In order to avoid complaints about loud trailers, the format screens are set up with two separate "SR" formats. One of these is configured with a low fader setting (4.5 or so) and is _not_ configured as an auto-digital source. The other is configured with a normal fader setting (6.5-7) and _is_ an auto-digital source. The first one is assigned to SK4 and the second is assigned to SK1. Auto-digital is enabled.

The idea is that, at show start, the automation pulses the processor into the default format (SK2 - 04 Dolby A) for the company tag. At the start of the first trailer, an automation cue switches to the SK4 format (05 - SR - low fader - no auto-digital). At the start of the feature (assuming the feature is in SR), another automation cue switches to the SK1 format (05 - SR - normal fader - auto-digital); if an SR-D track is detected, the processor then switches to format 10 and the feature plays in digital.

No problems so far. Ninety per cent of the time, this setup works great.

Here's the weird part: if the SR-D track faults for any reason, the CP500 will switch back to the SK4 format, but the fader setting will remain at the normal level set for the SK1 format (which is what it was in before it faulted). In and of itself, this is weird, but not so bad. The annoying part is that the SK4 format is not an auto-digital source, so the rest of the feature will play in SR only, even if there is only a short bit of unreadable SR-D data.

The manual says only that SR-D will fault to 05 - SR, but doesn't say anything about what happens if there are two different SR formats configured.

Has anyone else run into this? What is the fix? Has this been addressed in newer versions of the CP500 software? (Or am I completely missing something here?)

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On my CP500 when a digital format is called and then dropped to analog, it stays in "digital backup". In other words the CP will not pulse the analog format but goes on an analog format with the "backup" icon besides the "05" number. In fact when a digital track is detected CP will pulse the digital target so it should stays in digital from that time forward.
It is strange that Cp will not goes in digital after a drop.

Are you sure that CP cannot return in digital because digital data are not good? Did you try with a known good print (covering for a moment the digital led)?

SK1 04 (with snipe level)
SK2 05 (with trailer level)
SK3 05 (source w/out level)
SK4 10 (target with feature level)

SK5 11 (w/out level-dts auto board configured to default to fall back to SK3)
SK6 01 (with level)
SK7 60 (with level)
SK8 61 (with level)

Pulse to SK1 at douser open, SK2 at the start of the trailers, then pulse to SK4 at the start of the feature. If no SRD is found, it will simply fall back to SK3 at the fader setting programmed into SK4.

I don't know if there is anything to format 10 residing on SK4 or not, but this always worked for me without fail. Just remember your feature cue MUST be placed at least one second before either dts or SRD kicks in.

If you want to prevent dts from playing during the trailers, pull pin 25 from the DB25 automation cable. This will allow it to default to SR should the dts drop out, but will not allow the dts player to pulse itself into digital. The only negative thing about doing this is that if the dts dies during a show, it will play the rest of the show in SR, but that is an extremely rare circumstance. Also, if you want to handle dts switching in this manner, you need to pulse the feature cue to SK5 and make it a source. (Beware if you pulled pin 25 and you pulse to SK5 without discs and there is no readable SRD track...no sound!) Finally, you must program in the feature fader level in SK5 if you want to handle things in this manner.

A more ideal approach to preventing dts from playing during the trailers is to simply not load the trailer discs and re-burn the feature disc that has the trailers, but omit the trailer files. This would be so much simpler if dts never placed trailer files on the feature discs, but apparently the studios want the customers to be blown out of their chairs during their previews.

Now, can anyone tell me how to create a custom format for SRD that kills the subwoofer and surrounds, so that only L, C, R plays in SRD?

Simple. Create a custom format, and somewhere, in the custom format windows (I don't have the CP right here!) choose "X-point".

There is a matrix with 5.1 channels on top and at right and you can link channels as you wish. The "x" means that, for example, left channel is linked to left channel. You can reverse channels just inverting the "x" (for example).

If you do not want surround and subwoofer, just remove the x on LR,LS and SW.

