Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Christie CP 2000 x

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Digital Cinema Forum » Christie CP 2000 x

Author

Topic: Christie CP 2000 x

Koroye Seitonkumo
Film Handler

Posts: 57
From: Yenagoa, Bayelsa, Nigeria
Registered: Aug 2018

posted 02-27-2019 08:11 AM

Please forgive my inexperience and lack of information..

Hello.. I need help with two questions

1. Is the Christie cp2000x DCI compliant?

2. I got an offer for this with a server for €8400.00

Please advice..

| IP: Logged

Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 02-27-2019 08:51 AM

It is only DCI compliant with (Glue Cable) version of the TI board. That said, I've yet to see any DCPs to check if the "security enclosure" was installed.

DCI compliance requires Cinelink II TLS (Transport Layer Security) version of encryption. Early TI boards are incapable. Again, I've yet to find a DCP that checks for this and have seen modern DCPs run on systems with the original Cinelink encryption.

Note, if the TI board isn't either a type-4 or type-5, then the projector isn't HDCP compliant, if that could be an issue on Blu-ray or other non-DCP shows.

Additionally, you have to factor in that it is possible that the server they are offering is no longer supported and likely the support for the projector will end after this year. If you got the last one that came off the production line, it is now 9.25 years old (so this one is likely older).

I wouldn't make any long-range plans for it. If you may only get 2-3 years (or less) out of it.

You have some checking to do.

| IP: Logged

Dave Macaulay
Film God

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

posted 02-27-2019 09:09 AM

No easy answer.
DCI compliance depends on the TI interface board: if it has a later board or has the "gore board" encapsulated type (with component and solder sides encased in black plastic) then yes. The gore board has a battery that must be kept charged, if the projector has been powered off for months that may be dead and the board now unusable without recertification at Christie (if that's even possible). The very early unencapsulated interface boards do not support Cinelink TLS, required for DCI compliance. You can find the TI board version through a few methods, and there is a TLS certificate recovery tool available to check it.
I have not found a CP2000X or SB with an interface board that does TLS unless it was replaced with a gore board for the digital conversion: VPF financing required DCI compliance.
Older cards will also not do DHCP, so a Blu-Ray player will not play back in HD through it.
Then there is the light engine: early (or maybe all) versions will not do full chip triple flash 3D. Since all current 3D content is full size that could be a problem... early 3D movies came in smaller image sizes to allow triple flash projection with the projectors available then.
It was a decent projector when new but it's pretty old now, these may not be supported with parts much longer.
If the (aging) light engine fails - these have been amazingly reliable but I've seen some going bad in the last year or two - a replacement will be more than the projector costs.
Overall I would want to check the interface card and formatter board versions before buying. Just the DCI compatible TI gore board is several thousand dollars.
If you can get it powered up for an inspection you can also read the projector on and lamp-on hours. I see them with 75000+ hours still working OK, but usually on these all the fans and their isolation mounts, the lamphouse mirrors, and the cooling pumps have been replaced.

| IP: Logged

Dave Macaulay
Film God

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

posted 02-27-2019 08:29 PM

Steve replied while I was typing and he makes good points that I ignored.
What level of "DCI Compliance" are you after?
For any series 1 projector, fully compliant requires the "gore" interface board with FIPS 140-2 level 3 tamper protection.
But: there are lots of projectors showing Hollywood movies that do not have this board. TI type 4 and type 5 boards (the Gore board is just a type 5 board with the secure perimeter system added) do handle DHCP so HD alternate content is easy. The bare cards are insecure because in theory one could connect wires to the unencapsulated circuit board and maybe extract the image stream of a movie playing, or pull the decryption key from the projector.
Even "insecure" non-DCI compliant servers are still allowed to play movies, although I think they are all now obsolete and unsupported - they will all fail eventually and be gone forever.
There is no DCI swat team roving around to bust non compliance. The KDM system and watermarking seems to be keeping piracy from cinemas down, so why add pain and face a backlash by shutting down cinemas that are a bit behind on technology?
There are features in the security framework for digital cinema that could enforce stricter security standards, the distributors have not enabled some that would stop sites that have older equipment that isn't or can't be made fully compliant from showing their movies. They could, but probably don't want to deal with the uproar it would cause.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

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.