CP950/950A software 2.3.2.5 released

[Leo Enticknap]

Just had the email from Dolby about it. There are two major new features and about two pages of bug fixes. The new features are the ability to display the fader level in dBr as well as the Dolby scale, and the ability to select a macro that is always executed when the unit is powered on and rebooted.

Of the bug fixes, most are minor and related either to the web UI or SNMP. But three significant ones caught my eye:

STLHD-3975, STLHD-4148: Addressed an issue with DSS200/CAT862 that caused CP950A to intermittently fail to play encrypted Dolby Atmos if CP950A was rebooted without reloading the show. Contact Dolby Support if you are still experiencing issues.

STLHD-3993, STLHD-4079: Fixed an issue where, in limited cases, software updates could fail or leave CP950 in an unusable state when the update was performed after the unit had been running for a long period of time.

STLHD-4085: Fixed an issue that caused intermittent audio dropouts when using CP950 with Dolby DSS servers.

IMHO, the takeaways from those are (a) power cycle and hard reboot your CP950 immediately before installing the update, and (b) this one is definitely worth installing proactively if you have DSS servers. I have heard the audio dropouts myself in a CP950/DSS220/cat745 system, and so that bug is definitely an issue.

The update is available to download on dolbycustomer.com. As a reminder, if you are on an earlier version than 1.0.4.2, you will need to install 1.0.4.2 first, before installing 2.3.2.5. If you are on 1.0.4.2 or later, you can install 2.3.2.5 directly.

[Shibu Paul]

Any advantage of new fader options.

• A new preference setting adds the ability to choose how the fader volume level is displayed on the Web UI, the front panel UI, and the Fader Web UI. The default “Dolby fader level” displays the volume level with values from 0.0 to 10.0 and the new “dBr level” displays the volume level with values from -90.0 dBr to 10.0 dBr.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I could imagine it being useful for premieres and in screening rooms... sound designers often don't think of what they are hearing in terms of fader level, and if they could express/track change requests as dBr it might eliminate some guess work?

[Marco Giustini]

Let's install the 950s in dBr - so cinemas will play at 5.5dB

[Steve Guttag]

There had to have been an entity in a place like post production to want that sort of "feature." a dB scale on a user-facing fader is just plain wrong. Humans don't think in dB, they don't think in negative numbers and they don't think in logarithmic scales.

Line up 10 people...heck, line up 10 techs and you are at -3.3dB on the fader and when the complaint comes in to "turn it down a little" see how many different answers you'll get. Then repeat the same question at -6.6dB and see if they move it the same amount or if they move a different amount.

In every installation where I've had to contend with a dB scale fader, I've had to provide a dB to linear conversion cheat sheet or put it on the cues so regular people have a sense of how loud they are changing things.

What I give credit for on this implementation is that they left it as a configuration option so the system can suit the user/installation rather than impose something that is out-of-place in the majority of its use-cases.