Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: New Theater Tech looking for some direction

This is topic New Theater Tech looking for some direction in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jesse Istre (Member # 11059) on 11-11-2019, 08:20 AM:

Hello,
I have been working as a tech for about 4 months. I come from an IT background. I was somewhat hastily thrust into this position and only received about a week's training. The rest I sort of learned on the job. We have a mixture of equipment. Mostly GDC and NEC though.

My question is, can anyone direct me to some sort of advanced training material? Management and corporate have been impressed with my performance and adaptability considering the lack of experience. They want to invest in me and have me receive additional training.

Thanks.

Posted by Mark Strube (Member # 4190) on 11-11-2019, 04:34 PM:

It sounds like you've been thrown into a sort of "head of projection" position for one location? I'm assuming since you mention "corporate" that your theater does employ a technical services company for major troubleshooting, maintenance, and installs? Or are all the technicians internal?

Note: this should probably be in the Digital Cinema Forum as I see no reference to film in your post.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-11-2019, 08:46 PM:

You can register on partners.necdisplay.com, which will give you access to service manuals and firmware downloads for the NEC projectors that you service. GDC also has an FTP site with their stuff on - you might like to try emailing them for a username and password.

Barco/Cinionic run formal training courses for the installation and servicing of their projectors, that take place at their US headquarters just outside Sacramento, CA. If you deal with Barco projectors you might like to think about investigating these, and/or registering on mybarco.com. Dolbycustomer.com for their cinema products is another site to look at. QSC offer fully online training programs for their digital cinema stuff, notably Q-Sys.

Posted by Jesse Istre (Member # 11059) on 11-12-2019, 12:02 PM:

Exactly.I am the lone tech here, yes. The head of this department is spread thin, launching new locations. I am trying to learn as much as possible independently to be an asset.

There is a local company we call for more advanced hardware-level service and installs.

Thank you Leo and Mark. This is helpful information.

We have a sort of patchwork of equipment here.

Is there a general course on the basics of digital cinema?

I feel I have a near proficient grasp of terms and procedures. But I would like to fill any gaps. From time to time I come something I am not familiar with.

I was told NEC doesn't train on old equipment, is that true?

I have a hard time finding support for these models.

We have a NC1200c projector with GDC SR-1000.

We have other projectors a few laser. But the above are the ones I need the most help with.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-12-2019, 12:54 PM:

If you are new to digital cinema as a concept, the DCI specification document is worth a look. It provides a fairly comprehensive description of how the underlying infrastructure works. It might be instructive to try making your own DCPs (using something like DCP-o-Matic) to better understand the file format and structure.

When you say that you are the "tech"--do you mean that you are the operator (i.e. projectionist) or are you installing and servicing the equipment? Or both? The operator needs to know how to change bulbs, load content, make playlists, and reboot the machines when things go wrong. The installer/repairer needs to know much more than that. Either way, experience in the IT field will be helpful, since the thought process for troubleshooting problems (eliminate as many factors as possible and then re-add them until the failure occurs) is essentially the same.

Posted by Jesse Istre (Member # 11059) on 11-12-2019, 01:23 PM:

My official title is Theater Technician.
I would say though I am between Operator and Tech skills wise.

They very much try to keep things in-house when possible, for obvious reasons.

My goal is to be capable enough to actually diagnose and resolve technical challenges as they arise. Such as the issue I posted in this forum.

I have already been given a raise and given opportunities for advancement and additional responsibilities.

Do you have a link for the DCI document?

Finding materials related to Digital Cinema has been a challenge on its own. Many of the acronyms we use are occupied by other industries. Google searches have turned full CSI level investigation to find relevant information.

Just found this https://cinepedia.com/

Posted by Andrew Carr (Member # 9264) on 11-12-2019, 02:49 PM:

AVIXA is the main AV information and education source as far as I know. There are some free online courses there or you can get a membership for a bit more free learning. Might need to sift through the courses to find info appropriate to your field.

Christie University is a pretty good online resource. Obviously Christie focused...

Dolby Cinema Training has a bunch of free videos here:

https://vimeo.com/dolbycinemasupport

AV and cinema tech is difficult as a lot of the people I've worked with over the years have no formal training and have just learned on the job. Have met some great techs but there are a lot of bad habits you can pick up if you're not careful!

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-12-2019, 03:55 PM:

Though it's a bit old, and focused on the specific requirements of arthouse theaters, this book covers the fundamentals pretty well.

quote: Jesse Istre
I was told NEC doesn't train on old equipment, is that true?

I have a hard time finding support for these models.

If you mean Series 1 models such as the 1600 and the 2500, then manuals and firmware for them are still available on the NEC partner site (or at least they were, the last time I needed any), but you're almost certainly right in that they no longer offer any formal training courses. I know that Barco/Cinionic no longer do for their Series 1 models.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-13-2019, 06:35 PM:

Here is the DCI specification

https://www.dcimovies.com/specification/

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-13-2019, 07:30 PM:

GDC has training every year at Cinemacon. So consider going to that. For NEC training you either have to go to MIT if they still do that or to Strong. NEC also does training in Itasca, IL at their facility. NEC has been for me the most reliable projector. I installed 334 Series 2 over the course of digital conversions and I can still count the issues on just one hand.

Mark

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-13-2019, 10:06 PM:

We (MiT) last hosted NEC for a three-day training school (on their laser projectors) in May. I had to skip it because I was in the teeth of a 12-plex install that was running late thanks to construction overrruns, with deadlines rapidly looming. I'm guessing that there will be another one sometime next year, but don't have any dates - sorry.