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Jonas Dannert

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Posts posted by Jonas Dannert

  2. Need hardware/software configuration advices in light of test result

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

     

    Good day,
     
    I just built two Watchout display machine using the knowledge found on these forums so I come back here to get your inputs regarding the fine tuning.
     
    I ran some test on both machine and some results are puzzling. The machine are:
     
    -X99 chipset
     
    Motherboard?
    Last BIOS installed?
     
     

     

    -i7 5960x
    -AMD Firepro 9100
    -AMD S400 sync module
    -Datapath VisionSDI2
    -16GB DDR4 ram
     
    It's a longshot, but I wonder if it would help with 32GB of RAM, due to the graphics card has 16GB itself?
     
     

     

    -128GB Samsung EVO ssd for system
    -512GB Samsung XP941 M2 ssd for shows
    -Encrypted WD 250GB HD used solely by Acronis with b/u images
     
    Sounds like a more than capable system, from the hardware specs point of view.
     
     

     

    -Customized win7 64 installation (many features removed, services disabled and of course all settings configured according to the manual and past experience with building WO stations)
     
    I would recommend to use the Tweaklist as the starting point:
     
     

     

     
    My goal was to be able to run 24 mpeg2s at 40mbps concurently, done deal but according to my maths I would even be able to run more so I started intel XTU and made the graph show the last 1 hour results. I started the display and ran some content. I will spare you the details but essentially when running only videos I was able to mix 12 videos into 12 other videos with no hiccup, when including live camera feed trough the visionSDI2 I was able to run the same content but during the mix the live feed would greatly stutter and lag,
     
    What is you're source signal/signals here?
    Progressive or interlaced?
    Slot used on the motherboard?
    Capture settings in WATCHOUT?
     
     

     

    to be able to run the live feed and videos and mix without any issue whatsoever I could mix 3 videos with 3 videos.
    I haven't tested many file format and I am sure they were not optimal but I had to figure where my bottleneck was
    or what part of my system was not performing well.
     
    According to intel XTU my processor never got used by more than 30%, spent most of it's time with only 4 out of 8 cores running
    and the most ram that got used was barely above 4GB... weird no?
     
    In theory you have a capable system, but in practice you'll need to find the bottleneck of the system.
     
    4GB of RAM is not surprising, WATCHOUT is a 32-bit application, it can not use more than that for itself.
    But capture card and graphics card drivers (64bit) can make use of more memory on a 64-bit OS.
     
     

     

    Other than that I realized that my processor speed was all over the place and that got me thinking, 
    could speedstep and turboboost actually be detrimental to WO?
     
    No.
     
     

     

    Since the processor keep adjusting itself as the cues are sent maybe the stutter and lag comes from this adjustment?
     
    I don't think so, but if you do, maybe turn that off? If possible, that is.
     
     

     

    I am not able to test right now but in the meanwhile can you guys provide me with your knowledge regarding
    hardware and software settings that could help WO make the most out of these machines?
     
    thanks much and sorry for the long post :)
    regards
    0

  3. i need more powerful Dynamic Image Server.

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    I'll suggest you try using URL-based images or Image Proxy.

    From the 5.5 Release Notes:

     

    URL-based images

     

    In addition to loading images from a file on disk, or from the Dynamic Image Server added in WATCHOUT version 5, you may now also load an image from a URL. This is similar to loading images through the Dynamic Image Server in that the image will be loaded afresh each time it's displayed, allowing images to be easily updated. The URL you specify may refer to an actual website on the Internet (e.g., a weather map), or may point to an in-house web server used only for serving images to WATCHOUT.

     

    To use this feature, first determine the URL of the image to be used. This can be done using a web browser by right-clicking the image and choosing "Copy Image Location", or similar command. This gives you the image URL. Open a new browser window and paste in the URL (which typically ends in .jpg or .png) to make sure you get just the image. Determine the dimensions of the image, in pixels, by dragging the image onto your hard drive and opening it using an image editor.

     

    In WATCHOUT, choose "Add Image Proxy" on the Media menu, paste in the URL of the image, and enter its dimensions. If the image contains transparency, select the type under "Transparency". Click OK, then use the image as usual in WATCHOUT. Each display computer will load the image from the URL every time it's displayed.

