help icon imbeded in the Dolby GUI which explains everything.
Demetris

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 11-15-2009, 08:47 PM:

It is literally drag and drop. Just give yourself 5 minutes with the GUI and I'm sure you will figure it out. The only thing confusing is their "open/load" button on the control page. It is far from what I would've ever guessed would be an icon for that (look for 3 round circles).

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-06-2010, 05:20 PM:

Can anyone please make the DSS200 installation manual available, or does Dolby prohibit it?

- Carsten

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 01-06-2010, 05:51 PM:

The installation manual shows NOTHING as to the operation of the server. It does NOT contain any passwords as such. Just raid rebuilt instructions that might be usefull and that should be for the technician and not the end user.
Demetris

Posted by Elise Brandt (Member # 5552) on 01-07-2010, 11:29 AM:

Carsten -trust me. If I could sit down and figure the darn thing out in fifteen minutes, so can you. Drag & drop, a little common sense and Don't Panic. Play a little, if you're unsure, try. It's basically impossible to screw anything up by trying through there.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-07-2010, 07:52 PM:

It's not about playing - I don't own a Dolby server. I simply want to read a manual. Any manual. ;-)

- Carsten

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 01-08-2010, 02:18 AM:

Again. The manual is simply USELESS!!! Even to the installer!

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-08-2010, 03:01 AM:

So how does an installer e.g. connect a DSS200 to automation devices?

No documents on how to configure the server? How is this done in practical terms?

- Carsten

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 01-08-2010, 05:06 AM:

They attend the training. Since all projector and all servers share the same inputs and outputs, all are more or less the same. The thought is that the DSS200 controls the projector and the sound equipment via Ethernet (which is configurable via an advanced menu with a password that technicians should have), and also the NA10 unit which controls lights e.t.c via ethernet as well. In an advanced menu you just assign which of the projector brands you use (in any case they are not much) and what IP settings they have so they integrate. Also in the manual it just shows suggested IP addresses so you don't have to make any more advanced settings and just set the IP of the connected equipment to what the Dolby defaults' are. It's actually a basic setup procedure. Is what you make in the light engine settings which matter most! In case of using it as a client in a TMS system the procedure is different but again in these advanced menus that technicians access though a password. That is basicaly it.
Demetris

Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 03-12-2011, 03:12 PM:

It has been 428 days since the last post.

Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 03-12-2011, 03:12 PM:

Well - plug and play may be popular with kid stuff and among PC Nerds. I would still find it appropriate to deliver some kind of manual with toys in this class.

This weekend i'm running only my second digital movie - the newly released reissue of an old danish classic "Qivitoc". The film is beautifully restored, but out of sync, not a constant delay, but all scenes more or less. This one arrived on a small type of harddisk, that I haven't seen before, to be loaded via the USB. Transfer time 1:1 [Frown]

-Same harddisc used in only one theatre before here. No troubles there !

Opening digital film "King's Speech" on what I call a reel harddisk transferred in half an hour. "Speech" runs perfect in both picture and sound, and gives me wish to find the money for digitalising my screen 2, which I first ment to let run the time out on 35mm and then goodbye. This is nice !

Also from today, i'm showing my first digital trailer, delivered on a USB stick. First copy of this was about half an hour about loading, -and then "failure".. Second copy loaded rather quickly, but is even more out of sync than "Qivitoc".
What can I be doing wrong here ? Am I supposed to put in an certain amount of "pause-bricks", when building the show, or what ??

Just a small book would have been nice here. Any hints welcome, please.

Greetings from Denmark

Per

Kinoton DCP30SX went in, one DP70 out (still one left)
Dolby DSS200 and CP650 went in, CP65, DA20, SA10 and MPU1 out
Central heating system put on stand-by [Wink]

Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 03-12-2011, 03:51 PM:

Hi Per,
Welcome to the "Wonderfull World of Digital Cinema (?)", I hope you won't scrap your DP70's, if you do send them to me [Smile]

.

As for Ingesting Trailers, I assume you did this while the Dolby Server was not playing Content?, they are not as Flexible as a Doremi (ie Ingesting while playing content).

