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Author Topic: Issues, questions, comments, tips, and tricks for Cinedigm LMS (aka TCC) Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-19-2011 03:57 PM                        As with the NEC projectors, I feel we need a thread to deal with issues related to the Cinedigm LMS. Here are several questions/issues I have after about a month with the LMS. 1. Is there an easy method for playing dealing with 5.1 & 7.1 formats for the same movie. I know I could create 5.1 and 7.1 titles on my ticketing system, but that creates other issues. 1a. Is there an easy method for re-mapping a title from the 7.1 to 5.1 content and vice versa. I only have one 7.1 auditorium and I would like to use the 7.1 format when available. However, a movie may only play in that auditorium for 1-2 weeks and then move to a 5.1 auditorium. The process for re-mapping from 7.1 to 5.1 is cumbersome as best. 2. How would you create a show play list which does not contain a mapped feature. For example, the night of the Breaking Dawn premiere I ran a 45 minute program of trailers while people were sitting in the auditorium waiting for the movie. I created a title and a trailer pack and added it to the schedule. It sent the trailers to the servers, but did not send the Show Play List (SPL), so I had to manually create it on the servers. 3. Is there a method for manually sending SPLs to the servers? Frequently when I QC a feature, I generally have to schedule a showing in order to get a play list on the intended server. Otherwise I have manually build the play list on the server(s). It appears the LMS doesn't sync SPLs more than 12 hours or so before the first show time.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-19-2011 04:16 PM                        Justin I'm really interested in this as I am getting NEC and LMS. So I will watch this thread with great anticipation!  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-19-2011 06:10 PM                     Unfortunately any one that posts anything regarding TCC is violating the Cinedigm NDA they signed. So don't expect too much detail to get posted on here. Instead rely on your installer to properly train you. DO NOT LET HIM LEAVE YOUR BUILDING UNTIL YOU ARE SATISFIED THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT!!! Expect getting used to it and it's quirks to take at least 3 weeks to a month. Mark  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-19-2011 06:12 PM                        Mark, I wasn't aware of the NDA on the TCC software. Given that, maybe this thread should be locked or deleted. I will add that the installer spent what I would consider to be a more than adequate amount of time with training. Unfortunately, any training that happens before regular use of the system will be insufficient because a user doesn't yet know what they don't know and because a simulate workflow is not the same as the real world.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-19-2011 07:37 PM                     I wouldn't lock the thread. There might be a few individuals that can contribute that have not signed an NDA. Any help on TCC anyone can offer wold certainly be advantageous. It can be a very finnikey program because of the Windows 2003 basis. Mark  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 11-19-2011 10:16 PM                     Does Justin have only one brand of server per each projector, or multiple brands of servers.. As for the different content by the naming conventions, one could easily see that a '51' content has to be built in a '51' SPL and same for the '71' content. Almost recommend making double SPL's -one for "71", and one for "51" - and have the "51" in the LMS ready to be pushed to the appropriate houses when time arises.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-19-2011 10:48 PM                        Monte, the issue has to do with how the LMS links the title coming in from the POS system to the content. In order to have a separate 5.1 & 7.1, I would also have to have a separate 5.1 & 7.1 in my ticketing system which means more reports and the potential for more confusion with the studios. Or I could opt to not use the input from the ticketing system, but inputting the schedules manually is a very cumbersome process.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 11-19-2011 11:19 PM                     True, can see that now....that's a bit of a issue. The latter may, for now, would be the tradeoff in keeping things simple for the studios, but a headache on your end. Question: If the feature switches from a 7.1 house to a 5.1 house, what is the wild card that the LMS and the POS system uses? Wonder if a generic wild card that is compatible for both types of houses so that feature content can be pushed or pulled without offsetting the POS system? Or, does the POS system use the actual feature filename (which contains the sound format) as the link between the two?  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-20-2011 01:18 AM                        The link between the LMS and the POS system is the unique title number in the POS system. The LMS doesn't care what the title is, just the link established when you map a CPL to the title. There is nothing preventing you from mapping a CPL for Breaking Dawn to a POS title for Happy Feet. Which raises another issue, because it is difficult to re-map the Title to a different CPL once it's been played. So if you don't discover a mistake until during the first playback, it can make it difficult to fix.