     

    NOTE: Unlike images served by the Dynamic Image Server, URL-based images won't update on screen if the original file changes while they're displayed. You need to close the image and re-display it using a new cue in order to update it on screen.

     

    /jonas

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  5. Watchout won't autostart with task manager

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    Jean-Luc,

     

    To me, this is how to do it:

     

    Add a shortcut to WATCHOUT Display in Autostart folder

     

    Start WATCHOUT Display software

    Ctrl + W/File/Edit Startup Script

     

    Create a script like this (WATCHOUT 5.2 Users Guide/Display Cluster Protocol/P259)

     

    authenticate 1

    setLogoString "The show will begin shortly"delay 5000load "MyShow"waitrun

     

    Also mentioned here on the forum 19 Sep:

     

    http://forum.dataton.com/topic/1433-display-edit-startup-script/?do=findComment&comment=5791

    http://forum.dataton.com/topic/1127-watchpax-autostarttxt-script/

     

    /jonas

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  10. WATCHOUT 5 shuts down unexpectedly

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    You're welcome!

     

    You can use either green or blue for background, or selective for any pure color.

    From the manual P40/P185:

     

    Using Transparency P40

    In order to include transparency information in the movie file, you must choose

    the QuickTime Animation codec set to use “Millions+” of colors. The “+” at the

    end stands for the transparency information. This is sometimes called

    “Millions+Alpha”. You must also use an application that’s capable of repro-

    ducing and/or generating transparency information, such as Adobe After Effects. 

     

     

    Key (Green/Blue) P185

    Makes a green or blue background transparent. This is sometimes referred to

    as a “green screen” or “chromakey” effect, and is typically used with live

    video, although it can be used with any kind of image. Adjust the Threshold

    and Contrast parameters for best effect.

     

    ◆ HINT:For non-rectangular video playback, you can often use a pure green

                 or blue background, combined with this tween track, as an alternative to a

                 true alpha channel. This allows you to use to use more efficient video codecs

                 than QuickTime Animation, such as MPEG-2 or H.264.

     

     

    Key (Selective)

    Makes any specific, pure color transparent. This can, for example, be used to

    make a black background transparent (sometimes referred to as a “luma

    keyer”). Select the color using the color swatch, then adjust the Threshold and

    Softness parameters for the desired effect.

     

    ◆ HINT: Use this feature to display Powerpoint slides, fed through a capture

                  card Live Video or a Computer Screen media item, on top of a background

                  produced in WATCHOUT. Specify a suitable background color in the

                  Powerpoint presentation, which is then made transparent using this effect. 

     

     

     

    /jonas

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  12. WATCHOUT 5 shuts down unexpectedly

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    Here you are:

    Computers

    i7/ RAM 8GB/ video Radeon R9 280X 3Gb/ 2 SSD 240Gb/ Win7 Home Premium 64 bit.

     

    Seems capable enough.

     

     

    Content contains lots of pictures, mp3 files and a few videoclips. The most heavy pictures have a resolution 20352x1080, 20Mb. They are used as backgrounds.

    Videoclips:

    2 HD quicktime movies with alpha channel, 1920x1080, bitrate 209535 (oops.. quite a lot), each one has about 2Gb

     

    If this means 209 Mbps for a 1920x1080 file, I would say that here is your problem.

    Instead of Animation codec, try use a h264 with green, blue or black background and

    apply a Keying tween track on the file. It will save you valuable resources.

     

     

    1 HD mpg file, 1920x1080, bitrate 18884, 34 Mb

    1 HD mp4 file, 1920x1080, bitrate 22642, 153 Mb

     

    Seems normal.

     

    /jonas

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  13. WATCHOUT 5 shuts down unexpectedly

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

     

    Hi everyone!
    I have a problem with my fix installation. There are 3 PCs with 2 HDMI outputs each
     
    Specs on these computers? (Processor/graphics card/SSD etc)
    Specs on the video content used? (File-size in pixels/Bitrate/Codec used etc)
     
     

     

    6 projectors Panasonic RZ470 and 6 DVI to CAT5 extenders Gefen without any EDID equipment unfortunately. All together they make a 15-min show on the round 360° screen. Sometimes one of the computers stops running Dataton software. We can see on the screen a warning sign like this - “Dataton Watchout software doesn't work..... Close the program.” It happens randomly on the different screens at the different time. After restarting the computers the problem disappears. For a while. 
     
