Correcting drifted out of budget secure clock on DSP100

[Leo Enticknap]

Does anyone know how to do this? Can't get through to anyone at Dolby - I'm guessing that the poor guys are all furloughed now. Email bounced, and when I log in to the dolbycustomer.com portal, it just hangs forever after I enter my credentials and press the button.

I've got a cheat sheet that Dolby gave me for correcting a cat745, but the script it tells you to use isn't there on the DSS100/DSP100. The system is on version 4.7.8.7.

If a KDM is needed to do it, I guess we'll have to wait until after the shutdown is over. But the info would be useful to have, in any case.

[Carsten Kurz]

Out of sheer curiosity - how far off is it? Was it drift only, or was there a battery issue involved?

[Leo Enticknap]

Ten minutes or so, I believe. The certificate is good, so there can't have been a battery issue.

[Mike Renlund]

Hello Leo, None of Dolby's Cinema Solutions and Support staff is furloughed. We're still working (just from home...so we don't have physical access to our labs) and happy to help you. I don't see any sign that we've received a message from you in our case management system since March. Are you emailing CinemaSupport@dolby.com? That is the correct address and I just checked to make sure it worked.

As to the Dolby Customer portal, if your browser cache is old, it might not have picked up our new UI. At the bottom of http://customer.dolby.com/cinema there is an FAQ with a document that shows the changes.

As to your question, there is no alternative method to adjust the DSP100 secure clock. As a general suggestion, you should check/change all of your media block clocks during the month of December. as of 01 January, the +/- 6 minutes of change is re-centered at that point. If this DSP100 is off by 10 mins, try and get the clock as close as you can...Then you'll get more adjustment time in January.

[Carsten Kurz]

Alright, 10 minutes shouldn't be bad under real life conditions. I have a repeating calender entry in my smartphone that reminds me to check and readjust secure clocks around every year change.

[Leo Enticknap]

Thanks Mike. It was the new look webpage. Just tried again, and Firefox wouldn't let me in, but Microsoft Edge would. I guess the new website doesn't like Firefox.

It's not a life-or-death problem (10 minutes is not long enough to have problems with KDMs), but having to remember to schedule shows to start 10 minutes after you actually want them to is a bit of a pain.

[Mike Renlund]

Sounds good Leo.

Firefox and Chrome both work for me, so that is a little strange. I'd probably try clearing the browser cache, or waiting a few more days...then try again.

As to scheduling shows you can make it work better. I'd recommend the following steps:

1. Use the config script to set up NTP if at all possible.
2. If NTP isn't possible, or maybe just to get the time more correct, go into the DSS100 bios during boot (I think you tap the delete key during the earliest part of booting).
3. Change the motherboard clock to the correct UTC time (don't put it in local time).
4. Turn off the DSP100 or disconnect the Show Player Network cable.
5. Restart the DSS100. It will boot up near the time you set in the motherboard, and catch NTP time if able. It won't take time from the DSP100 because it cannot see it.
6. Once the DSS100 is up, power the DSP100 or reconnect the Ethernet connection.

At this point the schedule can be run "on-time" without any adjustment due to the secure time on the DSP100 (The DSP100 still won't play if you are outside the KDM validity window). but it does simplify your operations by using the DSS100 ShowStore clock for scheduling.

From that point on, all you need to do is follow steps 4 and 5 to boot the DSS100 before the DSP100. Steps 1-3 above only need to be done very infrequently when the DSS100 clock is too far out for NTP to help...or hasn't been adjusted in a very long time. If you can get the DSP100 clock back to being correct in 2021, you can go back to normal operation.

Hope this helps.

[Leo Enticknap]

Thanks - it does. So, basically, you can cheat/force the DSS100 to use its BIOS clock for scheduling purposes, and ignore the clock in the DSP; but only if the KDM allows playback during the window determined by the DSP's secure clock, because once the DSS tells the DSP to start playing, the DSP takes it from there.

But it looks like for this one, we'll be able to improve it by six minutes now, and the rest of the way at the start of 2021.