GDC SR-1000 Stand Alone Media Block and Enterprise Storage Playback Problems

[Steve Moore]

I have searched the forums and and can't find any mentions of this server on here, so far.

We purchased one of the GDC SR-1000 stand alone with chassis and GDC enterprise storage to look at the alternatives for the end of life Doremi DCP-2000s, with the Dolphins now being unobtainable.

This seemed like a good solution to keep our fleet of 6 Christie CP2000-SB and 3 NEC-NC800 going a bit longer, as so far those still produce a great picture and have been reliable.

We had the GDC installed on Tuesday this week.
Initially, my biggest problem with it, only previously using in the UK either Doremi or Dolby or the Dolby web browers on the Doremis is the user interface. I know many here will be used to the GDC browser interface, but to me it felt like a huge step backwards. Not being able to see at a glance when a KDM expires, not being able to see at a glance how long your pre-show is (GDC showing the length of each DCP rather than the cumiltive time, means a bit of adding up needs to be done) and not seeing at a glance if you rememebered to insert Automations cues in a playlist, without opening each item in each playlist.
That being said, with time and frustration, I could put up with that if it worked. (though I really wish they would look at the Doremi/Dolby user interface, who really seem to have nailed that one!)

However, playback on the first night, turned out to be a bit of a disaster.

Between each DCP files, there is a bight flash on screen; sometimes it may be "snow" sometimes it might be green, sometimes it might be white and the odd transission may be OK.

There is a long pause between each dcp where it seems to spend time loading each file, resulting in no smooth transissions. - for example if you loop a title of covid guidelines, unlike the doremi where it loops around seamlessly there is a random period of nothing on screen between each file.

Automation is all over the place, as in I mean random. My curtain cues (which are being driven from the GDC GPIO, on some shows may be only 5 seconds late; the next show on the same playllist it might be 60 seconds late.

Switching of the Christie between channels may or may not work.

Switching of the Dolby CP750 over ethernet may happen on time or may happen up to 30 or 40 seconds late.

After discussion with GDC and our intergrator, we have established our Christie has a gore board in it, so should work. We established all IP addresses were set correctly and we established the enterprise storage was configued correctly.

After only 3 days and 7 shows, I have had to remove it and re-install the Doremi for the time being, especially with the upcoming Bond title.

Now i realise this may actually turn out to be a faulty unit, which is certianly as it stands, unusable. (though I realsise the user interface won't be addressed by this!)

I just wondered if anyone else has had any chance to use one yet?

[Steve Guttag]

I have not heard these complaints before. Yes, the GDC Web interface has some issues (the Dashboard/Home screen is just stupid as it presents nothing that a person wants to know, except a technician, which is the wrong target for the home page), yes, nobody knows WHY the automation cues were removed from the list of "things" one can add to the show (they have their own special lightning bolt thing). That said, I think they overall layout is an improvement. The old "Control Panel" screen, which I called the "way-station" seemed mostly serve as a means to get somewhere else (content or Administration). Everything is a little more logically laid out, in my opinion with a left-to-right sort of progression. The User interface is horribly slow, for sure.

I'd presume that you are running on the latest software/firmware (don't presume that they ship with that). Normally, GDC will resolve issues very quickly. When it comes to Series 1 servers (new ones), GDC is pretty much the only game in town. Note, too, you CAN use a TMS to change the look and feel of building up shows, including GDC's TMS or something like CineDigital, which pretty much puts a traditional Doremi UI in your hands. And, for 1-2 screens it can be "Free."

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I have searched the forums and and can't find any mentions of this server on here, so far.

We purchased one of the GDC SR-1000 stand alone with chassis and GDC enterprise storage to look at the alternatives for the end of life Doremi DCP-2000s, with the Dolphins now being unobtainable.

This seemed like a good solution to keep our fleet of 6 Christie CP2000-SB and 3 NEC-NC800 going a bit longer, as so far those still produce a great picture and have been reliable.

We had the GDC installed on Tuesday this week.
Initially, my biggest problem with it, only previously using in the UK either Doremi or Dolby or the Dolby web browers on the Doremis is the user interface. I know many here will be used to the GDC browser interface, but to me it felt like a huge step backwards. Not being able to see at a glance when a KDM expires, not being able to see at a glance how long your pre-show is (GDC showing the length of each DCP rather than the cumiltive time, means a bit of adding up needs to be done) and not seeing at a glance if you rememebered to insert Automations cues in a playlist, without opening each item in each playlist.
That being said, with time and frustration, I could put up with that if it worked. (though I really wish they would look at the Doremi/Dolby user interface, who really seem to have nailed that one!)