    It might be due to a mismatch between the PC hardware at hand and content used, see above.
     
     

     

    I've heard about some problems with CAT5 extenders.
    They could lose the signal for a short time. However I'm not sure it could cause crashing Watchout5 like this.
     
    Yes, that's exactly what will happen.
    If an output is lost in Windows, there is nothing WATCHOUT can do about it.
     
     

     

    My question is – is it enough just to add the EDID emulators to each output
     
    Yes, it might, in this case.
    This is the only way to be sure that an output stays consistent.
     

     

    or should I pay attention to something else?
     
    Yes, the content spec vs your hardware at hand, see above.
     
     
    /jonas
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  14. Display- Edit Startup Script?

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    Hi,

    The "Edit Startup Script" is for the WATCHPAX.

     

    No, the "Edit Startup Script" is not only for WATCHPAX.

     

    It's empty in WATCHOUT, but not in WATCHPAX.

     

    It's free to add there yourself, exactly as before.

     

    If you want add autostart in the script, either copy the same info as used in WATCHPAX from here:

    http://forum.dataton.com/topic/1127-watchpax-autostarttxt-script/

     

    Or create a text yourself, with only what's needed, as described in the WATCHOUT 5.2 User Guide.

    P259 in the Display Cluster Protocol chapter.

     

    To run the Main Timeline from a show named "MyShow":

     

    authenticate 1

    setLogoString "The show will begin shortly"delay 5000load "MyShow"waitrun

     

     

    To run an Auxiliary Timeline named "MyAuxTL", from a show named "MyShow":

     
    authenticate 1setLogoString "The show will begin shortly"delay 5000load "MyShow"waitrun MyAuxTL

    "setLogoString" is not necessary, but will show at startup as a confirmation that the script is used.

     

    /jonas

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  15. Troubleshooting Multiple Displays from One Display Computer

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    Hello,

     

    In the past I've used an older version of Watchout or opted to use one display computer for each projector I've been using in a show with Watchout.  I'm in the process of setting up two projectors to connect to one display computer and I just can't get both projectors to work at the same time.  

     

    I've made a Display with the same resolution in on Watchout production computer.  Named them to the same IP address with different outs, then tested to make sure the computers were talking to each out and gotten the green light.  Then I've connected both projectors to the same graphics card, one in the DVI port and the other with a mini display to vga connector.  

     

    Your'e doing it correctly, if you're using WATCHOUT 5, that is.

    But to begin with, you'll need an ACTIVE DP/MiniDP->VGA-adapter, I think.

    Preferably one uses digital outputs, rather than analog.

    Are there any other outputs available on the card? (and what graphic card is it?)

     

    http://forum.dataton.com/topic/93-wo5-multi-output/

     

     

    I can only get the projectors to connect to watchout through that one DVI port on the graphics card.  Am I missing something in the settings (I'm a MAC person), or should I be using a DVI cable that connects to that one port then splits into two VGAs?

     

    No, you should not do that.

     

     

     But then would that mean I wouldn't have control over what was being shown on each projector as the big image was split in two right down the middle? 

     

    See above.

     

    /jonas 

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  16. AHCI vs IDE

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    I did not mean that a M2 drive does not work.

    M2 x2 is more or less similar to SATA Express or SATAe which replaces SATA3 (6 Gbps)

    and doubles the theoretical speed possible to 12 Gbps.

     

    It means without NVMHCI you're not reach the full potential of M2 at x4.

     

    And RAID two M2 x2 or x4 drives makes then no sense without NVMHCI.

     

    NVMHCI is only natively supported by Microsoft in Windows 8.1.

    This was my only point.

     

    There are also other bottlenecks in a media server system that has to be considered.

     

    There are only so much hardware power you can throw at a problem, and get a proper return on investment,

    without looking at the system as a whole, including WATCHOUT itself.

