End of parts support for CP850 and Showvault/IMB

[Leo Enticknap]

I've had two end of support notices from Dolby in the last couple of weeks, which I'm sharing here in case anyone affected didn't receive. The first is in relation to the CP850. Effective immediately, the following parts are no longer available from Dolby for out-of-warranty CP850s:
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Obviously, some of these are generic parts that can be still be bought from third party vendors. The email states that "technical support" will continue to be available for the CP850, which I presume means that we can still call and email them for diagnostic help, but if the fix requires any of the above parts, we're on our own from that point on. For anyone wishing to upgrade to a CP950A proactively, the Atmos license can be transferred free of charge from the 850 being retired.

The second one is for the ShowVault/IMB, as follows:

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[Ryan Gallagher]

Is the Doremi DCP2000 or DCP2K4 also previously EOL? If not it seems funny that the newer tech involving IMBs is EOLing faster than the old faithfuls?

[Arno Yu]

感谢你的提醒！！！！

[Steve Guttag]

Yes, the DCP2000 and 2K4 are EOL. I believe all "box servers" are now in that category with GDC having select "previously enjoyed" parts for theirs. Remember when you could buy a projector, a platter or even a cinema sound processor and expect it to last for decades? Possibly the life of the theatre? Yeah...well, those days are gone.

I'd say, in our industry, the projectors have had a pretty long life/support life post discontinuation. S2s will likely enjoy that due to the sheer numbers of them out there and how common the parts were between them.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Thanks Steve for clarification. We have one 2K4 in use and one GDC and IMB. The 2K4 got a fresh lease on life with the cert upgrades, but I guess that serviceability does not extend to parts from the manufacturer. But it's basically just a PC with one industry specific card. Most things that can fail on it are relatively serviceable aside from the MB and the Dolphin card (in the 2K4's case).