Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Alternate Content Server

This is topic Alternate Content Server in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 11-18-2010, 05:39 PM:

We have a location that plays a lot of DVD Blue Ray DigiBeta HDCam and the likes the DVD players don't survive all that long but are cheap the heads in the digibetas are requiring frequent replace (very expensive)
Is there any media servers that people would recomend for alternate content that would also allow insertion of house automation functions

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-18-2010, 06:46 PM:

If they have DCinema...I would investigate DCP creation software and merely transfer their content to that.

Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 11-18-2010, 08:01 PM:

Ray Derrick who developed Panastereo has excelent software for P.C computers for that purpose.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-18-2010, 08:05 PM:

quote: Gordon McLeod
the heads in the digibetas are requiring frequent replace (very expensive)

Digibeta heads should last a minimum of 1000 run hours. Of course this doesn't account for searching, Fast Forword, or rewind which also puts wear on the heads. This is just another Sony BS crapo thing... they never gave one the choice of high speed winding without the tape in the thread position! They had this one figured out to keep the head factory in biz decades after the machines went out of production! If the location is charging correctly for the use of the equipment then there should be ample $$$$ to keep the machine in top shape. If not then consider another beat up machine to use as a transport and don't rewind through the tape path. Also consider a beta tape rewinder... you can sometimes find those on Ebay.

Mark

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-19-2010, 08:07 AM:

I got to play with the Grass Valley "T2 iDDR" unit for about a day this spring. I am not intimately familiar with it, but I don't really recommend it based on what I have seen. It has some interesting features (e.g. can play two different programs simultaneously on two different outputs), but the UI is awkward and clunky, and the software seemed buggy (I crashed it twice; maybe it has improved since then). Also, it does not have an HD-SDI input, so you would have to find some other way of getting HD material into it. Although it has a built-in DVD drive, it does not seem to have the capability to rip a DVD to its internal storage device.

Personally, I have always been a bit nervous about playing material from anything other than an original tape, as I do not want to face the wrath of some director for any potential image or sound quality degradation. In the past, I have worked for festivals which made compilation tapes of shorts program (entire program on one tape), and there have been occasional issues with this. It is much easier to point to an origianl tape and demonstrate that the sound is clipped or that a dropout exists than to explain the whole process of encoding the material in a different format and attempt to demonstrate it did not introduce any artifacts or problems. This may be less of an issue in the digital age, but the thought still makes me nervous, especially when the video-makers are in attendance.

I like the idea of the DCP option, though. Is there some sort of device that will take an SDI input and create a DCP without losing quality?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-19-2010, 08:37 AM:

My option of a DCP is to relieve a device that would play the same thing over and over again. If these are all one-offs...then you are still playing the tape, disc...etc to transfer it.

There is some sense in making a "reel" out of a bunch of shorts to have a smooth running show but for typical one-offs...get over it and have the machines kept up. DVDs and BluRays are always going to have gotchas...they are not professional formats and can be made by most anything so there is no quality standard.

Note, "J" decks are also light duty decks...they are supposed to just be for previewing tapes. The 2000 series are the real decks...their heads don't clog as fast. There is a playback only version too (the 2600...I think). If you want to be in the business of playing this material, you have to be prepared to keep the equipment up. As Mark said, if you are charging the right price for its use, you should have no problem keeping it up.

Steve

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 11-19-2010, 08:44 AM:

quote: Scott Norwood
I like the idea of the DCP option, though. Is there some sort of device that will take an SDI input and create a DCP without losing quality?

Creating a DCP will reduce the quality as each frame is recompressed, although it would only be slight.

Interlaced video would have to be converted into progressive video before/duing the conversion. This would affect the image quality.

The file sizes that would be created when making DCPs would be far larger than the source material (if using disk based sources). In busy venues this may result in hard drive space being used up quickly. The time taken to ingest the content, especially when shows are running may cause issues.

It would definitely make sense to have the DVD and Blu-ray disks content ripped to a computer hard drive and played from that. It the device could be made to operate like a D-Cinema server with a playlist that would be excellent.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 11-19-2010, 05:34 PM:

No this is not one off presentations but continous grind operation
This is a multiScreen Art house
The need to have house automation functions is a big issue

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 11-20-2010, 08:31 PM:

The Panamedia player is hooked up to my CA21. Fully automated.