Mike Fahl
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Posts posted by Mike Fahl
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Yes, it can be replaced. Please contact support@dataton.com, or your local Dataton partner.
Mike
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In the computer that exhibits this behavior, and restarting WATCHOUT doesn't help.
Mike
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Indeed, I just restarted Watchout and loaded the show file again, and then ALL of the media showed the same problem. Only a full reboot of the computer solved it.
If a restart of WATCHOUT doesn't solve the problem, and the only thing that helps is a reboot of the computer, it's definitely a driver bug. Try another graphics card (if this is a desktop class computer), or at least another driver version.
Mike
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This is not a problem I've encountered.
Are you saying you have this with H.264 as well as HAP codecs?
How long does it take for this problem to occur? How many times does the video play during that time?
Are you saying that restarting WATCHOUT doesn't correct it; you have to reboot the entire computer to fix it?
Mike
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Does you computer have a MIDI port? It seems something in the show you're loading tries to communicate with MIDI, but there's no MIDI port.
Mike
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Another option, that sometimes works really well, is to use a green or blue matte where you want the video to be transparent, then use the color keyer in WATCHOUT to knock out that background. This allows you to use more efficient codecs than Animation, such as MPEG-2 or H.264.
Mike
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To answer your other question about RAM. I'd say put 8 GB in a 64 bit machine if you intend to use it mainly as a WATCHOUT player. This gives WATCHOUT 4 GB with 4GB left for the OS and other duties. More wouldn't really be of any significant advantage, except possibly for use as a large RAM disk.
Mike
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I guess noone knows really. It sounds a bit excessive to me, and it's definitely beyond what we had in mind when we designed that featre.
Mike
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This currently blows out the data rate with buffer underflows during encode at 30Mbps. With -g 15 it is fine, but stutters and causes a strange "pulse" or "heartbeat" artefact where the image goes fuzzy every 0.5 seconds (which correlates with a GOP of 15 and 30fps)
Yes, the pulsating effect is sometimes an issue with ffmpeg. You can try a sm,aller GOP (with a corresponding increase in bitrate).
Am I missing something - can one have an all I-frame structure with a GOP larger than 1? If so, how?
No, a GOP of 1 is an all-I-frames. Generally, that's not required in WATCHOUT.
If you're on WO6, there are more options for video playback, such as HAP and Prores. HAP should have no trouble with that resolution, and is very easy on the CPU (albeit heavy on data rate).
One more question: in your experience is there any difference between ffmpeg for Windows & ffmpeg for OS X? I would assume the mpeg2 library is the same under both platforms - but I could well be mistaken.They should be identical, given the same versions.
Mike
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This indicates something's wrong with the graphics card driver. I've been using WATCHOUT on Win10 for quite some time, and it works fine. There are still some rough edges around some drivers, though. Particularly on laptops.
Mike
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Also, The setting to route audio to a specific display, rather then by icon placement, does not seem to survive a copy and paste. It seems to always default back to “by icon placement.” it is the only one of these settings that does so, so it seems like a bug.
FYI, that has been fixed for the next version of WATCHOUT.
Mike
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No. Besides its lower data rate (which usually isn't of much use for WATCHOUT), I see no particular advantage of using it with WATCHOUT. It's a significantly heavier codec than H264, and hardware accelleration is so far pretty much non-existent.
Mike
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Another bug I've run into is that if I try to scroll layers the layers and the layer labels scroll independently of each other with the mouse scroll wheel. They then jump back to where they were before scrolling if any editting is done. Scrolling via the scroll bar works fine. This may be related to the other mouse scroll issues as I haven't tried changing that setting.
That's fixed by my comment above. Here it is again:
It appears to be caused by some new behavior introduced in Windows 10. To avoid this problem, go to Start-button, Settings, Devices, Mouse & touchpad and turn off “Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them”. The scroll wheel should now work as before in Watchout.
