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Author Topic: Lost my first shows due to equipment failure Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 11-21-2014 03:43 PM                        I watched Dumb and Dumber To by myself yesterday afternoon and everything worked great. I started the regular show last night (Interstellar) and everything looks like it's being played through a yellow and blue filter. I ultimately had to give everyone a refund and send them home. The colour test patterns look fine, but anything played from the server looks yellow and blue, and objects have a faint yellow ghost image beside them. I talked to the techs who look after my equipment and, after consulting with Christie, they told me to try re-seating the ICP board. Nothing changed. They are now sending me a new ICP board on the bus. Hopefully it will arrive in time for me to change it out and have a show tomorrow night; I'm definitely out of luck for tonight's show, though. This is the first time I've lost a show due to equipment failure since I got my digital cinema equipment. I've had a couple of power failures, the movie didn't show up a few times, and I've had issues that I managed to solve in time to get the show started a bit later than it should have been, but never had to cancel the show before. This digital cinema stuff is frustrating to troubleshoot since it's all a black box. With film I could at least narrow down what the problem is -- there's a doodad that isn't spinning and it should be, therefore the problem is here. Digital? It doesn't work. Why? No idea. Send in the log files and see what the experts can tell me.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 11-21-2014 04:03 PM                     Welcome to the club. I've replaced fan boards, rectifiers, network cards, the portable hard drive storage units, hard drives themselves, upgraded servers, and amplifiers in the first year at my new location being a 15plex. We did lose a light engine, but the contracted tech came out and did that install in as well as a gone coolant pump. Guess that's the reason I got hired since this stuff doesn't scare me like it does to the mgmt team. And, it's just beginning. Good luck - Monte  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-21-2014 04:11 PM                     Uhm... everything is possible but the test patterns are generated on the ICP as well. Did you try the DVI input?  |  IP: Logged Stefan Vogels Film Handler Posts: 48 From: Aarle-Rixtel, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands Registered: Jan 2010 posted 11-21-2014 04:53 PM                     I would try reseating the PIB or inputboard and ICP.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 11-21-2014 05:04 PM                     If it is the ICP, it must be on the input side of things... As Marco already put it, the test patterns were also created on the ICP. quote: Frank Cox This digital cinema stuff is frustrating to troubleshoot since it's all a black box. The great thing is, it's supposed to be a black box, courtesy of the Copyright Police.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-21-2014 05:08 PM                     One Barco machines you can create patterns on the HDSDI board, which is quite useful to properly check the ICP board. In your case I think a DVI input would be helpful  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-21-2014 05:18 PM                     The Barco also has a test generator on the Cinema Controller (DVI board) too so yes, you can see where the problem may be. You didn't specify all of your equipment. Test patterns looking good ALMOST NEVER means it is the ICP. I would be looking to the PIB myself or possibly your server. If you have HDSDI cables...then the PIB and even the Link Decryptor are possible causes of the issue...that is if the signal is clean from the server. I have had the server cause the issue with color on one of its HDSDI outputs...put the server in "3D" mode to drive 4:2:2 color on both outputs and then change the input config on the projector to be looking for that to get "normal" color. I would be prepared for a non-ICP failure but hope that it is only so that you have the proper replacement module tomorrow. Good luck.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 11-21-2014 07:23 PM                        I sent in the advanced interrogator logs and I guess that's what they have based this fix on. I sure hope it turns out that I'm replacing the correct part. Two other details that may be important: The white part of the picture is still fine -- anything that's supposed to be white in a scene is, indeed, still white. Also, I got this error message after watching the show by myself yesterday afternoon -- it apparently showed up after the projector cool-down since it wasn't there when I went into the projection room right after the movie was over and it was there when I went back to turn off the cooling fan: Blue Satellite Link Error Critical ICP Reported System Error Critical I rebooted the projector, the error went away and it said "system ok". Which wasn't the case, obviously, when I tried to start the regular show last night. I've seen "blue satellite" errors similar to that on a few occasions in the past, but rebooting the projector always made it go away and it never seemed to affect anything or be a real problem. According to my notes, the last "blue satellite" error I got was about a year and a half ago. I'm answering my "office phone" non-stop today. I put a message on my what's playing answering machine and the website stating that there is no show tonight due to technical problems but I guess that's not good enough. I've talked to at least fifty people over the past two hours and assured them that there is, indeed, no show tonight. Of course, the place that they get my number from is either the answering machine or the website, where they were just told the same thing. I wonder how many of these folks were actually planning to come to the show and how many are just saying, "hey, this is a new thing -- lets get more details".  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-21-2014 09:31 PM                        Again, welcome to the club. We've put in 3 light engines in our first year and we are a single screen! Also replaced a board. Hoping to hell any other warranty repairs happen during the warranty period, but don't like losing days waiting on parts. Good luck with yours.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-22-2014 07:12 AM                     If you remove blue from the picture you get yellowish light, so that makes sense. I would try re-seating the light engine LEQ (do I remember the name right? the board where the light engine connects to). What happens if you run the R G B calibration patterns? Those are generated ON the formatters. Anyway, if you now have a blue formatter link issue, a new ICP makes more sense. Next, it would be a new light engine I'm afraid.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-22-2014 07:53 AM                     So while we are waiting...what server are you using and are you using HDSDI or an IMB for DCPs? Now with the Interrogator logs, one might see where there were a high number of communication issues or log entries about the blue satellite board.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 11-22-2014 10:28 AM                        quote: Marco Giustini I would try re-seating the light engine LEQ (do I remember the name right? the board where the light engine connects to). What happens if you run the R G B calibration patterns? Those are generated ON the formatters. Unfortunately I don't know how to do either of those things. Yet, anyway. quote: Steve Guttag what server are you using and are you using HDSDI or an IMB for DCPs? My server is a GDC SX2001A and as far as I know it just connects directly to the projector (Christie CP2210). I've never had anything other than the server connected to the projector so I don't have any way to play a blue ray or whatever else to see how that would look. Hopefully the bus depot phones me in short order here so I can zip out and pick up that board and put this thing back together again.  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-22-2014 10:34 AM                     A new ICP will probably not work until the software is reinstalled. It might, but I haven't installed one without mismatch errors coming up: this can be a simple re-install of the latest version you have in the TPC or it can be several hours of installing various upgrade steps. I would call Christie with the list of mismatches and get their advice before proceeding, if it doesn't just plug in and work. It's a good idea to reseat (remove an inch or so and replace) all the boards since you have the cage open anyway.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-22-2014 11:33 AM                     As Dave says, you will likely need to reinstall the ICP software - it will match the formatters' one. Don't you have a DVI input on your projector? Plug a DVD/BD player and select the relevant DVI macro on the touch panel!  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 11-22-2014 01:02 PM                     The current ICP isn't completely dead yet. So, it should be possible to back up the settings from it.  |  IP: Logged

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