However, playback on the first night, turned out to be a bit of a disaster.

Between each DCP files, there is a bight flash on screen; sometimes it may be "snow" sometimes it might be green, sometimes it might be white and the odd transission may be OK.

There is a long pause between each dcp where it seems to spend time loading each file, resulting in no smooth transissions. - for example if you loop a title of covid guidelines, unlike the doremi where it loops around seamlessly there is a random period of nothing on screen between each file.

Automation is all over the place, as in I mean random. My curtain cues (which are being driven from the GDC GPIO, on some shows may be only 5 seconds late; the next show on the same playllist it might be 60 seconds late.

Switching of the Christie between channels may or may not work.

Switching of the Dolby CP750 over ethernet may happen on time or may happen up to 30 or 40 seconds late.

After discussion with GDC and our intergrator, we have established our Christie has a gore board in it, so should work. We established all IP addresses were set correctly and we established the enterprise storage was configued correctly.

After only 3 days and 7 shows, I have had to remove it and re-install the Doremi for the time being, especially with the upcoming Bond title.

Now i realise this may actually turn out to be a faulty unit, which is certianly as it stands, unusable. (though I realsise the user interface won't be addressed by this!)

I just wondered if anyone else has had any chance to use one yet?

Among long time customers, I am up to I think 8 of them. Yes the GUI is different but no where near as bad as Dolby,'s current GUI. I actually had one customer that wanted his IMS's removed. Training and constant retraining became a problem because there is no self intuitiveness built in. The reliability factor of Doremi, GDC and other IMB types is all pretty much the same in my experience. It may be you have a defective SR-1000. The one aspect I HATE is the external storage. The unit comes with 2TB internal storage... do you really need to store more than that? You could use a NAS and spend much less $$$. I know of several GDC external storage servers that have had problems.

[Frank Cox]

It isn't super-obvious but the lightning bolt beside the filename means that there's at least one cue in the playlist at that point, and clicking on that lightning bolt will show you what it is.

[Leo Enticknap]

I tore my hair out trying to figure that one at a site, troubleshooting why automation cues sometimes worked and sometimes didn't (cause eventually turned out to be another device on the LAN flooding it with IGMP snooping packets). The manager there had no idea how the SR-1000's web UI worked, because she'd never used it - she did everything via the TMS.

So Steve's SR-1000 is in one of those new GDC cages that enables it to be used in a Series 1, HD-SDI setup? If so, I'm wondering if the glitchy transitions between CPLs in a SPL is because it doesn't handle the security handshaking side of things very well. Are there any firmware updates for the IMB to Series 1 cage box converter available? It's a pretty new product, and therefore my inclination would be to open a ticket with GDC about this.

[Carsten Kurz]

I, too, think that the flashes between clips could be issues with the HD-SDI transmission/encryption. On similar occasions, I used projector blanking/dowser cues to suppress these. Yes, this is not a solution, just a workaround. I think you should continue to use the Doremis/Dolphin boards. Other than the preliminary certificate expiration around the end of 2025, there is no reason to discard them. You should probably set up that GDC as a backup server and follow the software progression for it. Maybe within some time, it becomes more acceptable for you. Chances are, your Doremis could last longer than your current projectors.

btw - seamless looping is a special feature of your Doremis. Not every server can do that.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Seamless looping is what Doremi's first products were built for.

Does anybody know if the firmware on that "standalone box" can actually be upgraded? I guess what you're seeing is the encryption being re-established after every item in your playlist, with the junk in between hitting your screen, including maybe a second worth of unencrypted content, which will show up as snow...

[Steve Moore]

Thanks for everyone's responses

I appreciate that everyone will have a favourite UI. For me the Dolby and doremi are certainly "clearer", for want of a better word.

I will take a look at the TMS that Steve G suggested.

The biggest issue is of course playback in the auditorium and cues.

Assuming this links below open and I have set permissions correctly, below are link to a couple of video files of the same point in a play list.

I know these are just titles, however note that the same happens between trailers and also between the film certificate/rating and the feature too.

It does look like a handshake issue.

We have a mixture of Automation; IP based stage lighting control, IP based switching audio on the CP750, the IP based Christie and GPIO from the doremi or GDC for curtains, masking, houselights.
The fact we swapped back to the doremi and all worked fine implies if anything is flooding the network, it was the GDC.

As a side note on automation, if you trigger the cues manually in the GDC editor or from the macro editor when not playing back, they work every time. It's only once you insert those cues or macro cues into a playlist that they fail or go random on timing, but very occasionally might work.

