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Author Topic: best practices Armand Daiguillon Film Handler Posts: 46 From: Plantation FL USA Registered: Jan 2018 posted 07-18-2019 02:06 PM                     Hi all, I recently took over a small theater and its my first experience with digital cinema. At this location they turn the amps off every night - but leave the projectors on. (nec900c's) Would this be considered best practice for this type of equipment ? It would seem that at the very least that they should be put into stand-by every night ? I was told that GDC who I guess we have a maintenance contract with wants them on 24/7 so they can push updates as needed. To me leaving on 24/7 seems odd ....what are y'all thoughts on these booth practices ? Also any thoughts on GDC in general ? Thanks !!!  |  IP: Logged Ken Lackner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1907 From: Atlanta, GA, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 07-18-2019 02:10 PM                     What model GDC servers do you have? Servers should generally be left running 24/7, and occasionally (weekly or monthly) power cycled for maintenance purposes. If there is an IMB in the projector, it may be that the projector is left powered on so that the IMB is always on and, therefore, remotely accessible for upgrades as you mentioned. If your GDC servers are stand alone servers, where the media block is inside the server rather than in the projector, then I can't think of a reason not to put the projectors in standby at night. GDC servers are pretty reliable and their service is top notch. I think you'll be happy with them.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-18-2019 02:48 PM                        Our projector has a GDC IMB and we do power it down at night. Since we only do one show most nights, it seems silly to leave it on all the time mostly due to the wear and tear on the fans. Our machine is not always connected to the internet so we don't need to worry about updates, they're done by our tech during service visits or "by appointment," so to speak. We DO leave our external storage device on all the time, thereby reducing startup wear and tear on the RAID drives. We still have had to replace the drives every 18 months or so (on average) though, so I don't know if that practice makes any difference. If we shut it off at night though, then we'd probably wear out the power switch...so bottom line, it's easier to just leave it on.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-18-2019 03:51 PM                        Ideally, the projector should be put into standby when it's not in use. However, that will put the GDC IMB to sleep, meaning that GDC won't be able to connect to it remotely. That is probably why they want you to leave the projector on, but lamps off (flashing green tail lights) when the system is not in use. That having been said, if the NOC can get in to your booth via Teamviewer (or similar), they can bring the projector out of standby and power it up, so I don't see why they need to insist on it being left on. I would suggest that you double check with GDC that they do actually require this, and if they don't, put the projectors into standby overnight. The gotcha with leaving the projectors fully powered up (apart from the lamps) is that, per NEC's recommended maintenance regime, you're supposed to replace all 16 fans after every 20,000 hours of spinning. If the projector is powered on 24/7, that means about every two and a half years. This is not a job for the faint hearted (in particular, getting at the fans behind the lamp compartments and in front of the card cage requires major disassembly) - it takes several hours, even for a trained tech to do, and the cost of the fans themselves is nontrivial. So this is a significant operating expense if you do leave your projector in the flashing green tail light condition permanently, when a show is not in progress. The only other thing I'd flag up about your equipment is that NEC recently released a new model of lamp for your projector. The old one is NP-9LP02; the new one is NP-9LP06. There is a known issue with the 02s, which is that sometimes, if they blow while lit, they can short, thereby taking the ballast out with them. As with the fans, getting a ballast replaced is a pricey repair. The 06s significantly reduce this risk (though they don't eliminate it entirely). Therefore, if your projectors currently have 02s in them, my inclination would be to replace them a couple of hundred hours before they reach warranty hours (2,800 rather than 3,000), to reduce the risk of them nuking their ballast even further. And when you do replace the lamps, make sure you ask for 06s from your dealer specifically.  |  IP: Logged James Wyrembelski Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Beaverton, MI, USA Registered: Sep 2015 posted 07-18-2019 04:23 PM                     Interesting. I also have an NEC900. I was told its fine to just leave it on and to maybe power cycle it once a week or month. I was also informed to just leave the amps on. I usually shut everything off Sunday night since we are closed on Mondays.  |  IP: Logged Armand Daiguillon Film Handler Posts: 46 From: Plantation FL USA Registered: Jan 2018 posted 07-18-2019 10:02 PM                     Thats some good info - thanks all  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 07-19-2019 05:34 AM                     Are NEC lamps guaranteed for hours AND number of strikes like Sony's? When it comes to power, I suppose it depends on how many shows you run. If you run shows 2 days a week, then I would power off in between. If you run shows every day, indeed Data Centres have shown that HDD's will last longer if they spin all the time. But if you have an IMS, then keeping the IMS on means you need to keep the projector on (which means more dust in and fans getting older sooner as Leo pointed out) More in general, electronics don't like being switched on and off so in the long term it may be better if you leave everything on. But you also need to consider the price of a new/repaired amplifier versus the energy you are saving. Indeed, you should also consider the lost show. The software update is nonsense, your server is not Windows 10! Updates are rare and must be scheduled with you, may/will need a reboot and definitely WILL need a test after they are applied. Unless there is a major issue, updates should be performed when the service engineer shows up for maintenance. Personally, I would keep a stand-alone server on all time but I would switch everything else off.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-19-2019 08:28 AM                     I installed 30+ of the same identical systems. Except for a few with a factory built in wiring issue on the NC-900 lens mount the projectors have been extremely reliable I recommend you keep your extended warranty active on the GDC. I had two where media blocks failed and one where the NIC died. I believe they are still extending the SX-3000's. They will still extend it if they are already out of warranty or if it does fail out of warranty. But they charge a lot more to extend it after a failure quote: Marco Giustini Are NEC lamps guaranteed for hours AND number of strikes like Sony's? I was never told number of strikes, but 3000 hours and 2 years shelf life are in full effect at NEC warranty. So a given theater should not buy more lamps than it can consume in two years. Luckily there have been no failures in a very long time with the version 2 lamps. quote: James Wyrembelski Interesting. I also have an NEC900. I was told its fine to just leave it on and to maybe power cycle it once a week or month. I only have two customers that do this and it's because thay like to remote in and change shows around without going into the theater. Otherwise it is best to shut them down, since you will just need way more frequent air filter changes. Leave the external drive running all the time though. Saves a lot of cold starts on the hard drives and they just seem to last longer. Absolutely no need to leave the spound system on. Mark  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-19-2019 09:19 AM                     We power everything down in the booth every night. It made a big difference to the electrical bill  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-19-2019 09:32 AM                     For the NECs...we shut them ALL of the way down now (and all NC900s). NEC leaves at least one fan on when in standby (allows an IMB it merely be in standby rather than all of the way off). However, this dirt pump...er fan will be running 24/7 filtering all of the booth air and eventually wear itself out. The AC-ON fan gets consumed reasonably quickly if the projector is powered 24/7. So we have the automation (Eprad eCNA) do a graceful shutdown of whatever server is installed, if it is an IMB system) and then power off the projector entirely (at least as far as the electronics are concerned, we don't switch the LPSU, normally).  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-19-2019 09:44 AM                     quote: Steve Guttag So we have the automation (Eprad eCNA) do a graceful shutdown Dies it bow to the audience when everything is off? quote: Steve Guttag However, this dirt pump...er fan will be running 24/7 filtering all of the booth air and eventually wear itself out. I have yet to lose a single fan in any NEC. Some going on nine years old now! I have replaced critical fans, AC On, Power On and ICP, every five years.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-19-2019 01:40 PM                        Mike-- If you are regularly replacing drives every eighteen months (as opposed to just having a bad batch once), something is probably very wrong. Do you have a vibration problem with the storage device? Is it on a UPS or at least a power conditioner? What is the failure mode that prompts replacement? Are you at least getting warranty replacements?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-19-2019 02:25 PM                     Scott, He is only 150 feet (mabie) from the Burlington Northern train tracks and at least five or six coal trains a day rumble through there at a slow pace. And I sometimes wondered about that causing issues. The drives in the original server were shock mounted and never failed. See attached picture. Theater has a red X on it.  |  IP: Logged Armand Daiguillon Film Handler Posts: 46 From: Plantation FL USA Registered: Jan 2018 posted 07-22-2019 01:08 AM                     It still seems a lot of fans are still running in the projector while in stand by - is it better to shut it down completely ? Or is stand by still the best way to go over night ? Thanks !  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 07-22-2019 02:12 AM                     See steve’s comment!  |  IP: Logged

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