Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Which TMS are you using?

This is topic Which TMS are you using? in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Olivier Lemaire (Member # 5579) on 04-29-2011, 07:34 PM:

Hi all,

I was wondering about which TMS are you using at work - if you do use one of course?

tia for any answer [Smile]

Cheers,
--
lem

Posted by Elijah Althoff (Member # 5772) on 05-06-2011, 09:33 PM:

In CA here, and we've got all 16 of our screens running Dolby's TMS. It's ridiculously easy to use, and with our network setup allows us to access everything remotely.

I've heard Doremi is supposed to be pretty good also, but I've never had the chance to use it.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 05-07-2011, 09:13 AM:

Does anyone have a rough idea what the software/license cost for these TMS are? I guess it also factors in the number of screens being managed?

- Carsten

Posted by Olivier Lemaire (Member # 5579) on 05-23-2011, 02:17 PM:

In Europe:
=> License costs seems to turn around 500 to 1500 € / screen- public price (depending of the product, the volume of screens, the customer, the wind direction...).
=> (Software) Maintenance costs seems to turn around 100 to 350 €/screen/year (after year 1 most of the time). Most of the time obscure because "embedded" in maintenance and support contact ("tying", dit I said this world?).

All that can of course drop low if big group deal. YYMMV [Wink]

Posted by Jo Mostert (Member # 6245) on 05-31-2011, 07:06 AM:

11 screens - barco projectors (DP2k-15c up to DP2k-32b)
Software from XDC (Solo G3 and CineStore PLAZA).

I still regret their choice to operate on some modied windows-shit. Makes it less stable, and demands regular reboots.
Easy to use, quite user-friendly, still lacks some features which should be released in the near future.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 4784) on 05-31-2011, 07:54 AM:

Jo, how would you compare XDC's software with Doremi apps? I tend to think that Cinelister is no-nonsense and rather easy to use.

Olivier: recently, I've seen a lot of ADDE's DigiCAB suite in use.

Posted by Olivier Lemaire (Member # 5579) on 05-31-2011, 04:13 PM:

Jean-Marc : yes, indeed, Europalace is - afaik - ADDE integrated, and so iCab equipped.

This is one of the point with TMS - they are pure software. But somes are :
* "vendor specific" (example: Doremi TMS will work only with Doremi players, Dolby TMS will work only with Dolby players, GDC TMS ...)
* "integrator specific" (iCab will only be sold and maintained by ADDE)
* interoperables : Unique, Dvidea, Cinedigm (afaik), AAM, ...

The vendor specific will stuck you with a manufacturer - but after all, you won't change your manufacturer for some times (at least the time to compensate the invest), so, wft. Anyway, you're not stuck with integartors as most of them (if not all) are to sell and support them.

Interoperable TMS allow you to split your fleet, regarding vendors and integrator : you just don't care, TMS is just "yet another useful piece of software" - so it's up to you to choose the best fitted to your need.

The integrator specific will stuck you to a given integrator. But afterall, peoples were used to that way of life - even if in this digital age, things are quickly changing...

Regarding vendor specific, I must admit that I just don't understand why manufacturers don't embed them directly with their products (like Dobly does)... You cannot call tied sale, as you're perfectly free to use whatever other software if needed (and willing to pay for more of course) - and it would probably ease the life of most theaters.

my 2 cents [Smile]

Posted by Jo Mostert (Member # 6245) on 05-31-2011, 06:30 PM:

@ Jean-Marc:
For me, it's hard to compare. I use XDC's on a daily base, but I didn't ever operate DoReMi.

Pro: ease of use. It's really easy. Almost like operating an iPod or something like that.
Quite flexible in working with all kinds of automation.

Contra: I miss the possibility (should be in the next release) to copy/ingest a complete show (or part of a show: f.i. commercials/commercials+trailers) from library to server, of from server to server.
In se, it's on a windows system, which results in some random unstable behaviour.

Handling XDC's software (Solo G3 and CineStore Plaza) requires a lot of clicking, drag&drop, where I personally prefer tab&type.

All together, I can work with it, pretty well. But the complete software package is not completely adult. There's still room for progression. In the long run, I hope there's more integration between this part of the hard- and software in our cinema, and the software used at the kassa's and for selling the tickets. I hate it when I have to tell five different computersystems that we start playing X-Men tomorrow :-)

I can't compare the price. I don't know what we paid XDC.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 4784) on 06-02-2011, 03:11 AM:

Olivier : yes, I've been visiting a few Europalace booths lately, hence my remark. Thank you for the explanation. I'll have a look at the interoperable softwares.

Jo: thanks, I've heard that these servers were quite reliable.