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Author Topic: DCP 1000 won't boot... Matt Zeiner Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Windsor, CT USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 04-10-2004 12:56 AM                     I think its pretty funny that after 7 years, Sony has still not had a chance to append section friggin' 7 --Service-- to the DCP-1000 manual...at least to any that I've seen. Maybe I'm just out of the loop. Does anybody have some printed info on this processor that is not included in the manuals section? I have a DCP-1000 that powers up, but won't boot. Operator said it happened about a year ago suddenly. Is there anything obvious I should look at? Where is the CPU and firmware? Basically, all pertinent information in both the manual I have and the manual in the "manuals" section are "to be added at a later date." OT - also interested in how you guys have found Sony support recently. Pretty solid and quick on my end...  |  IP: Logged Robbie Hidalgo Film Handler Posts: 47 From: Los Angeles, CA USA Registered: Dec 2003 posted 04-10-2004 02:00 AM                     Matt, Blank blue screen? Bad CPU Board (in the back, labeled CPU). Since DCP was primarily developed in the US (by a San Diego development group) rather than Japan, it's tech pubs were not nearly as well developed as those from overseas. The CPU, however, is essentially a WinSys 386 on-a-board. If you actually want to dig into the CPU at the component level though, feel free to drop me an email. It would probably be a bit too long-winded to get into the CPU in this thread...  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-10-2004 10:06 AM                     Matt, While for at least the next couple of years a DFP 2000 or 3000 is worth fixing I can't believe you'd want to fix a 1000.... For crying out loud get them a real processor. Mark  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-10-2004 10:47 AM                     Pssst...Mark you forgot SDDS' best processor...the DFP-2500...little known but probably had the best input section for SDDS in a changeover set up. Now, where are those 8-channel releases? Even Columbia/Tri-Star is absent from them. A shame since when Dan Taylor was there, the number of 8-channel films were going up. Steve  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-10-2004 11:08 AM                     Steve, No 2500's in this area at all....thankfully! I do have several 8 channel trailers on my SDDS test reel though. They sound reel nice! We do have quite a few theatres equipped for 8 channel playback out here. I've rebuilt 8 DFPR 2000 readers in the last month and a half with 2 more comming on on Monday! Geez..... At least now there is a good source for cheap, reliable LEDs. Now DTS is available to do the same 8 track scheme but no one seems to be rushing to do it. Probably most of todys filum directors don't even know what it is or thats its available.... Sad indeed! I'd be willing to bet that the extra DTS tracks will end up being used for multilingual crap most of the time.  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 04-10-2004 03:09 PM                     If you are lucky, your blue screen of death is being caused by a dirty/bad power connection to one or more of the boards. Open it up and check, use contact cleaner where required. If you are not lucky, your blue screen of death is being caused by the fact that the operating system for these units is held in volatile memory, with a little battery welded on to the CPU board to keep it alive. Eventually the battery runs out of power, and the unit is dead. The solution is to replace the welded battery with one that can be replaced without welding, and then reload the operating system from a PC with the Sony setup disk and re-calibrate. /Mitchell  |  IP: Logged Matt Zeiner Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Windsor, CT USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 04-10-2004 04:37 PM                     Thanks for the info, Mitchell. Is the facility for uploading the OS present in the DCP-1000 setup software or it somewhere else? The CMOS battery is a good call - I'll check it out. Assume its on the CPU board? Mark - please. We are both in the business of fixing equipment. Some of it is good, some of it is not. I make my living by fixing what is put on my bench. The point is not whether or not this thing is the best my customer can do. The point is, its broken and it is my job to do my best to fix it if that is financially viable. period. I find it hard to beleive that SDDS is going to be able to completely stop supporting their products for a while to come, though that is just conjecture, I suppose.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-10-2004 06:57 PM                     "The point is not whether or not this thing is the best my customer can do." Actually that is definately the point and also part of your job as a booth engineer to let your customer know that he can do better....especially in a case like this one.... unless your customer just really doesn't give a dam and there are those.... During my twice yearly preventative service visits its rare for one of our customers not to ask what they can improve on. I always make reccomendations and they usually do at least some of it. If I think that a piece of equipment they are using is substandard I will still let them know in a polite way and they have always appreciated it big time. Your input regarding this is the best way, and sometimes the only thing they