Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: [Q] DSS200, Terminal & VNC ? (&Subtitles :[ )

This is topic [Q] DSS200, Terminal & VNC ? (&Subtitles :[ ) in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Shlomo Rubin (Member # 7089) on 10-12-2014, 07:26 AM:

Hi,we have just hooked our digital projectors to a terminal network so we would have the option to start the show remotely.
My question is it possible to connect to the machine through vnc using that terminal connection?

Thanks [beer]

Edit:
And if i'm already here, is there a way to fix the subtitles disappearing in the middle of the show without a restart to the whole machine.

Posted by Ioannis Syrogiannis (Member # 3235) on 10-12-2014, 12:43 PM:

I don't know if I can offer a proper answer, but, there is too much obscure data here:
How do you start the show from the projectors you hooked up? Do you mean the Screen Management Systems (/servers)?

What kind of projectors and/or SMSs you use and what is the program that you use to remotely start the show?

About the subtitles: are they rendered in the IT CineCanvas or in the SMS?
Did you try to change the rendering machine?
Did you try to restart/disable-and-enable the subtitling before rebooting?
What do you restart? the projector, the cinema server or both?

You made it rather difficult for anyone who does not know where you work or doesn't have... supernatural guessing abilities.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-12-2014, 05:38 PM:

Since you indicate in the title of the thread that it is a DSS200...then yes, VNC has been supported since System 4.3.5 or so. So far, any of the popular VNC programs I've tried have worked as well as Barco's Touchpanel. The password is printed in the release notes.

As for subtitles...those are tricky due to how they are handled. My suggestion is to ensure you are on TI's ICP 4.2.1 to have it optimized on that end. For Dolby, 4.4.2.10 or later is going to perform better. But 4.8.1.19 (current) is going to have all of the various improvements to subtitle handling (as well as SMPTE). One feature that came along with the Dolby software was its ability to sense if the projector stopped asking for subtitles...it could take up to 30-seconds for it to try and start them up.

That said, I have found that when "home-made" content is in the show, it is possible for subtitles to not work when it gets to the feature. I don't know what corrupts the system like that and it is not universal...just everyone once in a while, a particular home-made piece of content will cause subtitles to not work. (I've found this across the server brands) A way to test it is to run the feature in a show by itself. If the subtitles work, add back in everything that was in the show but in particular, add back any home-made stuff one at a time and see which one breaks it.

Posted by Ioannis Syrogiannis (Member # 3235) on 10-13-2014, 12:10 AM:

Well, Steve is right.
Since you mentioned DSS200 in the title, I should have guessed that you didn't actually meant digital projectors.
What was obscure here, might not be the data, but my reading them. [Razz]

The truth is that I didn't have the chance to come up against such problems with subtitles, ...yet.
But, in the other hand, I also didn't have the chance to use "home-made" content in a show play list, if that is the culprit here.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 10-13-2014, 03:56 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
If the subtitles work, add back in everything that was in the show but in particular, add back any home-made stuff one at a time and see which one breaks it.

Actually, you should send a copy of it to your supplier, so they hopefully debug it and come up with a patch in a next update. Even a broken DCP shouldn't "crash" your system.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-13-2014, 05:34 AM:

As I said...it is not a Dolby specific problem...I've seen the same results across server brands. I think the problem is the overly complex method in which subtitle/captions are handled that make so fragile.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 10-13-2014, 07:38 AM:

I fully agree regarding the bloated way subtitles are handled, if you look at the simplicity of some other subtitle formats out there and then at the SMTP specs... I guess that's what happens when you let a "consortium" write the specs. [Wink]

Still, I think it would be a good thing to isolate a DCP that triggers this, especially if it's a cross platform issue and the result is practically the same on those platforms. In an ideal world, stuff is not supposed to break like this....