Here are the video links

GDC playbck https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XiN...ew?usp=sharing

Doremi Playback. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xfc...ew?usp=sharing

Until this can be resolved we will keep our fingers cross that the doremi around our small chain of 9 screens continue to work.
Regards

Steve

GDC.jpg

[Steve Guttag]

The flashes look like sync is lost. Similar to when people change frame rates. This could indeed be specific to going through the HDSDI adapter cage and whatever it does and how it interacts with the SR1000. GDC is your best bet here. Also, let them have a link to your video as well so they can "See" what is going on. I suspect it will take a software update to fix. The same goes for the random cue firing.

[Leo Enticknap]

As a side note on automation, if you trigger the cues manually in the GDC editor or from the macro editor when not playing back, they work every time. It's only once you insert those cues or macro cues into a playlist that they fail or go random on timing, but very occasionally might work.

Suggests to me that the GDC is having problems with the security handshaking between CPLs in an SPL, and that this locks it up until they are resolved. Any automation cues that are supposed to fire simultaneously (e.g. at the start of a SPL) get lost and/or time out.

My guess would be that if you inserted five seconds of black in between them, and set the automation cue to fire three seconds into that black, it would work reliably. But you shouldn't have to do this.

I do some high end residence installs as a subcontractor to companies that specialize in automating millionaires' and billionaires' homes up the wazoo (i.e. I am there just to deal with the DCI stuff). Many if not most of them have a policy of doing automation via RS232 and/or GPIO wherever possible, and via IP only as a last resort and if there is no alternative. Their reasoning is that IP automation is inherently less reliable: the switch could malfunction, another device on the LAN could disrupt communication, etc. etc. I empathize with that reasoning to a significant extent: using RS232 or GPIO adds a bit to the installation cost, but I'm sure that there is a ROI in terms of reliability.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I do some high end residence installs as a subcontractor to companies that specialize in automating millionaires' and billionaires' homes up the wazoo (i.e. I am there just to deal with the DCI stuff). Many if not most of them have a policy of doing automation via RS232 and/or GPIO wherever possible, and via IP only as a last resort and if there is no alternative. Their reasoning is that IP automation is inherently less reliable: the switch could malfunction, another device on the LAN could disrupt communication, etc. etc. I empathize with that reasoning to a significant extent: using RS232 or GPIO adds a bit to the installation cost, but I'm sure that there is a ROI in terms of reliability.

Having worked as a contractor for several theme parks over the year, their gold standard used to be stuff like goold-ol'-serial: RS232, RS485 (modbus) and tons of GPIO lines all abound. Many stuff runs on industry-proven PLCs to this day. But there is an ongoing trend to connect stuff over IP even there, as the amount of data that needs to be moved around is steadily increasing, as well are the number of devices that need to be connected.

For our own screening room we've chosen the PLC route a long time ago and we're generally happy we did so. Even if I had to build it all again right now, I would probably go that route and not rely on the unreliable IoT crap out there.

[Steve Moore]

Hi Leo,

That was our first attempt and resolving automation, instead of putting the cues on the files, inserting various blacks and attaching them to that. That didn't help. So we inserted longer black and tried staggering individual cues, such as Christie ratio, wait masking wait, sound wait. On this occasion it missed every single cue out, result even worse.

Strangely the only cues that were reliable were our stage lighting which is DMX fired by IP. The building in GPIO contacts and the Christie being the worst.

Will wait to hear back from our intergrator as to where to go next.

We won't be playing with it any more ourselves for 5ge time being and the doremi is running just fine. We so also have one spare doremi for now with working dolphin,,which is kept powered up and batteries regularly changed.

[Brad Miller]

We have seen one SR-1000 on our NOC do what you are describing. It was a brand new server and it would hang in between clips, randomly miss cues and also occasionally skip over a DCP here and there in the playlist! It was a lemon out of the box. You should run a show noting the exact timestamp things went wrong, then contact GDC support and send them a set of logs along with your timestamp notes. I'll bet the resolution will be to send you a replacement unit.

[Leo Enticknap]

Brad - was your citric SR-1000 in an IMB to Series 1/HD-SDI adapter chassis, or just regularly installed in card cage of a Series 2/3/4 projector? If the latter, that would suggest that Steve's problem might not be in the adapter.

[Gordon McLeod]

steve said "When it comes to Series 1 servers (new ones), GDC is pretty much the only game in town" I believe DigiCine had a outboard IMB that was used in the UK
as for a TMS for a single screen CDM offers a freeware version of their TMS