jeanluc

Video Events www.videoevents.fr

Hello! Is it possible to send a String Cue where the Data to Send would be variable? Let me explain : When I want to close the videoprojector's shutter, I'm using a button on my MIDI controller to trigger a task that send the data (SHU 0) to the projector and that works fine. In the same way, I have another button that triggers another task that send (SHU 1) and open the shutter. But when it commes to Lens shift (for example) it's not a two-states control. I use a slider that send 256 values between 0 and 1 and it wouldn't be reasonable to create 256 taskl Is there a solution to make the "Data to Send" field of the String Cue variable just in the same way we use parameters and formulas to govern tween values? Thank you for your help.

Hello When you say "So fast", do you mean easy to implement or with such a low latency that it could be used for live without any lip sync problems? Thank you

Hello! A similar problem with tween corner occurs when you want to scale with the mouse : The bottom right corner point is covering the scale handle.

Hello, I have one display computer in a cluster of three identical well tuned machines, that display "Licence key not found" at each startup. I only have to extract the dongle and re-put it in place and then everything works fine. This cluster is controlled via Watchnet v1.0 Watchout v6.0.2. Thank you for your help.

Hello! I'm testing HAP CODEC on Watchout 6. It seems some dimensions are not supported independantly from size nor aspect ratio. Classical dimensions like 1920 x 1080 or 1920 x 1200 work well. But when I try other more exotic dimensions, sometimes it works, sometimes not. For example, these dimensions work : 800 x 640 1350 x 1050 1340 x 200 1430 x 200 1440 x 200 1450 x 10 1550 x 200 2518 x 1890 3456 x 1944 And these dimensions don't work : 1420 x 200 1500 x 100 1500 x 500 1540 x 200 By working or not I mean : I can drag and drop the files into the media windows, I can put the media on the time line but, the media don't appear in the stage window, neither can't be positionned on stage unless the stage window is resized. And even then the file is not played though it is correctly transferred to the player. Does anybody know about such restrictions/constraints? Thank you. Jean-Luc PS : More testings seem to lead to the following conclusions (to be confirmed): 1) These restrictions only occur with regular HAP, not with HAP Q 2) These restrictions only occur when the number of pixel per line is not a multiple of 8

Hello! I've had a similar problem one day. Maybe you're in the same situation. I was using two production computers (one as a backup). The project and media content were supposed to be strictly identical on both machines. Since videos were in proxys, file names were identical (file must be named according to the display names). So when I quickly browsed into media folders I couldn't see any difference between "Production 1" and "Production 2". However, each time I changed from Production 1 to Production 2 computer (and vice-versa) some files were re-uploaded to the display computer. I finally found that some files in proxy had a DIFFERENT DATE on each computer. Jean-Luc

Hello, I'm trying to set an autostart on a show. It works fine when it is launched at Power-on by the windows start menu with the file autoWO.exe. But, When I try to set the same parameters in windows task manager, Watchpoint starts but stays on the logo splashscreen and wait. The show don't start. Did I miss something? Thank you for your help Jean-Luc

Thank you for your answers, @Alex : Creating a VPN seems hard to me since I may not have total control over the hardware internet link installed on site. I was thinking about a solution like steve did. I've made several tests these days and can confirm it seems to work for what I need. I precise that I'm not trying to develop a project over the internet. I just want to be able to start/stop a show, which could be automated, Check is everything works fine, which should not be necessary. and to restart a computer in case of problem, which should never happen! I use three computers, WO display, WO producer and a laptop with two network interfaces (ethernet to WO, WiFi to the internet). The only violation of Dataton rules is that i Installed a kind of VNC on the producer. I acces first to the laptop, then to the producer and, if needed, to the player (a triple vnc!). I'll continue my tests. Jean-Luc

Hello! I would like to be able to monitor (or control a show) without being physically on site. My first idea is to install a remote control software like Teamviever or VNC on the producer with an internet connexion so that I can acces it. But I read it is not recommanded : Do NOT use/instal VNC, LogMeIn or similar remote control software, as it will interfere with stable WATCHOUT playback So how could it be possible? Keeping the producer "at home" and connecting the display to the internet? Thank you for your help. Jean-Luc

Yes Mike, I set an auxiliary timeline composed of a large still test pattern, that looped every 9.4" The test pattern was'nt correctly positionned at the beginning of the task. So, each time the task looped, a part of the picture blinked.

