Cine digital lite discontinued

[Gordon McLeod]

received this today

Dear customers,


Wishing all the best for 2022 to you and your family!


I would like to inform you that CineDigital Manager Lite version is discontinued. This version was originally developed to introduce the TMS to the Cinema Theatre market across the world. After 10 years, CineDigital Manager is now in use in every single continent and still growing in popularity. For existing users of the Lite version, there won’t be any renewal. They will need to purchase the regular version.


For more information, please contact me.


This decision is part of a bigger plan as we are currently working on a new enhanced version of CineDigital Manager that we will hopefully introduce to you during the second quarter of 2022.


Thank you


Kind regards


Grégoire Amiot

[Frank Cox]

Nothing like the ol' bait and switch to bring in that extra stack of cash!

[Steve Guttag]

As I recall, the primary users of the "Lite" version were singles/twins. And that was a "free" version. Baited one in with free for up to 10 years? Just what is their obligation to a "customer" that pays them nothing?

Now, it would have been nice if the "free" versions could have been non-expiring licenses with no updates allowed.

[Frank Cox]

They don't have an obligation. It just makes them look untrustworthy.

They're within their rights to do whatever they want. Current and potential customers are within their rights to go elsewhere too.

(I'm neither of those so it doesn't affect me in any way. I'm just pointing out that it looks bad.)

[Leo Enticknap]

If you're a single or two-screen venue, a TMS is a luxury, not a necessity. The smallest theater I service that has a TMS is a 3-plex, and that uses the freebie mini TMS that a Dolby DSS200 can act as in a small complex. So I suspect that the vast majority of freebie CineDigital users would not have had a TMS at all if they'd had to pay for it. All the twins that I service transfer content and playlists directly between the two screen servers via FTP if and when they need to do so. Going elsewhere means going back to doing that.

[Elia Orselli]

Lite version was sometimes useful to transfer contents from Christie IMB to a new server, but now it's not more needed (happily).

[Carsten Kurz]

James Gardiners 'TMS' lite tool may now gain some traction.


- Carsten

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I'm sticking with GDC's TMS software. It has to be renewed every couple of years, but you get their Tech Support, Updates and it is mature and very reliable. I have close to 50 TMS in with it... about 35 of those running on old Dell 2950's from when these systems were installed 10+ years ago. under Wind Blows 7 Pro. It runs fine under Wind Blows 10 and I assume 11 although I have not tried it yet. I would love to see James Software.....

[Steve Guttag]

I wonder if CineDigital is going to also change from a perpetual license to a subscription service. The TMS was on perpetual while their app was subscription.

[Elia Orselli]

One of our new customer has CDM full with a lobby monitor. I think they have to pay a (little) annual fee for fast support from CDM.
Except this setup, we install AAM Screeenwriter, it has a better inteface (and annual fees are very reasonable).

[Steve Guttag]

AAM has a rather large up-front costs associated with it.

As for CDM...I just checked...the pricing scheme I have is from 2019 but it is a perpetual license for the program based on screen count however, if one wants Level-3 support, then yes, there is a small fee associated with that (based on screen count). From what I can tell, it is just the mobile apps that have a monthly subscription model (per-site, not, per-screen). There are accessories (modules) and other expansions that have their own cost associated with them.

[Elia Orselli]

AAM now has only an yearly fee based on number of servers/screens

[Gordon McLeod]

Currently it is a one time fee but if you change a server at a location there is a fee to generate a new Serial number script. We use the Linux version at all locations and it is very stable

[James Gardiner]

The tool set I have been making free is not a TMS replacement. I did not see a need to do full TMS features as so many options already exist and commercial ones are actually very reasonable.
I was mainly focusing on certain tasks that users may find more useful then those options they have with their current TMS. (For example CineDigital is mainly a desktop App, not a web based app. To me Web based apps are the future as its easy to log into them from anywhere. Easier to operate a cinema from a Integrator, a NOC,home or from a holiday.)

Also the tool is designed for tasks that would help smaller cinemas that they just don;t have due to it not really being worth taking on a TMS and its cost to achieve.

It also must be noted, I don't expect a lot of cinemas, especially small cinemas to pop up in the next 2-4 years considering the environment. i.e. there is no market for a TMS right now. Incumbents are dropping prices to stay relevant or protect market share. (Why I think the are so reasonable priced now.)

The bigger price for a TMS, like a POS terminal, or office computer, is having the service capabilities on hand to make sure you can fix it if something is broken, or it needs to be configured in some way.
That is what I see a lot of integrator value is these days. (Make sure your hourly costs are high enough and don;t rely on selling kit or yearly occurring licenses. Long term it my not be viable)

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Currently it is a one time fee but if you change a server at a location there is a fee to generate a new Serial number script. We use the Linux version at all locations and it is very stable

Why not just move the raid drives over to the new server, import that raid configuration and keep on using it.. I have done that with GDC's and it does not request a new license.