may hear to allow them to plan on equipment expendatures for the future..... Mark @ CLACO  |  IP: Logged Matt Zeiner Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Windsor, CT USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 04-10-2004 07:11 PM                     quote: If I think that a piece of equipment they are using is substandard I will still let them know in a polite way and they have always appreciated it big time. sub-who's-standard? I think the dcp sounds pretty decent. Its not a CP-65, but its not an as-7200 either. Of course if a customer is not likely to get reliable service out of a piece of equipment, I'll say something. I have had minimal problems with Sony processors in general, and many problems (sdds) historically have had more to do with poor film handling than poor equipment. When properly set up, they do a decent job with the NR, and though they tend to sound a bit hyped, I have never installed one and thought it sounded bad, unlike many others out there. Also - in your quote, you forgot the most important part - "if that is financially viable." If it would make more financial sence to replace the unit, that will be my advice. Of course my customers' interests are always paramount. I thought that was a given.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-10-2004 09:33 PM                     A good engineer will weigh the financial viability of any recomendations they make It serves no one any good if they go under by over spending  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-10-2004 10:06 PM                     Matt,Gord... I've never known a customer to go under by overspending...thats ludicrous. Most of our customers are very seasoned operators...we do have a few new operators though and I generally find that they are even more responsable with their dollars than old timers are. As for the SR on the Sony being good or not..... How the Sony sounds is not the key issue. The issue with the Sony is support, repair, and parts availability for the long haul. I will always take into account and advise a customer if the equiment is good for the long haul or not and Sony Cinema equipment...all of it....is simply not going to be around for the long haul. Some customers need years to be able to properly budget expensive equipment purchases like a digital processor and or they may take advantage during a big cash flow when they play the next big hit movie. however, it is ultimately the theatre owner who will decide what and if anything reccomended by the tech is financially viable for him to persue. I do not do much price quoting on stuff, I only make reccomendations to our customers on condition, longevity of usage, and if they might have major problems with any certain piece in the very near future. If a customer doesn't want to change out a piece of soon to be obsolete equipment that is ok and his choice, but we will work with him to attempt to keep it going as long as is possible....as least as long as no ones safety is put on the line. But the end of the line does eventually come along either through obsolescense, lack of repair, lack parts support, and sometimes many other reasons. Indeed your customer might get the last seconds worth of sound out of that processor ten years from now. That is fine and that is his call... however, at least you would have warned him as to the negative issues it also has. Customers deserve to know all the positive and negative aspects of any piece of equipment they have in use so they can make proper budgetary decisions themselves. Mark P.S. I agree that alot of Sony's problems stem from poor film handling, some also from poor projector film path maintainance. But the demise of the SDDS format is more related to the light source they desided to go with in the first place. They could have also gone with an LED array as Dolby developed, In fact some the technology for SDDS is actually liscensed from Dolby. There are also technicians that have ripped out the light pipes, and replaced them with Dolby LEDs and have had very positive results. That Sony chose the cheaper LED array and more expensive fibre optic light pipes as their light source actually brought about SDDSs death before it ever left the factory. Had they developed an LED array similar to Dolby's for their own use would have caused far less problems in the beginning. In fact one has to wonder how many I.C.'s they had to create for these processors... another smaller part such as an LED array would have been nothing for them to come up with and the job would hvae been done right.  |  IP: Logged Matt Zeiner Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Windsor, CT USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 04-10-2004 11:45 PM                     quote: It serves no one any good if they go under by over spending Thank you. Mark - it is rare in my market (maybe things are different in Utah) that an operator is ever in a position to make decisions on this scale. For the most part (and there are some notable exceptions), the people I have to convince often have little understanding of the concept of "film done right" I'm very sorry to say - beleive me. Often the people signing the checks and approving the work will base their decision on a simple premise: Will an upgrade in this piece of hardware report more revenue than a repair of the hardware I already have. In this case the answer may be yes...it may be no. Either way, the point is I can't recommend anything to this customer without some information on the subject (hence the post....). As for quote: I've never known a customer to go under by overspending...thats ludicrous. Lowes' filing for chapter 11 a few years ago really hurt more than a few companies. What about GCC? I think Regal and Nat. Amusements are the only major chains in this area, at least, that managed to survive the "gold rush" of the 90's reasonably unscathed...  