Film-Tech Cinema Systems
Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE


  
my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home
  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Digital Cinema Forum   » iButton / Dallas Key (Page 1)

 
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2 
 
Author Topic: iButton / Dallas Key
Marcial Feliciano Ramos
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 108
From: Puerto Rico
Registered: Oct 2003


 - posted 09-29-2012 04:12 PM      Profile for Marcial Feliciano Ramos   Email Marcial Feliciano Ramos   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Where can I find/order various dallas keys with the same number? Thanks in advance.

 |  IP: Logged

Dave Macaulay
Film God

Posts: 2321
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: Apr 2001


 - posted 09-29-2012 04:51 PM      Profile for Dave Macaulay   Email Dave Macaulay   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
You can't. One of the features of these things is that the numbers are unique.
You can add up to 8 (I think) Dallas keys to a Barco projector, so if you order another one just add it.
Barco sells them but pretty expensive. You can find them online, and I assume any iButton will work... but I have never bought one and tested it. There is some sort of error checking built in to the number, if you enter a digit/letter wrong the projector says "invalid". Hopefully Barco hasn't reserved a range and will refuse a key you didn't buy from them.

 |  IP: Logged

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99


 - posted 09-29-2012 08:34 PM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
Barco permits up to 5 per machine.

We always take 5 (assuming a 5 plex or greater) and assign them to each projector. That way any of those 5 keys will work on any machine.

quote: Dave Macaulay
Hopefully Barco hasn't reserved a range and will refuse a key you didn't buy from them.
Does it really matter? After all the super secret security code is awful similar to the combination on my luggage. [Razz]

 |  IP: Logged

Marcial Feliciano Ramos
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 108
From: Puerto Rico
Registered: Oct 2003


 - posted 09-29-2012 10:14 PM      Profile for Marcial Feliciano Ramos   Email Marcial Feliciano Ramos   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Thanks. I have my own key and the other technicians too but since we are in the process of the rollover to digital we were looking for a simple and fast way to put our keys and not going projector by projector doing it.

Is there a simple way or that's the only way?

 |  IP: Logged

Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001


 - posted 09-30-2012 11:45 AM      Profile for Ken Lackner   Email Ken Lackner   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Dave Macaulay
Hopefully Barco hasn't reserved a range and will refuse a key you didn't buy from them.
quote: Brad Miller
Does it really matter? After all the super secret security code is awful similar to the combination on my luggage.
He's not talking about the code you enter on the projector to reset the security. He's talking about the s/n of the Dallas Key. Can you buy a Dallas Key from anywhere, or will a Barco only recognize ones sold by Barco?

 |  IP: Logged

Joe Elliott
Master Film Handler

Posts: 497
From: Port Orange, Fl USA
Registered: Oct 2006


 - posted 09-30-2012 12:34 PM      Profile for Joe Elliott   Email Joe Elliott   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Looks like hacking and copying one would not be an easy task, although it is do-able.

I did find this however, which is very interesting. Creating an electronic lock that opens via Dallas key.

Dallas lock

I ran across this also. A hackers den that uses a Dallas lock.
Hackers den

edit: I was just thinking . . . what about booth doors with all dallas key locks.

 |  IP: Logged

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99


 - posted 09-30-2012 02:51 PM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Ken Lackner
He's not talking about the code you enter on the projector to reset the security. He's talking about the s/n of the Dallas Key. Can you buy a Dallas Key from anywhere, or will a Barco only recognize ones sold by Barco?
I am well aware of what he meant. I was merely pointing out that as the super secret code is such a joke, that whole Dallas key thing really isn't going to stop anyone. Sure the code can be changed, but seriously...why bother?

 |  IP: Logged

Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001


 - posted 10-01-2012 07:57 PM      Profile for Ken Lackner   Email Ken Lackner   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Well, if you don't have access to a Dallas Key that has been programmed into that projector, than you can't reset security on that projector. So the tech can keep the key on his key ring or keep it locked up or something.

 |  IP: Logged

Yinghong Wu
Film Handler

Posts: 32
From: Suzhou Jiangsu China
Registered: Apr 2012


 - posted 10-01-2012 10:25 PM      Profile for Yinghong Wu   Email Yinghong Wu   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
What's the meaning of dallas key?

