Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: help needed with dolby server for projecting commercials using external PC

This is topic help needed with dolby server for projecting commercials using external PC in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Alexander Tarakin (Member # 7140) on 10-04-2013, 02:25 PM:

hi all, in my cinema we project commercials with a PC. the PC is connected to the doremi server via ethernet cable and to the projector via DVI cable and to the cp750 via digital sound cable. in the device manager i add the PC with his ip address so i can send him text command for "play" - to begin the commercial playlist.

the SPL in the doremi is build like this:
cue for sound channel, projector alternative content channel, text massage for the PC for starting the ADV playlist and a pause command to stop the SPL in the doremi.
then i have a trigger cue: wait for signal play from any device (in my case from the PC, which he sends after he finishes the ADV playlist).

So my question is: can the same be done with a dolby server?

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 10-04-2013, 02:49 PM:

Only using serial commands. Dolby do not support custom ethernet commands.

Posted by Kris Verhanneman (Member # 5562) on 10-04-2013, 11:57 PM:

Why does everybody make it so difficult?

Just convert your commercials on the pc in DCP format and add them to your regular playlist.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-05-2013, 12:34 AM:

Why does everybody make it so difficult?

Just don't play the stupid commercials in the first place. NOBODY wants to see them. [Razz]

Posted by Steve Moore (Member # 4753) on 10-05-2013, 06:23 AM:

Ah but they are essential income for the cinema (even though no customers want them) It that how adverts are delivered in Israel, as a PC file? Can you not ask the ad company to send DCP?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-05-2013, 09:04 AM:

From what I've seen, the income from them to the theatre is REALLY small...such that covering the cost of lamps and electricity is a significant portion of the "income". And if you cause any measurable amount of former patrons to not show up to the cinema or not come as often, then their "income" is REALLY in question.

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 10-05-2013, 09:17 AM:

I think that if you run a few minutes of commercials, it's ok. When the adverts block runs for 15 minutes and the total delay before the feature is 20-25 minutes then you begin losing customers.
Unfortunately the latter is the norm.

Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 10-05-2013, 10:01 AM:

Interesting discussion. Does anyone have real numbers on profit percentage due to ads (percent of total theater profit)?

Also, stuff would be a lot simpler if all non-live content (including preshow audio only content) were on DCP and you just scheduled the day. Live content would come in HDMI. We just have too much hardware now with all these content sources, switching, etc.

Harold

Posted by Alexander Tarakin (Member # 7140) on 10-05-2013, 01:03 PM:

Don't know whay about your cinemas...
But in our cinemas in israel we make some nice money out of adv...

BTW how do i build command for "pause" & "play" in dolby..

Posted by Steve Moore (Member # 4753) on 10-05-2013, 03:03 PM:

We get a payment every three months from our advertisements and it certainly helps when its a single screen cinema, should we have a quieter month. Generally we get around 15 mins from Pearl and Dean to play per show.

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 10-05-2013, 05:37 PM:

You can pause and play a Dolby by NA10, Serial and GPIO.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 10-14-2013, 07:53 AM:

quote:
so i can send him text command for "play" - to begin the commercial playlist.
...
then i have a trigger cue: wait for signal play from any device (in my case from the PC, which he sends after he finishes the ADV playlist).

What software and physical interfacing is used on the PC to accomplish this? On the Dolby, only RS232 can be used for RAW commands. You may be able to adjust the PC/Player setup for this.

Regarding DCP conversion - we do that from time to time, but for our preshow-content we still use PowerPoint (dual monitor setup). Simply because it is a lot easier and faster to edit slideshows day-to-day than to recompile DCPs. However, in our case that is not video, but slides. For video, we convert it with DVD-o-matic and play it as DCPs. But these are not intermixed with the PowerPoint slides.
The local advertizing through powerpoint is all before the advertized showtimes. It creates quite a bit of income for us, and the local businesses like it a lot. We do our own advertizing and announcements intermixed with it. PowerPoint is crap, but for this application it is the best we can get, + local businesses can create their own slides if they want, as nearly every business PC has it installed.

- Carsten