Why that kind of format?

The format is for trailers. For years I have always preferred SR w/out surrounds or sub, but most processors cannot be set up for that. Play a trailer reel in that format one day (just shut off amps to simulate) and see if you don't find it much preferrable to the onslaught of current trailer mixes. Having the surrounds "come alive" when the lights dim fully and the feature starts also adds a nice touch of showmanship.

The automation can pulse to SK2 (04), SK1 (05), or SK4 (05). Reworking the automation (CE TA-10) isn't likely to be an option, since it appears to have been set up at one time to correspond to the automation configuration at another theatre and they probably want to retain this interchangeability. (For mono films, we reassign SK1 to format 01).

Based on Brad's post, it sounds as if the trick might be to pulse to format 10 at feature start rather than 05. I will re-do the format configuration and try this when I'm at this place next. They don't have DTS, so that should be a nonissue.

Another idea that I'm thinking of trying is to create a user-defined format for SK4 that is an exact copy of format 05. That would leave SK1 as the only option labelled as 05 on the format screen. Any idea if this would work?

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I agree with you. But Let's say that in the trailer section you have one that needs surround and subwoofer...

Just an example: we are showing now Star Wars EP2 trailer..

About the custom format, I really don't know. Since it is a custom format perhaps it doesn't have a backup format... I never tried.

In those very rare special cases, then I would make it the last trailer in the pack and run it in format 10. In fact, I specifically did that for the Episode I trailers, and played then at full feature volume as well. It's the only trailer in recent years that I can think of that seemed worthy enough. There just doesn't seem to be much excitement to Episode II for some reason. Maybe the tv advertisements need to say "opening on May 16th, experience Star Wars Episode II where Jar Jar has less than 10 minutes of screen time!"

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So basically, keeping the original assignment of SKs to format selectors, but changing the name of the format in SK4, was enough to "trick" the CP500 into correctly defaulting to SK1? Interesting....

It's a bit late to help, but could you clarify whether this problem happened with all processors every time SRD dropped out, or just some processors some of the time?

There are a couple of reasons why I decided to go with a custom format rather than have the automation pulse the processor into format 10 at feature start: first, this method makes it easier to run the feature entirely in optical (in case of a very flaky digital track, etc.) just by turning off auto-digital. Second and more importantly, it makes it possible to cue all prints in the same way, even though we only have SR-D cards in three of six houses. If the sound cue at the start of the feature sent the processor into format 10, the processors without SR-D cards would just stay in the original format with the low fader setting. By pulsing into SR configured as an auto-digital source (from "user format 5"), the scheme will work equally well in digital-equipped houses (will sense SR-D track and play in digital) and non-digital houses (will play in 05 at the higher fader setting). For mono or Dolby A prints, we just re-assign the SK1 format; the beauty of this is that all prints are cued in the same way.

(Sorry if this description sounds muddled. It is a bit hard to explain properly, but the bottom line is that it is _very_ nice to be able to automatically run trailers in SR without blasting the audience and yet still run the feature in digital [in most cases] at a reasonable level without having to adjust anything manually at every show.)

In short:

- processor goes into 04 (default format) at show start for company tag
- processor goes into user format 5 (copy of Dolby SR, with low fader preset) at start of first trailer
- processor goes into format 05 (Dolby SR, set up as auto-digital source with normal fader preset) at start of feature and automatically switches to format 10 (SR-D, set up as auto-digital target with same fader setting as format 05) if it has SR-D cards and data is present (else it stays in SR)
- if feature is playing in SR-D and processor faults, it will switch back to 05 until good SR-D data is read again

soft key assignments:

SK1 - 05, source, normal fader
SK2 - 04
SK3 - 10, target, normal fader
SK4 - user 5 (copy of 05, low fader)
SK5 - 60
SK6 - 64
SK7 - 03
SK8 - 01

Anyway, this is working well for me. If anyone has further suggestions, comments, etc., I'd like to hear them.