Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Do you have to have a TMS to move DCPs...

This is topic Do you have to have a TMS to move DCPs... in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Kirk Futrell (Member # 5006) on 01-09-2013, 10:33 AM:

I am new to digital, we are installing Barco 23Bs (one 2k one 4k) in March. We will not be using a VPF program. My question is do we need to have a TMS in order to move DCPs from one projector to the other via a network? Are there servers that work with a NAS that I could just plug a pc into one of the servers and tell it to ingest a DCP to a NAS library and then send it to the other server? I'm looking for the most cost effective way to store multiple DCPs and move them to what ever projector I need to whenever I need to via a network. I did a couple of searches but was probably using the wrong search terms...

Posted by David Zylstra (Member # 4230) on 01-09-2013, 10:47 AM:

I think there were a few old threads here that talk about using a local FTP source as central storage, maybe search for the term "FTP" to see what comes up. I also know most servers can be configured to transfer content between units so you don't always need a central storage device if you have enough room on your screen servers.

Posted by Chase Taylor (Member # 778) on 01-09-2013, 11:24 AM:

Yes servers have a way to connect via FTP between each other, it depends on the server on how it does it.

You would need a gigabit ethernet switch between the two.

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 01-09-2013, 12:00 PM:

A previous site I worked at had their 3 Doremi servers networked (I think the only added equipment was a router (and cable)).

To copy content between servers the ingest software was used, selecting the source server rather than local storage. The speed was about the same as using a USB drive provided the other server was not playing content at the time.

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 01-09-2013, 05:25 PM:

I assume all the server brands can do transfers from one screen to another. Doremi is pretty easy, once the servers are networked and on the same network segment you set up the servers' "ingest server" list to include the other screen servers. Usually you set up a separate media network on the second ethernet port so the transfer traffic doesn't congest the control network: each projection system has the server and projector on one network and talks to the other servers on the second network. Use cat6 cable and a gigabit switch, two screens can just interconnect the two server ports with a cable and no switch I think. Just have different addresses (last octet different if you use a 255.255.255.0 net mask for the servers, usually just the screen number is used).
Then open ingest manager, close the "nothing found" window, and click where it says "local storage" - a list will pop down with the other screen(s) (after you've set up their addresses).
With 1000baseT (cat6 cable and gig switch) the transfer is much faster than usb, as fast or faster than with a CRU bay. With 100baseT (cat5 and 100mb switch) it's about the same as USB. The transfer slows down a lot if either server is playing but current Doremi software doesn't cause screen glitches.
Other servers will have other ways of doing this, you may have to use ftp to do transfers.

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 01-10-2013, 02:11 PM:

I second Dave: network transfers are very fast. If I am not mistaken one of the reasons is that if the content is coming from another D-Cinema server the receiving server won't hash-check the content. In fact it should be faster than CRU. You probably had a 100Mbit switch in the middle, or they mistakenly used eth1 for content transferring, which is a 100Mbit port.