     

    /jonas

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  19. Matrox' new gfx cards with AMD gpus

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    Here's a bit more, from Anandtech:

    http://www.anandtech.com/show/8480/matrox-to-use-amd-gpus-in-their-next-generation

     

    "The announcement states that "key features of the selected AMD GPU include 28nm technology with 1.5 billion transistors; DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.4 and OpenCL 1.2 compatibility; shader model 5.0; PCI Express 3.0 and 128-bit memory interface."
     
    From that we can surmise that Matrox will be using a variant of the Cape Verde GCN core, which is one of the lower performance GCN parts from AMD. In fact, Matrox may actually be using AMD's FirePro W600 cards, only with custom Matrox-developed software applications"
     
     
    And KitGuru:
     
    "The new generation of Matrox graphics solutions will be based on AMD’s code-named Cape Verde graphics processing unit (GCN 1.0 architecture, 640 stream processors, 40 texture units, 16 raster operating units, 128-bit memory bus) that powers AMD Radeon R7 250X/AMD Radeon 7700-series graphics cards. Thanks to support for DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.4, OpenCL 1.2 and other new technologies, Matrox’s graphics adapters will finally be able to offer modern features and capabilities already provided by other graphics solutions."
     
     
    Still interesting to try them out, I think
     
    /jonas
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  21. Coming back after 3 years - need advices

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    Thanks a lot for all the inputs!

    Consider I don't want performance at the cost of stability. I will specify what I mean by beast: my goal is to be able to handle 24 1080p 60fps 40mbps mpeg2 files running at the same time with concurent live input(s) (1 or 2).

     

    I don't think one will be able to play 24 simultaneous 1080p 60fps 40mbps mpeg2-files off one machine, "beast" or not.

    Your overhead then will be very slim, if any...

     

     

    So, If I can pick your collective mind a bit more;

     

    -How about the system, which is reccomended, win7 or 8.1?

     

    Windows 7 64-bit.

     

     

    -RAM, is Watchout still a 32 bit app and there is no point in fitting more than 4GB of RAM in a display computer? If it can take advantage of more, my maths tell be 2GB per core is more than enough but I read 12GB is not reccomended and pick 16GB instead to have an even number of memory modules, makes sense or am I forgetting something?

     

    If X99 is to be used to full extent, it need 4 modules, I would use 16 GB (4x4GB) or more.

    64-bit and more memory than 4 GB RAM is needed by capture cards etc

     

     

    -Inputs, I plan on using BMD mini recorder cards as inputs, 2 if possible, are they good choice for 1080p 60 streams? 

     

    No, because BMD mini recorder is a HDSDI card ie 1080i60 (1,5G), not 1080p60. For that a 3G-SDI card is required.

    Preferably Datapath VisionSDI2: http://www.datapath.co.uk/products/video-capture-cards/vision-range/visionsdi2

     

     

    Any recommandations?

     

    -Case, I am looking to build a station that will be on the road, I need holders for the cards, a good ventillation system, filters. My last pick was a rosewill 4U rackmount case but it doesn't exist anymore.

     

    Use a watercooling system, and there are many good 19"-chassies to choose from. 

     

     

    -Bandwith-wise an SSD raid (samsung EVO) and the new X99 chipset with a 6 core i7 seems to be able to pull it off but my guess is you guys have a much better idea than me on what is possible or not.

     

    You'll minimum need a X99 8-core system, i7-5960X, I believe.

     

     

    I haven't programmed and even less built WO systems in 3 years so I feel insecure about buying a system using my previously acquired knowledge, I want to make sure it will work as flawlessly as possible, I have 2 weeks to build it so That's why I am asking all those nagging questions :)

     

    Thanks for your understanding and help

    regards

    0

  23. Live Video Feed stutter/ error Blackmagic Design Decklink

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    Using a home theater HDMI to HDSDI-converter for 60 USD, is not what I would've done...

    Especially not with 100ft of HDMI cable in front of it. It's not made for this.

    As I said earlier, it should be a short HDMI-cable and a long HDSDI-cable instead.

     

    Since this converter can give you 3G-SDI (1080p59.94) if input is progressive from the camera, this will be an issue with the Decklink QUAD card.

    It does not support 3G-SDI, only HDSDI (1080i59.94). You have to verify your signals here.

     

    I don't think there is anything wrong with WATCHOUT in this case.

     

    I agree with Jim's additional statement above, too.

     

    /jonas

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