Coming into this a bit late, from an IT/network background: any RFC1918 address space is fine to use. I think that I would be inclined to shy away from using 192.168/16 space for two reasons, but not because of security (as noted above, it makes no difference). The first would be that many new devices come with default addresses in the 192.168/16 space. If someone decides to plug a random new whizzy-bangy device into the cinema network, there is a chance for creating an IP conflict. The second would be similar: if there is ever a chance that people might connect to the cinema network over a VPN, there is a risk of conflict, as most home networks use the 192.168/16 space. At the very least, I wouldn't intentionally use 192.168.0/24 or .1/24. Steve's idea of starting at 192.168.101 is a good one.
I've not set up a cinema network from scratch, but most of the ones that I have seen use the Dolby numbering scheme. DHCP is generally a bad idea in a fixed network, although the DHCP server can be configured to repeatedly give the same IP address to a particular device. The problem comes when (not if) the DHCP server fails or runs out of leases. It is possible to set up multiple redundant DHCP servers and work around the other issues, but this is unlikely to happen in a cinema environment. Given the lack of on-site IT people in the typical cinema, simpler is better, and the system should be designed so that failure of one screen's projection system does not take out other projection equipment, cash registers, etc.
I've not set up a cinema network from scratch, but most of the ones that I have seen use the Dolby numbering scheme. DHCP is generally a bad idea in a fixed network, although the DHCP server can be configured to repeatedly give the same IP address to a particular device. The problem comes when (not if) the DHCP server fails or runs out of leases. It is possible to set up multiple redundant DHCP servers and work around the other issues, but this is unlikely to happen in a cinema environment. Given the lack of on-site IT people in the typical cinema, simpler is better, and the system should be designed so that failure of one screen's projection system does not take out other projection equipment, cash registers, etc.
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