Mike
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The WO Display computer acts normal and I see the progress bar copying assets but it gets about halfway through then stops, the screen flickrs then goes to the logo then black then back to the logo with IP and monitor information below it.
Ok, that's WATCHOUT crashing. Likely when analyzing some video, which happens during the downloading of assets.
I have a Show Sage backup system as another backup now and that Display system is on version 6 and now operating correctly.The fact that your "Show Sage backup system" doesn't crash indicates there's a difference somewhere. My guess is there are some rouge codecs installed on your misbehaving machine. Those can sometimes cause problems. Take a look at the "tweak list" on this forum for instructions on how to properly configure your PC.
Mike
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This can either be a network related problem, or it can be the display computer crashing for some reason. What happens on the display computer when you get tis message? Does it briefly show logo screen or windows desktop?
Mike
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On some computers, depending on their graphics subsystem, resizing the Stage window is an "expensive" operation. The same may apply to the preview tabs in the display dialogs in WATCHOUT 6. My advise is to not resize these windows while running time critical functions.
Mike
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The first message you mention; "Display Setting Not Available", indicates that you have your display settings in your show set to a resolution not supported by the display computer or the display attached to it. Make sure that the correct resolution set in the display's dialog box (doubleclick the display in the Stage window to open its settings). I believe the subsequent error messages you mention are caused by this first error.
If you continue having trouble, I suspect the EDID from the Encore. Try connecing a regular 1920x1080 display to the display computer instead, to see if that works.
Hope this helps.
Mike
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Yes, using multiple projectors is not a problem. The UV applies to the 3D model loaded into WATCHOUT, not to each individual projector. Then the 3D projectors just "look" at the object from various angles, corresponding to where the real projectors are located.
Mike
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Can you load all the different videos onto WATCHOUT, and run them as separate timelines? If so, you can trigger the desired timeline from an external system over TCP/IP, talking to the display cluster directly.
Mike
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For testing purposes, you can use a TELNET client form a terminal window. Built into MacOS X as standard, and inWindows it can be enabled in Programs and Features. You can also use the "putty" freware program for Windows. If you run it on same computer as production software, you can connect to "localhost" or "127.0.0.1", using port 3040. Don't forget to enable the TCP port in Preferences for the loaded show.
Mike
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If possible, forward the file to support for further investigation. Contact them at support@dataton.com for details.
Mike
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I suggest you read the section titled "Controlling Tween Tracks" in the "Inputs and Outputs" chapter of the WATCHOUT manual first, as it explains the procedure.
Mike
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When running the system from the production computer, then plug the timecode into the production computer. You can enable/disable timecode in Preferences, or by simply disconnecting the timecode. If you want to run the cluster without the production computer (form some other external control system), you need to connect the timecode to the primary cluster computer.
Mike
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Assign each file to the display PC that will play it,
by placing the anchor point of the audio speaker icon for each file
inside a display rectangle assigned to the computer you want it to play on.
Note that WATCHOUT 6 allows you to explicitly specify the display computer through which audio is to be played, rather than by placing he icon inside its rectangle. Either method can be used, and is specified inside the audio cue.
Mike
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Question about external SMPTE timecode control
in WATCHOUT FORUM
Posted
First, you need a timecode source. I assume you have something here already, or you wouldn't be asking the question. If not, there are a couple of free iOS apps that can generate timecode. Connect the timecode feed to the audio input jack of the production pc (in your case), or the display PC in case you don't need the production PC in the system. On the produciton PC, use the Timecode Tester app to verify proper timecode reception (see page 85 in the WO5 manual). Quit the timecode tester app, and start the production software. Load you show and enable timecode control in Preferences (see page 122). Start your timecode source, and it will drive your main timeline.
In case you want to drive the display PC, see page 268 for the appropriate command.
Hope that helps. I also intend making a video that walks through the procedure within the next few weeks.
Mike
http://fahl.se/