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-20-2011 11:58 AM                     Mark, I'm not sure what in the NDA would preclude a discussion about the TCC operation from a user standpoint. I really don't recall an NDA regarding the TCC itself. It fact, it was made pretty clear...we, the certified techs WERE to provide all such support unless it was a genuine bug. As for 5.1/7.1 This is the same thing as 2D/3D or any other feature that may be auditorium specific. The LMS (anybody's, from what I can tell) does not know the specific capabilities of the individual auditorium within a complex. The only way it can get this information, at the moment, is if you tell it via Title Mapping. Now with 2D/3D a solution has been to keep the 3D titles only programed into 3D houses and since there is a 3D presentation obligation...it has not been a big problem. However, when one only has a very small percentage of a special format, 7.1, or XBRIGHT...etc and those are KDMed to specific auditoria then yes you HAVE to set up separate titles in your POS and map them separately. We have theatres doing just that and the studios seem to have dealt with it just fine. In fact, it will let them know just how many of their shows are taking advantage of 7.1 or XBRIGHT or whatever comes down the pipe. Note, the current version of the TCC will automatically switch between 7.1 and 5.1 on a clip-by-clip basis. The previous version did not and one had to create a cue to do it. This does not solve the problem of 7.1 content going into a 5.1 only capable theatre. Now what would solve sound related format issues is if the player could down mix a more sophisticated sound format into a 5.1 output. While it could also be done at the sound processor level, this is more unreasonable since it would require a processor to know about a format that did not exist when the processor was purchased and then have suitable inputs to mix it down...etc. Whereas in the player, via meta data, a player could be told how to mixdown the content to 5.1. Or, it should be required that the 5.1 version ALWAYS accompany the movie (kinda like how BluRay always has the AC3 version available)...and via the player's software, allow it to use 7.1 (or any other new format) or force the 5.1 mix. Having to have multiple versions of the same title should be a thing of the past in this day and age. -Steve  |  IP: Logged David Zylstra Master Film Handler Posts: 432 From: Novi, MI, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 11-21-2011 02:32 PM                     quote: Justin Hamaker There is nothing preventing you from mapping a CPL for Breaking Dawn to a POS title for Happy Feet. Which raises another issue, because it is difficult to re-map the Title to a different CPL once it's been played. So if you don't discover a mistake until during the first playback, it can make it difficult to fix. There is an easy way, I don't recall the exact steps but it involves deleting the unique POS number from the wrong title mapping (leave the title mapping in place, only delete the number) and manually entering it into the correct title, then do a new schedule import (or in our case with Vista we push the schedule). I've done this a few times after opening a new building with staff that makes mapping mistakes so I know it works, the only question is will it work with your POS since Vista always does a full schedule refresh the LMS rewrites the entire schedule and "fixes" the scheduled titles per the adjustment. If I am not mistakent the NDA I signed as an exhibitor pertains to details of our deal and not end user operation of the LMS so I am comfortable posting this.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-22-2011 02:36 PM                        When we have LMS it will not pull shows time and auditorium assignments for the POS system. The reason is that our weekday set up is no different than our weekend on them. We have two less shows on weekdays during the winter and one during summer. Evidently LMS can be programed with out the POS. Well so I am told!  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-22-2011 02:51 PM                        Ron, the LMS doesn't actually pull show times from your POS system. Your POS system needs to export a file in a format recognized by the LMS. I assure you, that you want to set this up if at all possible. The manual times input for the LMS is clunky and will take a significant amount of time to enter a full week's schedule.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-22-2011 06:16 PM                     There is at least one POS where the LMS can "pull" the schedule. Now as to not integrating with your POS...why? It doesn't care how identical your schedules are...it can get updates as you change your schedule and if you don't change then it doesn't need to update. Once set up, it can be a real time saver! -Steve  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-22-2011 06:21 PM                        Justin, Well running moves at 2:00 pm because you can't control them in the POS makes not sense at all to me. It might to you but not me. Our system would not allow for pre-sales if we would have to set up new showtimes every single day for the POS export to work. I don't want to do that do you?  |  IP: Logged

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