Barco SP4k + IMS3000 Black Screen no image

[Tacky Ting]

It happened frequently recently, and no image appeared at the beginning of the playback. It was found that it happened when converting Marco. It was necessary to quickly switch the test pattern, and then it returned to normal. Has this happened to everyone?
Doubt While using a IMS3000 in combination with the ICP-D on series 4 the following are advised
input file problem
Barco SP4K Version 1.7.2
IMS3000 Version 3.5.13
IMS3000 setup Series-4/4K60

[Steve Guttag]

With the update to 1.7.2, the problem has not returned (I think it was in 1.7.1)...I have not had the problem on 1.7.2 but earlier Barco versions, yes, the problem happened at about once a month on a 10-plex.

[Tacky Ting]

Don't know why it happens so often in our theaters

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Don't know why it happens so often in our theaters

Are all of your projectors and servers/NAS storage on UPS systems?

Very short duration power surges/sags or excessive AC power noise can cause odd things to happen to computer based electronics.

If all of the software and firmware are up to date on your equipment, power issues is the next place to look for possible solutions.

[Tacky Ting]

We have installed UPS on the projectors and they all fail

[Rick Cohen]

Are all of your projectors and servers/NAS storage on UPS systems?

Very short duration power surges/sags or excessive AC power noise can cause odd things to happen to computer based electronics.

If all of the software and firmware are up to date on your equipment, power issues is the next place to look for possible solutions.

All our projectors and servers are powered through a UPS and we still have projector glitches up our wazoo. Laser plate failures, black screens without any communication notifications, media server license reboot required despite the fact the media server license was applied over two years ago. None of that has anything to do with the power source or ground quality. We are also operating on the most recent software/firmware available for both the SP4K and IMS-3000. The Barco projectors are prone to glitches, and their technical support team does not seem to have any answers, despite our tickets being open for two years.

[Steve Guttag]

I don't know why you would be particularly affected or why I would be particularly unaffected. Seriously, I've been running them since 2020 and I've listed the failures...one board, one lens (zoom motor gear) a lot of stuck pixels (1 pixel over many projectors). I did have the no-image thing but, seriously, 1.7 fixed it, for me, on IMS3000s. The IMS3000 does wake up in a bad state, periodically, but that is not a Barco thing.

Out of curiosity, do you shutdown your IMS3000s or do you let the SP4K put into the standby state (before the projector kills its power)? Do you put the projector into ECO mode or into "OFF Mode?"

[Tacky Ting]

We turn off the IMS3000, and then the Projector enters the ECO mode

[Steve Guttag]

For most of my installations, I let the S4 put the IMS into standby and do not issue a separate shutdown to the server. I have one site where we are issuing the standby as it seems to have helped that site that uses the NAS storage instead of on-board. The downside to issuing the shutdown first is that Barco will log an IMS communication error each day. What would be nice is if Barco could figure a way to leave the IMS powered in standby like NEC does. But, alas, that is not the case.

[Rick Cohen]

I don't know why you would be particularly affected or why I would be particularly unaffected. Seriously, I've been running them since 2020 and I've listed the failures...one board, one lens (zoom motor gear) a lot of stuck pixels (1 pixel over many projectors). I did have the no-image thing but, seriously, 1.7 fixed it, for me, on IMS3000s. The IMS3000 does wake up in a bad state, periodically, but that is not a Barco thing.

Out of curiosity, do you shutdown your IMS3000s or do you let the SP4K put into the standby state (before the projector kills its power)? Do you put the projector into ECO mode or into "OFF Mode?"

Steve,

We power down the SP4K by holding in the power button for three seconds, which automatically powers down the IMS-3000 with the projector. We do not use ECO mode. I am open to another shut down option, if it makes a difference. I'm not sure why the IMS-3000 would effect the laser plates, though. It may be effecting the media server certificate notification.

[Steve Guttag]

I can say that we do NOT use that method to shutdown. The Full Shutdown is reserved for a full reboot of the system. You do not allow the server to properly shutdown with that method. It is tantamount to yanking the plug on the whole projector (It should be closer to 7-seconds, by the way). An IMS3000 takes closer to 3 minutes to fully shutdown. The ECO mode, which is what puts the IMS3000 into standby takes over a minute, as I recall.

I'm not saying that the projector shouldn't be able to handle the full-shutdown but the server won't be liking it as a standard rule, unless you tell the IMS3000 to shutdown first...wait about 3 minutes and then do the full shutdown. I also wonder if there is something to going into ECO mode rather than full off. If things don't get put away better (like a shutdown would do versus a cord yank).

What is your reason for avoiding the ECO mode? About all that is left up is a partial CCB.

[Rick Cohen]

What is your reason for avoiding the ECO mode? About all that is left up is a partial CCB.

No real reason, didn't realize there was any difference one way or another. We will give the other shutdown procedure a try, and see if it improves anything.

We also use the NAS storage instead of on-board. Not sure if that has anything to do with anything.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Not shutting down the IMS3000 correctly could explain some of the problems you notice, mainly the playback problems. The IMS3000 is essentially made up out of two seperate servers, one of which is a traditional Linux machine. That one really doesn't like not being powered down the proper way. You end up with dirty filesystems (unclosed journals) and potentially some settings that couldn't be saved to permanent storage on-time. It's a lot like pulling the plug on your Windows or Mac computer.

You also mentioned you're using NAS storage, can you give some details about your NAS setup? NAS connectivity and performance issues surely can and probably will cause playback problems. I'm still a fan of local storage for playback, because NAS storage just adds another levels of potential failure modes.

Laser plate failures seem to be more of a bad luck thing. The only theory I can come up with is that shutting down the projectors this way may not allow the light source to sufficiently cool down and cause some problems that way?

[Steve Guttag]

I'm just trying to figure out the disparity between my experiences and Rick's. So far, the shutdown method is what I'm coming up with. As for NAS, I presume that is the Dolby supplied 10.5TB one instead of the onboard storage? If so, one of the things I do on our sites that have that is to actually tell the IMS3000 to shutdown rather than depend on the SP4K to put it into standby. Before 3.5.13, Dolby had flagged a site in the logs with connection errors due to the IMS3000 just disappearing. Thereafter, I shutdown the IMS3000 ahead of putting the projector into ECO mode. I get the IMS disappearing error in the Barco logs but it is explainable. When 3.5.13 and 1.7.1 came out, I never switched them back to the other way as I have a working/reliable system...why mess with it?

I do think this stuff is too touchy about needing to be shutdown just so.

[Rick Cohen]

I'm just trying to figure out the disparity between my experiences and Rick's. So far, the shutdown method is what I'm coming up with. As for NAS, I presume that is the Dolby supplied 10.5TB one instead of the onboard storage? If so, one of the things I do on our sites that have that is to actually tell the IMS3000 to shutdown rather than depend on the SP4K to put it into standby. Before 3.5.13, Dolby had flagged a site in the logs with connection errors due to the IMS3000 just disappearing. Thereafter, I shutdown the IMS3000 ahead of putting the projector into ECO mode. I get the IMS disappearing error in the Barco logs but it is explainable. When 3.5.13 and 1.7.1 came out, I never switched them back to the other way as I have a working/reliable system...why mess with it?

I do think this stuff is too touchy about needing to be shutdown just so.

We are going to try shutting the IMS-3000 down first, then putting the SP4K into ECO mode at the end of each day, and see if that makes a difference. We are using the Dolby NAS storage device. I can see the improper shutdown procedure possibly causing "black screen" issue, and even the "media server license applied, reboot required" issue, but not the SP4K laser plate issue. I'll keep you posted.