Christie CP2215: Plays with no picture, no sound

[smorgasbord]

I just built a 62 minute DCP and tried it on the projector, which is a Christie CP2215 with a GDCSX3000 server. The file ingested properly and when played the counter counted, but there was no picture and no sound. I had previously used an older version of DCP-o-matic to build a DCP that played fine on a Doremi projector. This is for a Flat 1.85 (with padding since my source is 1920x1080p source), with a bit rate of 125. I did do the center channel generation since the source is plain stereo and the theater has a Dolby 650 sound system. I didn't want the center channel to be empty on a wide theater.

Any suggestions for what to try to fix this? What's the best way to try to preview this file on my Mac?

thanks!

[Carsten]

Which version of DOM did you use?

- Carsten

[smorgasbord]

I'm running DOM version 2.10.5. Mac running Sierra (not High Sierra).

[Carsten]

Hmm. Should do fine. Was that a plain vanilla 2k/24fps piece?


- Carsten

[Carsten]

You can try to load the DCP you created right into DOM again. If there is a real problem with it, you should see it in the preview window.

There are also some Mac players, of which their demo versions usually are good enough for basic testing (if you do not want to buy them). e.g. EasyDCP Player, and Doremi/Dolby Cineplayer/CineAsset player.

I did many DCPs with 2.10.5 in Sierra, never had any issues.

- Carsten

[smorgasbord]

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow.

In the meantime, does anyone know what disk formats (ext2, ntfs, exfat, etc.) that the Christie CP2215 supports? I've been creating/using ext2. The Christie did ingest the files (all 52.95GB), but I'd prefer a format that wasn't so slow on my mac.

[Carsten]

Disclaimer: NTFS is NOT officially recommended for DCI systems/DCP ingest. The only 'official' format supported for DCP ingest is ext2/ext3.

The Christie 2215 is a projector, but it is the server's job do deal with the DCP. However, Christie also makes a server, the IMB-S2, so I assume you are dealing with that server integrated into the 2215. It understands NTFS. If you buy Tuxera NTFS, writing to NTFS is as fast as to HFS+. Some Toshiba portable drives come with Tuxera NTFS bundled for free. There is also a time limited test version you can try.


Which software do you use to write to ext2? Because I understand, Sierra has issues with fuse-ext ? Paragon?

- Carsten

[smorgasbord]

As I said in the first post, the server is a GDC SX3000. This theater was recently redone, and they replaced their original Doremi with the Christie.

I'm using Paragon to write to the ext2 filesystem, but I'm using my older Mac running Mavericks (10.9.5) so that my main computer isn't tied up during the copy. But again, I don't think the filesystem is a problem because the movie was ingested, it just takes forever to copy to the USB drive.

When I went back into Premiere to look at the movie, I saw I had built it with 3.5 minutes of black - I meant to have 3.5 seconds of black (duh!). So, that's probably the problem - not DCP-o-matic at all. Anyway, I built another movie with just a few seconds of black at the beginning and sent it off to the projectionist. I'll report back what he says when he gets around to it. And I did check that there were 6 files inside the DCP folder (not 3) on the USB stick. I don't know if the Christie doesn't report all files or what.

Assuming the movie plays, my biggest concern will be how well the center channel generation works. As I recall, the theater is pretty wide and not very deep, so I was concerned that playing plain stereo wouldn't be optimal for locating what are essentially mono voices that I panned in Premiere to correspond to the person's left to right location on screen.

[Carsten]

Compared to Upmixer A and B, mid/side decoder is pretty straight forward and should not introduce weird 'side effects' ( pun intended). Best is of course to check in a cinema. It is, however, not such a big deal to set up a minimal LCR monitoring system.

Currently, the test version(2.11.27) and 2.10.5 release prefs are not compatible, so I am hesitating to suggest you try the test version with audio playout/standalone player while you are working on a project. But for a basic test, you can load the DCPs you create right back into DCP-o-matic, also 2.10.5

I have yet to see a basic DCP created by DCP-o-matic that doesn't work on all servers.

- Carsten

[smorgasbord]

OK, got a call from the projectionist this evening.

All is well.

It turned out that he only tried playing about 20 seconds, and as I said I mistakenly put about 3.5 minutes of silent black (instead of 3.5 seconds) at the beginning. So, he fast-forwarded and it plays fine!

I'm building another DCP for him, since he doesn't want to search for the beginning on the night of the screening.

I still would like to find a faster way to copy files onto the USB stick. But at least I have a workflow that works.

Thanks for the help!