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Topic: Processor Questions

John T. Hendrickson, Jr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 889
From: Freehold, NJ, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-12-2002 09:10 PM

Our owner has an opportunity to buy two Sony DCP 1000's second hand, and wants to upgrade two of our smaller houses. I ran a search and could find no information on this product, and I have no experience with Sony equipment. So...I have several questions:

First, what is the vintage of these processors?

Second, for those of you who have worked with them, what is your opinion as to their quality and reliaibility?

Third, what is the availability of replacement parts and ease of repair?

Fourth, as we do not intend to go with SDDS, are these processors able to run DTS?

Lastly, what would be a ballpark fair price?

Steve, Mark, Gordon, Brad, or anyone else- can you help me out on this one?

Many thanks,
John

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 10-12-2002 10:41 PM

Sorry, I've never used them so I can't be of much help here.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-12-2002 11:29 PM

There are many better used processor on the market that I would recomend to any one ahead of those

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-13-2002 12:07 AM

A friend of mine has one and he loves it. It is quite versatile and never in all the years he had it (6-7 years or maybe longer?), it needed a repair. The cinema is very big - 800 seats, 22 meter screen - and they run a lot of arthouse programs there, so analogue sound is very important. They also have a CP200 and we were able to compare the sound quality directly in a blind test. Everyone agreed the DCP was way better. It also has some nice features, for instance, you can play Klangfilm Mono, which is an European standard without the Academy filter. The formats and the format screen are fully customisable.
The sound quality is very good, some of the units are used in recording studios here.
You can hook up several external sources to the processor. I am not sure if you need an extra a/d-converter card for dts or if the board is already included. This theater has dts-6D, DA20 and MPU1 all connected to the processor.
As to prices and availabilty of parts, I will send you the e-mail address of a friend who has installed a couple of these. He will be able to answer all your questions. In the meantime, you could also check the manual available from this website for features.
One more thing: you said you weren`t planning on playing SDDS, so you realise the DCP-1000 doesn`t play SDDS? Just mentioning it to avoid later disappointment should you change your mind.
Michael

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 10-13-2002 12:10 AM

Digital Cinema Processor: DCP-1000.
The DCP-1000 is a cinema processor for processing analog soundtracks. Unlike other cinema processors, all signal processing is performed in the digital domain. It is compatible with all current analog soundtracks. .

The above is what is said on the SDDS web site. It is a discontinued unit so getting information and help from Sony may be tough. I doubt but not for sure that you could use it for DTS.

I would go with Gordon's suggestion and look into something else.

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 10-13-2002 03:22 AM

I use them and I do not like them. I would look into something else.

But to break it down for you
S eriously
O verrated
N ever works correctly
Y ou dont want it!!!

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Shaun Flichel
Film Handler

Posts: 42
From: Regina, Sask., Canada
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 10-13-2002 12:13 PM

Good one Sean, never heard that one before. Although I have to totally agree with it, many sony's dont work right out of the box, neither does the replacement, or the replacement after that, this continues until you finally realize to go with Dolby.

Sony sucks

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-13-2002 03:10 PM

Maybe you gentlemen could be a bit more specific in your criticism. It would probably help John better to reach a decision if you gave more detailed opinions than "Sony sucks" or "Sony never works". I have had a lot of good experiences with Sony equipment. If you read and follow the installation manual, it works most of the time.
Michael

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 10-13-2002 03:26 PM

"it works most of the time."

Well that is one problem right there it should work ALL the time.

I just think that it is a poorly though out proccessor and that it does not sound as good as say a Dolby CP500. Maybe I dislike it more because it is part of an SDDS set-up but we wont even get into SDDS right now!

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-13-2002 03:40 PM

Sean,
no known piece of technical equipment works ALL the time. That is why we congregate here on this forum.
How do you know it doesn`t sound as well as the CP500? Have you heard both processors in the same room with the same setup? I never liked the CP500`s analogue playback very much.
Please let us know why you think it is poorly designed. I gave reasons for my observations, if you give reasons too, I can reconsider my observations. That I find much more interesting than to read that Sony sucks. I already know that Americans generally don`t like Japanese products

Michael

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 10-13-2002 04:42 PM

I think the things that are stated above are good opinions and that is what they are opinions. Not everyone likes or will ever like the same things. If one thinks something sucks then that is there opinion. By the way we build Japanees cars right here in this state. Toyotas to be exact.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-13-2002 04:46 PM

Well I am a Canadian and I don't like them installed quite a few and most we removed and replaced with cp500's and used 65's
most were put up for sale and ended up in the dumpster
I found the eq harsh and they tended to loose settings more often than the CP500's do
Also CP200 can format mono no nr and no filter with a few diodes

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-13-2002 05:36 PM

Buy a Panastereo Processor. Its the best one on the market right now. You WILL have to outboard a digital system into it(very easily done!)at extra cost, but then, you really do want the best sound, right? There is no other processor on the market right now in my book.

John, I wonder if the units you were offered were any of the ones out of Gords dumpster??
Mark

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Steve Kraus
Film God

Posts: 4094
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 10-13-2002 06:14 PM

Never a gray area with Mark, Mr. Absolute. Something is either the best or it's junk.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-13-2002 08:06 PM

Mark, your post made me curious since I have never seen or heard a Panastereo processor in real life. They are very uncommon here. Maybe they have more of them in the UK. Please let us know more about why it is your preferred equipment.
By the way, Darryl, I have no problems whatsoever with opinions, of course, only sometimes I think it might be interesting to learn what they are based on.
Michael

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