 |  IP: Logged

Dave Macaulay
Film God

Posts: 2321
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: Apr 2001


 - posted 10-01-2012 10:29 PM      Profile for Dave Macaulay   Email Dave Macaulay   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
If you have a Dallas key and the st password (which is not exactly top secret) you can add the key to the projector in a minute. The hardest part is reading the tiny numbers off your key.
The security spec requires that someone is at the projector to reset any physical tamper events, this can not be done remotely. Christie makes you enter a (well known) password and push a button. Barco has the Dallas key and a (also well known) password.
The deeper security processes make accessing unencrypted image data rather difficult even if you open the "secure compartment", so this step is somewhat redundant.
The security system seems to have been designed by someone who was fired from the NSA crypto division for overdoing it.

 |  IP: Logged

Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 10-01-2012 10:56 PM      Profile for Randy Stankey   Email Randy Stankey   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Dave Macaulay
Barco has the Dallas key and a (also well known) password.
What good does the Dallas Key do?

If anybody who knows the not-so-secret password can get access to the machine, they can program in their own random Dallas Key, do their dirty work then throw the key away or, better yet, hide it in somebody else's desk and incriminate them.

What's next? A retinal scanner? [Roll Eyes]

 |  IP: Logged

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99


 - posted 10-02-2012 12:41 AM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
Its just like the TSA, a false sense of security.

 |  IP: Logged

Dave Macaulay
Film God

Posts: 2321
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: Apr 2001


 - posted 10-02-2012 07:13 AM      Profile for Dave Macaulay   Email Dave Macaulay   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Whatever the security violation reset process is, it's a "lock the barn door, someone stole the horse" situation.
The primary security task is to prevent encrypted content from being decrypted from the distribution data to play on a non-compliant viewing system, or playing on a compliant viewing system without authorization, or playing on an authorized compliant viewing system without all the secondary security systems working.
The secondary security systems assume a copy has been made, and are there to help track down the source of any copies that are distributed publicly. The video and sound watermarking shows the time the copied show was played and what system played it.
The simplest way to copy a movie is to make a video using a camera capturing the screen image. Anyone can do this at apublic show with some risk of apprehension, but the video and sound quality will be less than excellent. The watermarking will locate where and when it was done but if you got out of the place without getting caught you are pretty much untraceable.
If you have free access to a theatre you can do this in private in an empty room although the watermarking will tell when it happened, so you should prepare a good alibi locating you elsewhere then. You can get 5.1 or 7.1 sound from the projection system quite easily. Video quality will be vastly reduced from the original DCP data but still it's quite nice if done properly. If you have a prologic encoder and a HD camcorder, you can prepare a damned good master copy ready to be burned to Blu-Rays or DVDs that can be on the street within an hour.
Apparently there were DVD copies of some movies made where the source was clearly an screen capture from a digital system, but without watermarking. That suggests someone modified the TI interface board to bypass the watermarking system - so now we get to pay more for the "gore board" tamperproof" interface boards.
If you want the best quality, the projector's internal encryption of the video data going to the light engine is the weakest in the system but that data already has the video watermarking. Plus there's a LOT of data: it in uncompressed at this stage.
I've heard from fairly good source that if you acquired the data from the light engine interface you could decrypt it... but unless you happen to be the NSA it would take a few months (when the movie will already be out on home video) plus the data capture equipment and computers or computer time for decryption that quickly are very expensive.
The data on the distribution drive (all drives are the same, there is no watermarking of drive data to the best of my knowledge) has much more secure encryption - it would take several years to crack with current generally available technology - unless, again, you're the NSA or you have a supercomputer (or a few) and the people with cryptographic skills to approach the problem. However, if you do have those, they probably cost considerably more than any movie's total gross let alone whatever selling pirated copies could get you. Anyone with such resources isn't stupid and wouldn't waste them on cracking movies.
Assuming someone has found a way to get image data out of the light engine or the circuit boards and use it, the secure area tamper reset process requires someone to be at the projector and the projector security logs will show exactly when the reset was done: the CSI team would simply find out who was there at that time... and there'd be the uncomfortable interview at HQ where the evildoer would eventually confess and head for death row.

 |  IP: Logged

Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001


 - posted 10-02-2012 09:42 AM      Profile for Ken Lackner   Email Ken Lackner   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Bahahaha! I was wondering if that was all leading up to a point. [Big Grin]

 |  IP: Logged

System Notices
Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi

Posts: 215

Registered: Apr 2004


 - posted 10-04-2015 02:47 AM      Profile for System Notices         Edit/Delete Post 

It has been 1096 days since the last post.


 |  IP: Logged



All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2 
 
   Close Topic    Move Topic    Delete Topic    next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:



Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM 6.3.1.2

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.

© 1999-2020 Film-Tech Cinema Systems, LLC. All rights reserved.