Is a Dolby DSS220 worth it?

[Juan Jose Garcia Calvo]

Hello!
I need your advise:
someone is offering me a DOLBY DSS220 server as a spare server for ours DP2k10S (wich actually have Alchemy and GDCSr1000 servers.
Offer include Storage.

Do you think it would be good idea buy this Dolby server?
they told me I can check it as it’s installed right now in a projector. There is something I need to check?
expected life?

What would be a reasonable price?

if this question is not adecuate for this subforum, let me know and I will move it to the right one

thanks!!!

JuanJo

Here you are some pictures they sent to me:

[Steve Guttag]

Whereas the DSS line has been discontinued for just about 10-years now, I wouldn't advise it unless you already had DSS type servers and this could either be a spare or be used to harmonize an all DSS complex.

Since you say you have an Alchemy (some variant of the ICMP) server, keep in mind, the Alchemy takes the place of both a server and the ICP module. So, you cannot merely replace an Alchemy with the DSS220/CAt745 or the GDC SR1000.

Then there is the CAT745 itself. If it has the original battery set (coin type battery with a coin type temporary battery holder), then that IMB is already on borrowed time. Once it bricks, and it will, when the battery depletes enough, then that will be the end of that server/IMB as there is no way to fix it. If it got the 10-year battery upgrade (there will be a white "AA" sized battery soldered in and the coin battery holders removed), then you have whatever is left on the 10-year battery life (which varies based on how long the card has been powered up or living on the battery to hold the certificate).

So, in short, the CAT745 has a limited time left (how much depends on the current battery status) and there is no support for the unit aside from what you can obtain via normal Supermicro parts suppliers (e.g. motherboards, memory, power supplies) to keep the server part running. If you have no DSS servers, at this time, I would not advise to start.

[Juan Jose Garcia Calvo]

Thanks Steve.
there is no way to replace the Cat745 battery?
there is any menu to see what’s the battery status and expected life?

we are experienced soldering, and maybe is possible to solder an external double relay battery to replace when necessary as we do with our Alchemy?

thanks!!

now they offered the whole series2 projector+dolby server as a complete solution for a good price
but if there is no chance to replace battery… TWE don’t want to buy a brick

[Ryan Gallagher]

So, in short, the CAT745 has a limited time left (how much depends on the current battery status) and there is no support for the unit aside from what you can obtain via normal Supermicro parts suppliers (e.g. motherboards, memory, power supplies) to keep the server part running. If you have no DSS servers, at this time, I would not advise to start.

is the only reason the CAT745 battery cannot be swapped in the field because it's nigh impossible to get to that battery holder while it is inside the projector and powered?

I assume the swap procedure on a bench involves supplying the needed voltage with a bench supply across the battery pins/traces before performing the swap or upgrade to a soldered on battery. And since no one trusts themselves enough to do it without bricking a critical piece of equipment, it was always a send it in for service thing if you caught it before it croaked?

[Ryan Gallagher]

now they offered the whole series2 projector+dolby server as a complete solution for a good price
but if there is no chance to replace battery… TWE don’t want to buy a brick

Aside from if it is a good buy or not, at minimum I would make sure the battery is currently good by having them play some encrypted content or the dolby encryption test content (after a period of being powered off) before you even consider buying.

more battery infos and instructions for testing encryption here:
https://www.unic-cinemas.org/fileadm...tions_v1.4.pdf

[Ryan Gallagher]

is the only reason the CAT745 battery cannot be swapped in the field because it's nigh impossible to get to that battery holder while it is inside the projector and powered?

I assume the swap procedure on a bench involves supplying the needed voltage with a bench supply across the battery pins/traces before performing the swap or upgrade to a soldered on battery. And since no one trusts themselves enough to do it without bricking a critical piece of equipment, it was always a send it in for service thing if you caught it before it croaked?

Somewhat answered my own question. I read in a previous thread the coin cell holder is there for exactly that reason, to provide a maintenance voltage while replacing the main battery. Hah. I guess there is the battery tamper to worry about separately.

[Dave Macaulay]

The DSS line is obsolete and no longer supported by Dolby. It's pretty much a standard PC with standard parts that can be found if the board or whatever fails. Any proprietary parts are NLA. The media block, the part that decodes encrypted movie files, is a secure module with its decryption certificates - the "private" part of the process that decrypts the DCP data encrypted with a "public" certificate. These are kept in memory maintained by a battery and protected by a security system that deletes them if the module is tampered with. This is all required by the digital cinema rules. There is no way around the rules. I don't know if a DSS with a dead media block can even play unencrypted content or alt content but I doubt it. I think the system just refuses to boot to the GUI if the media block is locked.
When the DSS servers were still supported, a "bricked" media block could be restored by Dolby and get a new serial number. Dolby eventually subcontracted that to an outside company but their support contract expired - and after that recovery was, and remains, impossible as the special reserializing equipment was scrapped.
Unless you have a complex using DSS servers and want a working spare for when, inevitably, they start to fail, there is no reason to acquire a DSS server. The ICMP system would need an ICMP to even use it, current ICP price is around $6,000.00.
We have a few working DSS servers to support a couple of cinemas using DSS but they are upgrading to new equipment so there won't be any need to keep them soon.
Take it if it's free but it won't be much more than a doorstop.