A Trailer should take just a few seconds to Ingest or at worst a minute or two, as for Scriting we normally only use "Black" at the last Trailer for Feature Change and Format change, although some people place "Black" between every Trailer on the Script.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-12-2011, 04:39 PM:

quote: Ben Wales
As for Ingesting Trailers, I assume you did this while the Dolby Server was not playing Content?, they are not as Flexible as a Doremi (ie Ingesting while playing content).

Dolby can load content while playing (DSS200) all you want. Yes, it is slower since resources are prioritized to the show that is playing.

As for Sync, that is not controlled by the DSS200 (though it could be...not on a clip by clip basis). In fact, I don't know of any systems, out of the box, that are designed to change sync on the fly. One could certainly automate that.

Make sure your lip sync delay (global audio delay) is on the order of 135msec. Also remember, it is better to have too much delay than to little...your brain is much better dealing with sound after the image than vice-versa.

I agree that a manual for the operator is long over due for the Dolby servers.

-Steve

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-12-2011, 06:09 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
Dolby can load content while playing (DSS200) all you want. Yes, it is slower since resources are prioritized to the show that is playing.

I do this all the time with Dolby servers. It never glitches. The 3 drive Doremis however would glitch during playback all the time. The 4 drive Doremis don't have that problem (but they are REALLY slow when ingesting during content playback).

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 03-12-2011, 08:14 PM:

The current Doremi software plays fine while ingesting, but the ingest is much slower. If you try to transfer content from one server to another, a show playback running on the source server will stutter. The TMS will automatically do this server-server transfer if it has a show scheduled with content missing and the content in not in the TMS library but it is on a server... and it will do it at some odd time without caring if something is playing. If you have Doremi networked cinemas with a TMS you should ingest all shows into the TMS to avoid this happening.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 03-12-2011, 08:58 PM:

I have been trying to get info for several months on how to
get into the Dolby Digital Server training classes, but kept
getting the royal run-around from Dolby until just last week.

But the April class is already full. Now i'm tyring tying to
find out when the next scheduled class is going to be held,
and make sure I'm "on the list" to be notified, but they
haven't gotten back to me yet. I also told them I would
still be interested in going to the April class if they
had any last minute cancellations.

From what I understand, the class is 3 or 4 days long and
costs several hundred dollars. (Someone I know told me an
indivitual admission costs $750, but I haven't confrimed
that yet so I don't know if that's true. But I've committed
myself to going- - and I don't care what it costs.

Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 03-13-2011, 07:00 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
Dolby can load content while playing (DSS200) all you want. Yes, it is slower since resources are prioritized to the show that is playing.

That's interesting to learn as have heard that many tried this and had issues with this, I guess they have been improved.

Ideally, any Content to be Ingested should be done while the Server is not playing Content, but as we well know there is never any time in the real world, other than over night and have a TMS on site.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-13-2011, 07:38 AM:

4.2.1 (b3) is pretty decent in most respects on the DSS200. Loading content while playing a show is definitely resolved. The DSP100/DSS100s were not as graceful...I don't know if 4.2.1 (b3) has helped them to overcome the problem...I've never personally tried.

Posted by Jussi Siponen (Member # 5572) on 03-13-2011, 10:53 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
The DSP100/DSS100s were not as graceful...I don't know if 4.2.1 (b3) has helped them to overcome the problem...I've never personally tried.

I regularly load both trailers and feature length content on both DSS100 & DSS200 and I've never had any problems. Our DSS200's are currently at the 4.2.1 (b3) software level and the single DSS100 on the 4.1.3 (b3) level.

With earlier software versions, loading trailers on the DSS100 from DVD was like watching the paint dry - later versions do this much faster.

Feature load time of 1:1 through USB sounds about right.

Loading trailers from USB thumb drives should take a couple of minutes apiece. If it takes longer than that, then there is very likely something wrong with the USB thumb drive - I've had this happen once or twice.

BTW: You can pull out the thumb drive as soon as Show Manager says it's done copying and is now verifying the content and insert the next one - handy, if you loading a bunch of trailers on one go.