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-11-2004 06:32 AM                     Matt, The next time the processor goes down and it can't be repaired your customer will be loosing much revenue while he waits for a new processor to arrive and be installed. At CLACO we primarily service independent owners and independently operated chains, we only do service at one location for one of the majors(thankfully!). So we generally do not have the difficulty of cutting through tons of red tape to get a piece of equipment on the brink of extinction or replaced at the end of its useful life. So when I say that I've never seen anyone go under I am speaking about our independent customers, not the chains. I will say that none of the chains went under from making smart decisions to replacing a major piece of equipment on the brink of extinction, or that was about to cause a major headache to its normal operation. The chains went bankrupt because they built more sites than they needed. That is whole other issue in and of itself... aside from replacing or updating old systems. My situation back in the Midwest was similar to how it is out here with many, many independents. I can't think of anyone thats gone under, or out of buisness, just those that have retired and sold their screens off, or those that have passed and let other family members take the helm. Giving your customers input in regards to their planning for the long haul is part of what prevents them from loosing revenue, irritating customers and eventually from going out of buisness. Mark  |  IP: Logged Max Biela Film Handler Posts: 89 From: Dortmund, Germany Registered: Sep 2003 posted 04-11-2004 09:00 AM                     Hey, whats wrong with a DCP-1000? I've found that the Matrix Decoding is MUCH better than with a Dolby Cat 150 D/E (Have no 150 F to give it a try). The DCP can also do Mono without Academy filter. Many of you say "it sounds harsh" but I think thats the same with nearly every Processor with Digital EQ (DFP-2000, 3000, 2500, CP 650 ect.). _I_ like the sound of Digital EQ and the sound of Sony's cinema processors. Max  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-11-2004 09:56 AM                     Oh my...I am agreeing with Mark... As to the BIG chains that filed Bankruptcy...it was National Amusements (never underspends) and AMC (known to spend more than others)...the rest filed. In general, the big chains are a great example of underpending on their show and contribute to their underperformance. Where they over spend is in the number of locations. Those idiots will build a 30-plex (just dumb in and of itself) right across the street from another 30-plex. The also try to spend zero dollars on the actual showing of the movie...missed shows, scratched prints and otherwise poor performance has zero meaning to them...heck one of the LCE VPs has even stated as such. As to overspending...sure that too can be done but more often than not, an exhibitor will underspend when it comes to the show itself. Unlike other areas of the business where a spreadsheet can often show P/L based on the purchase of a new concession stand or popper...etc...booth/auditorium related expenses do not have direct correlation. How many more tickets will be sold if I buy a better processor? How many more tickets will be sold if I replace that torn screen? Those are tough questions and spread sheets do not provide answers. Now if you decide to eliminate say a projectionist...you can easily show the payroll savings there...but if your show suffers...the spread sheet does not show that you are having less attendance due to poorer show quality and show quality takes time (in either direction) to have an impact. In general, if the market is there to support the theatre in the first place (i.e., you are not in a town of 1000 and hopping to fill your 2000-seat barn) than the better quality show will bring in the bulk of the patrons over a lesser theatre. There is also not just one thing that makes a theatre better than another...it is the whole shebang from newsprint ad through the exit of the theatre. Take the Uptown in DC for an example...we ran Lord of the Rings for 15-weeks...did hundreds of people for each show the entire time. It was replaced by Hellboy...since the film was still doing good business they moved it to another theatre...where it did next to nothing. The other theatre was essentially in the same place geographically (about 5 minutes away) and had parking (the Uptown does not)...does anyone really think it is just because it was the 16th week? The film was gone from all the other theatre in the DC metro area already...the quality of the theatre sells the film too. Is it our screen? (Cinerama type), the CP-200? The Digital sound?, the balcony? the seats? the curtain?, the 2-projector changeover operation (my personal choice ), the fact films don't age at the due to projectionists (and our trusty bottle of Film-Guard)...or perhaps when you put all of those things together you have someething that is perceived better even by the layperson without knowing about any one thing. Steve  |  IP: Logged

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