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Author Topic: Correcting clock on non-networked GDC Bob Healey Film Handler Posts: 93 From: Milford, CT Registered: Sep 2001 posted 11-08-2014 01:59 AM                     A college cinema group I still maintain some connections with has asked me for help correcting the accumulated clock drift on their 18 month old Christie/GDC standalone projector unit prior to an advanced screening scheduled for Monday. The projector clock is currently running 3 hours behind, which has not yet been an issue since they keys are generally for 72 hours and they only screen a title one night. Was curious if this was possible, or something mere mortals are not allowed to touch, due to potential embarrassment of having to delay an advance screening 3 hours to wait for the key to activate. Thanks  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-08-2014 08:08 AM                     STOP!!!!! Before you go adjusting any clocks (and there is a 6 limit per/year allowed as per DCI...applies if your GDC is on Software 8.0.x or higher)...FIRST and I MEAN FIRST...determine if the GDC is in the right Time Zone!!!! You will need Administrator privileges to change the time zone. Go to: Admin Panel>Diagnostics/Maintenance>Configure Time Zone. Make sure that is correct first or you will forever be chasing your tail and the secure clock vs. show clock will always seem to be at odds. That is another thing...there is the secure clock and the show clock...the KDM only cares about the secure clock...not what is showing on the control screen. The secure clock is always working on UTC time. So, if your secure clock is correct reference to UTC...your key will work regardless of what the show clock shows. If you go to the Control Panel>System Monitor...in the upper-right, you'll see quickly what your show clock thinks it is...down to the second and the time zone. If you determine that your secure clock is what is really off by 3-hours...you will need to contact GDC and provide a means for them to remote into the server to change the secure clock by more than 6 minutes. Now, if your GDC software is old enough (pre DCI)...and you haven't configured Network Time (NTP)...which I have to presume you haven't since clearly no NTP source is there...then there is an RTC section in GDC 7.8. But I would definitely check the time zone first.  |  IP: Logged Bob Healey Film Handler Posts: 93 From: Milford, CT Registered: Sep 2001 posted 11-08-2014 11:08 AM                     Getting the projector to reach an NTP server will be easier than getting GDC remote access in time for Monday. The projection booth is only served by university wifi, and static addresses and external access are strictly forbidden. It is possible to get a one off connection as a client with a laptop set to share its connection, so I could in theory possibly enable NTP and let it take care of itself over the weekend. I'm going to check time zones before doing anything with NTP or networking though. I think they have all the needed access codes. .  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-08-2014 11:18 AM                     At any rate you could still use the time zone to offset it the three hours to get it close, just be sure to set it back to your time zone if you are going to have GDC look at it. All you need for GDC to remote in and have them set it is a laptop (wireless) with Windows and Team Viewer on it. Yes, you have a +/- 6 min. a year adjustment but GDC can go in and set it correctly for you no matter how far it has drifted. Once it's set correctly then have NTP track it. I have over 200 GDC's running out there and I seriously doubt that NTP is going to pull it three hours either way so it's correct. Plus the server is only going to update once an hour from NTP anyway. I have seen it pull it as much as 30 minutes though. P.S., If you can get NTP via a computer I assume then getting GDC remote access is just as easy. If you're using another NTP source such as a GPS locked clock that will also work but probably still won't pull it three hours. Team Viewer is free (shhh!) Unless your warrantly has expired in which case you'll have to extend your warranty before they'll even look at it. Mark  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-08-2014 01:38 PM                     There are multiple ways NTP can adjust a clock...there is a jump and there is slew...once upon a time...GDC would jump to the right time (the secure clock was the BIOS clock)...but that all changed in the DCI compliant versions of the software. As Mark said, if you can get it to an NTP source via a laptop...then you can also get GDC into your system. Your laptop becomes their means of access. Presuming your software is DCI compliant (8.01 or 9.00...click the little "i" on the SMS screen and it will give you a bit of information or go to the Control Panel)...then at best you can do is +/-6 minutes as an RTC offset. I'm still thinking it is just a time-zone thing...3-hours isn't drift.  |  IP: Logged Bob Healey Film Handler Posts: 93 From: Milford, CT Registered: Sep 2001 posted 11-08-2014 02:34 PM                     Dealing with university red tape is the network issue. Can't leave machines on the wireless network for long periods of time, and can't have static addresses. Can have a machine on the wireless provide NAT to connect projector out to world thought. Getting a hard line run is 6-8 weeks and about $1K. My day job is IT running the HPC research clusters at the university.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 11-08-2014 04:25 PM                     If they are not complete paranoid at your site, then Teamviewer will work over that connection just as well. Just negotiate with GDC beforehand, and activate the connection when needed. As Steve pointed out, it's important to understand the difference between system/show clock and secure clock, so check the timezone first. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Bob Healey Film Handler Posts: 93 From: Milford, CT Registered: Sep 2001 posted 11-08-2014 04:29 PM                     Had to reset time zone from LA to NYC, and do some creative wireless to wired bridging to point it at the university NTP server, but times are now all correct correct.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 11-09-2014 12:32 AM                     (I'm learning as I go along with digital, thus love to ask questions, if possible:) I've heard this about all of this DCI regulations pertaining to time settings. Why all of this DCI "big brother" requirements with the time settings? For heard if you go over the DCI limits with the time thing, you just "bricked" up the system to eternity. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 11-09-2014 01:11 AM                        The digital key system works on time; a key allows you to play a movie from this date and time to that date and time. If you could arbitrarily change the time on your server, you could make a key work forever simply by keeping your local time set to a time when that key is valid. This is a scheme that was occasionally used by people back in the days of DOS and whatnot to keep trial versions of software running for months or years even though the trial was supposed to be for one week or whatever.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-09-2014 06:25 AM                     Monte, as far as I know if you try and set a DCI secure clock outside its allowed range, it simply won't accept it.  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-09-2014 07:23 AM                     The server security manager should just refuse to change the clock and warn you that it has reached the adjustment limit if you do. Doremi can supply a license to change it more than 6 min/year but that has a limit as well but that carries a cryptic warning about overriding the 6 min/year change limit saying that some security compliance is broken. I can't find the warning right now but my guess at what it means is that, should a distributor supply a KDM that enforces very strict security, the server would not play the respective clip. Several available security switches are being left "off" in current KDMs - many (many!) cinemas would be dark if they were all turned on.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-09-2014 10:59 AM                     I believe if you request a DLM to increase the allowed time to 30m, your system won't be DCI anymore.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 11-09-2014 02:03 PM                     Thx for the replies on this adjusting time issue, for when we had Dolby DSS200 servers on loan, those things would drift like crazy - like 15 minutes a week where I had to do reboots just to get them synced back to the time on the TMS which was GDC. I asked our tech on if these servers could be locked in with the GDC TMS and he did mention something on why they couldn't, or something else I didn't understand. It was funny to compare that a 12 buck watch from Wally World can keep a lot better time than a mega price DSS200 server. Yet, it wasn't important since we were waiting for GDC to handle ATMOS streams to the CP850 processors, in which that was accomplished and those DSS200's left our location shortly afterwards. -thx Monte  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-09-2014 03:13 PM                        Welcome to the 2010s, where for only $30,000 you can buy an amazing machine that can create up to 60 pictures per second using millions of tiny mirrors, and can play dozens of audio channels in synchronization with those pictures, but can't tell the correct time.  |  IP: Logged

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