Dolby Cat 700 reader vrs. Kelmar pinouts

[Chris Wehrman]

Are the pinouts the same for the Dolby Cat 700 reader as the Kelmar basement reader? I cant get any video signal on my o-scope from the 700, but I do get video with the Kelmar using the same premade Dolby cable and same input on the cp650. I've checked each pin on the Dolby cable with a ohm meter and all have proper continuity according to the Dolby CP650 and Cat 701 manuals( I can't find a manual specifically for the 700). Could I just have a bad CCD board in the 700, or could I be missing something? The Cat 700 was supposedly "new in box". It was in it's original packaging and it looked like it never been used before. There are no signs of wear and even had the protective packaging around the sprocket and red tape over the lens, but I'm starting to wonder if someone didn't mess with it or swapped parts on it.

Any input or thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I'm new to setting up Dolby Digital.

Thanks,

Chris Wehrman

[Steve Guttag]

The pinouts on the cables are identical.

[Sam Chavez]

Does the Halogen exciter actually light on the 700? I see no mention of this on either reader.

[Chris Wehrman]

Yes, the lamp is on.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

By any chance was the reader "HOT PLUGGED" into the processor while the power was on? Disaster could follow such an operation.

[Chris Wehrman]

It's possible it could have been plugged in hot before I got it. I've been careful not to do that myself. Good news is I found some one with a extra 701 he's willing to give me. I'll swap out the ccd board and see what I get.

Chris.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

It's possible it could have been plugged in hot before I got it. I've been careful not to do that myself. Good news is I found some one with a extra 701 he's willing to give me. I'll swap out the ccd board and see what I get.

Chris.

You will need an oscilloscope to align the board laterally to the correct position. If you don't have one, Tom Ostertag likely does....

[Elia Orselli]

It's possible it could have been plugged in hot before I got it. I've been careful not to do that myself. Good news is I found some one with a extra 701 he's willing to give me. I'll swap out the ccd board and see what I get.

Chris.

I would use 701 with red led (if in good conditions) instead of 700

[Chris Wehrman]

Thanks Mark, I have an o-scope. I've already been in touch with Tom, he's going to give me one of his spare ccd boards from a 701 he's got laying around.

Elia, I prefer to use the 700 since the Dolby leds are harder to find now and are way more expensive than the EPT bulbs. Plus the 700 I have is brand new, no mechanical wear on it what so ever and I've heard they track better on used prints.

Chris

[Sam Chavez]

BACP has a good stock of the red LEDS but I agree the EPT's are preferable in this case. Beware the focal point on the EPT's is not defined so if possible, used the same brand as is in the reader now. GE if I recall. The CCD boards from 701 will work but I recall the gain is quite a bit higher as the red LEDs do produce as many lumens as the bulb. You may need to adjust focus and azimuth when changing the CCD boards.

[Chris Wehrman]

Yes I was always concerned, for the long run, of finding Leds and keeping Dolby digital working so I intentionally sought out a cat 700, as well as the other tracking benifits of older prints. Im ready to do an alignment with the o-scope and winDRAS software. I've set up many analog readers while working for a cinema years ago. We used dts then so I never had exposure to Dolby digital. Right now I'm just in the paliminary stages of setting up my home theater and I'm just trying to get some kind of video signal out of the cat 700.

As far as the EPT lamp, it's a GE in there now, I cracked open the power supply and checked connections. No signs of the infamous burnt molex yet and I'll probably do the direct solder fix eventually. The voltage out is this supply with bulb Connected is only 9.3vdc. Is that enough? I think the lamp is rated for 10.8v. Maybe I'm just not getting enough light to the ccd? I don't know how critical that voltage is.

Chris

[Sam Chavez]

Voltage is not at all critical. You should be good. You could even run the bulb on AC. The video deans't care. CCD is very likely DOA.

[Chris Wehrman]

OK cool. That's what I was thinking as well. Odd it was "new". It was probably dead from the factory and they never returned it, put it back in its box with its original packaging and set it aside. I thought it was a bit strange to find a "never used" cat 700 like that. Oh well, it was cheap enough to take a gamble. I'll swap out the ccd board with a working one and I'll still end up with a "almost new" reader.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

I have a used (new?) untested CCD board, it was part of a purchase of my Cat 701 way back when (I got a gutted 700 as part of the deal). I don't know for sure if it works, but contact me by messages on the forum and we'll discuss.