[Juan Jose Garcia Calvo]

Thanks Dave!!
thanks you all for your advise!!

I only want to know if any of you has tryed to change the battery by yourself.

what kind of protection could this card have to don’t let access to the battery and solder in parallel two wires for a new battery?
This summer we changed the battery in our ALCHEMY:
we extracted it from projector, and there was 2 button battery holder, one for the old battery and one free holder for the new one, both holders in parallel. You put the new battery and once you do it and both batteries are in parallel, you extract the old one. That’s all.
is not possible to do this with the Dolby server?

[Steve Guttag]

If it has the original coin battery, then it is, technically, possible, to change the battery by using the temporary battery holder with the temporary battery. I hear, the success rate, was on the order of 50%, at best. And that is in laboratory conditions! I also hear that one of the issues is the contact resistance between the battery and its holder can be such that it could lose contact, due to the extremely low-currents involved such that it could lose its certificate.

The only way to sort of know its life is to physically measure the voltage level. The UI has a low voltage warning, that I hear, if it shows, it is likely already too far down.

When Dolby put the permanent 10-year battery on, they were never able to keep the certificate in tact. As such, any such "repaired" CAT745s had to have a new certificate loaded and a new certificate file.

Note, series 2 projectors are still supported by both Dolby and GDC as well as Barco, if you are considering the ICMP. So, that part of the deal is safe. It is the server that I wouldn't consider to be long-term.

[Leo Enticknap]

I have only one service contract site running DSS servers now, and I advise them to leave their projectors on 24/7 until they are ready to upgrade them as a planned undertaking. All but one of the Barco DP2K-B and DP2K-C projectors (including their ICPs) are now over a decade old, and the cat745s last had their batteries replaced in 2019. At that time all 11 screens had them, and we lost four of the IMB certificates during that process. Since then, three of the cat745s have died and been replaced by an IMS2000, an ICMP+, and an IMS3000, but eight of the DSS220/cat745s are still in service. I even try to do planned maintenance without turning the projector off (thankfully, coolant flushing, lamp replacement, and air filter removal/washing is possible), and have made the owner aware that the next time a pump needs to be replaced, a light engine replaced, or any of the cards reseated, the risk is high that we will power the projector back up and find both the cat745 and the ICP deceased. He would like to get as much life out of them as possible, so we are carrying on like this until for some reason we have to turn a projector off, at which point we cross our fingers. If a power outage takes down the entire complex for longer than the UPSes can hold out, though...

[Juan Jose Garcia Calvo]

I see.
well, I will wait to find an used Alchemy as I found it very well integrated with barco projectors.
Thanks you all for your help!!
JuanJo

[Allan Barnes]

The tech reasons for not mixing ICMP and external DOLBY 200 servers have been discussed. As a always 24/7 powered backup server, use where possible..... the going price on a working Dolby server is $500usd.

[Stefan Scholz]

I swapped the larger coin cell (2470) in CAT 645 in many units. make sure not to short circuit the battery holders, clean the contacts in the aux cell holder (2032). Then remove the large cell and replace it. I was lucky worked on all I did.
But I had to learn from a customer, that another vendor tried it, and they failed on 2. So it is a high chance to brick the IMB.
DSS "show stoppers" were discontinued many years ago, still many work reliably. And would recommend the same, as the others here, if you can use it for spares/ backup, than go for it.
If it is to replace something else, or start newly. Forget it, it's legacy hardware, now obsolete.
Pricewise? I have no idea. The ones I own, they were "pick 'em up, they're heavy, and we need to free the space here", which was couple of years ago.
So anything from a 6 pack of good beers (at location pickup) to whatever you are willing to pay. There is no more commercial value outside the field of gaining spare ones for your operation.

[Leo Enticknap]

The tech reasons for not mixing ICMP and external DOLBY 200 servers have been discussed.

I'm not sure that I understand this. I can't think of any problem having both in the same complex, as long as the TMS can talk to both. The only issue would be if it can't: for example, if you have a DSL100 or 200 TMS running the Dolby Show Manager software, and one of the DSS servers dies, it won't be able to manage anything else apart from a replacement DSS. But GDC, Cinedigm/TSS, CineDigital, RosettaBridge, etc. can all talk to pretty much every SMS out there.