Thank you Eric, My problem is solved. It had nothing to do with a hardware failure neither a software bug, only a user mistake. Shame on me!

Hello! Every 9.4 seconds, a part of my "output 1" blinks to black. Three other outputs work fine. The part going to black is about half of the image. The duration of the black is about one frame. I'm using 4 output at 1920 x 1200 @ 50Hz. Three of them rotated by -90°. I use active mini-display-port to DVI adapters. I don't use EDID Minders since the outputs go to a 16x16 grid which is suposed to correctly handle EDID parameters. The graphic card provides 6 outputs. I tried to use another one without succes. The same player worked fine last month with 5 outputs at 1920 x 1080 @ 50Hz. But I can't really compare because it was then still using with WO 5.3. and now I upgraded to 5.5.1. In windows display settings, I tried to change "This is my main Monitor" to another display output. After restart, Watchout player had re-assigned its outputs according to the new "Main monitor" wich forced me to re-assign my displays. It seems Watchout always assign Output 1 to the Windows main monitor. And the problem followed the "Main monitor" (or the output 1, wich is the same). I've read that Windows periodically checks for additional displays. Could it be the source of this? Any idea? Thank you WO 5.5.1 (French) AMD Radeon 7900 series Windows 7 Pro Service pack 1 Core i7 (3820) 3,66 GHz 32 Go RAM C: SSD D: SSD

Hello, I try to play a video proxy composed of three 1080 x 1920 parts on three 90° rotated displays : the result is a bad orientation of the video. Though, when I play a wide 3240 x 1920 pixels movie across this display, it is correctly displayed. I have a wide screen of 3240 x 1920 pixels made with three 1920x1200 videoprojectors vertically oriented (and two softedges). I designed a stage with three displays of 1920x1200 and set them a -90° rotation. Is it a known issue? Thank you Jean-Luc WO 5.5.1 (I already observed that with WO 5.3)

Hello, Let me try an explanation : Maybe your mpg are on auxiliary timelines with stacking order set to "above edge blend". This would explain that edges get cut off while displays are overlapped. Otherwhise, when you put your mpg against each other (I understand "side by side") it's normal to have one-half too much image than space on your screen : 7 overlaping zones x 7% = 49% of an image. And what you discribe then as a nice blend is just a side to side where you can't see the seam.

Thank you Jonas, Yes, I suspect a disconnection of the display output. I had one a few months ago and since then, whenever possible, I use a DVI instead of miniDisplayPort. This time it occured even with a mechanicaly secured DVI. So I suspect either the EDID manager or its power supply. Since I cannot take off the EDID Manager, the only change I made is to disconnect the uninterruptible power supply. For the moment, the problem is solved : The show ran four times without error. I will see in a few week if I can consider it definitely solved. For information, the setup is as follows : The production PC, the WO player, and a laptop are connected to a Gigabit switch with 2 meters CAT5 cables. The videoprojector is connected to the switch with a 100 meters CAT5 cable. One DVI output of the player is connected to the videoprojector via 200 meters optical fiber. The TX interface is powered by the graphic card DVI output. Another DVI output is connected to a 23" monitor via an EDID manager and 2 meters DVI cables. The watchout is in "Duplicate displays" mode to monitor the WO output when the videoprojector shutter is closed. A BCF2000 MIDI control device is connected to the production PC. I use Watchout 5.3

Hello, I confirm : If I launch Watchout with the switch -en on my french PC, the display framerate settings window works properly. Thank you, Jean-Luc

Hello, I didn't know I could use such switch. So I didn't set any manually. Maybe there is a language choice during the installation process which could set this switch automaticaly. If not, I was using a standard english. I don't remember having seen french menus. I can't confirm all that right now. I'll be able in a few day. Thank you, Jean-Luc

Hello, After the application was closed, is it still possible to retrieve error messages that are showed in the Message window . Are they logged somewhere? Thank you

Hello, Yesterday in the middle of the show, my projector suddenly displayed a black screen with the Watchout logo (the same that shows when we go Online and some file are transfered from the controller to the player). Before this occured the timeline was stopped for 10 minutes waiting for the next cue. The player was showing the fix first image of the next film. I didn't hit Ctrl-L neither any key. (even then, nothing had changed in the project, so any file transfer was necessary). I didn't touch the MIDI controller (a BCF2000). All the system is on UPS. The setup is really simple : One controller, one player, one projector, one laptop to remote-control the projector. All on fixed IP connected via a single Gigabit switch. From the place I was looking, I could'nt see if anything else was displayed (like an IP adress, a progress bar or any message). I had to use the projector's shutter and re-open the show. Does anybody experienced this? Have you any idee of what could have caused this? Do you know when a such screen is supposed to show normally? Thank you for your help

Thank You Rainer, The problem persists. Yes, I had first installed the version 5.5 over the 5.3. But now, I uninstalled the 5.5 reinstalled 5.3 uninstalled 5.3 reinstalled 5.5 the problem remains. I also installed 5.5 on a new PC (wich had never heard about Watchout before) and the problem appears immediately. I don't think, at this time, it has something to do with EDID as it is not even necessary to connect a Watchout Player nor a screen to see the phenomenom. Just install 5.5 on a fresh PC Launch WO Go to the preferences menu Set frame rate to 50Hz Close the preference menu Reopen the preference menu and I'm back on 60Hz. For the moment, I continue using 5.3. I returned the information to my provider who confirmed what I describe on his own computer.

Hello, I recently upgrade from 5.3 to 5.5 and discover that the Preferences dialog box doesn't seem to work : When I select Custom fps and 50Hz, theses parameters are not saved. Any idee? Thanks Jean-Luc

Hello, I've had a minidisplayport accidental disconnection on my display computer during a show. Maybe a bad conctact. The consequence is that all my screens became black. Not only the one who was disconnected and it took time to understand what was occuring since my controller seemed to work fine, my screen didn't say "No signal" but remained black. Getting offline and back online didn't solve the problem. Neither did restarting the show on the WO producer, nor restarting the WO producer itself. I've had to restart the WO player. I made some tests after the show and found a quickest solution : -Taking control of the display computer with Ctrl-Shift-A -Closing the remote manager window -Getting back online Is it the best solution? Next time I will use mechanically secured DVI connectors! Thanks for you help Jean-Luc

I wanted to play PhotoJPEG and Prores medias but I've found later, on another topic "DO NOT INSTALL ANY OTHER CODEC PACK..." So I won't. Thanks for the "tuned baseline".

Hello, I'm not sure what a "tuned baseline" is (my english is not good enough) but I understand it's a clean install you can rely on in case of problems. Is it? Yes. As I'm about to try to install new CODECs on my WO, I feel I'd better get such a backup. Could you please explain how or redirect me to the right topic? Thanks a lot Jean-Luc Follow the instructions found in this post: WATCHOUT version 5 and Windows 7, 32- or 64-bit? Note, that post is fairly old, although the tweaking lists are still valid, Windows 64 bit has since become the preferred version, although 32 bit is still fine for WATCHOUT, some option hardware/drivers (like capture cards) are better off in 64 bit. If you are making a playback only machine with no live video capability (capture cards), either one will be fine. TEST. Then TEST AGAIN. When that is complete, you have a tuned baseline. Use an archiving software like Acronis TrueImage to make an archive of the result from the above procedure. Then you can easily and quickly return to the tuned baseline.