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Mike Fahl

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Posts posted by Mike Fahl

  1. This error message indicates a corrupt ZIP file. How was it compressed? How large is the file?

     

    I found a similar conversation with another customer a while back, here's a workaround and some comments related to that.

     

     

    Desite the errors reported by the MacOS X 

    zipinfo command line program, I was able to unzip it on my Mac. After re-zipping it on my Mac, I was then able to bring it into WATCHNET. Hence, it seems the zip is “wierd” in some way that WATCHNET doesn’t like. Since it seems the zip contains no files that need unicode encoding for their names, you may want to try another method for zipping it, such as the one built into Windows (just right-click and choose “Send to > Compressed (ZIP)”).

    The BANDIZIP suggestion is a temporary solution anyway, and was nice since it supported unicode filenames and was free. But it seems it doesn’t generate entirely reliable ZIP files for large file collections (although it seems to work OK for smaller file sets).

     

     

     

    Hope that helps.

     

    Mike

  2. There's no "maximum number" as far as WATCHOUT is concerned (as with most other things in WO). So the answer is the dreaded "it depends". It depends on resolution, framerate, encoding, network bandwidth available, what else the system is doing, desired quality, etc, etc. So I suggest you just give it a try, tweaking the above properties as you go until you figured out whether it works for your use case. I suggest you avoid any wireless network stuff.

     

    Mike

  3. No. Data is sent right away. You should be able to confirm this by using any app that can receive and act on data arriving on a TCP port.

     

    For instance, you could set up one WATCHOUT prod to talk to another by enabling TCP control on the 2nd), and then send prod PC protocol commands to it. It should respond instantly.

     

    My guess is that your framing is incorrect. What should the command line be terminated with? Perhaps there are more framing characters needed before/after the command string. You mention CR above ($0D). Do you know this for a fact?

     

    If the framing is indeed something else, that would explain why it doesn't work when you just append a CR to the command string. Again, please try sending the command from a TELNET client to the device, to see if that works as desired. If it does, WATCHOUT should work the same way. If it doesn't, contact the manufacturer of the controlled device and ask them why. Using TELNET as a client would make it easy for them to repeat your test, and is totally independent of WATCHOUT.

     

     

    Mike

  4. If you have one program that CAN talk to the device successfully, and you don't have accurate docs as to what youre supposed to send, you can always snoop the wire to see what the successful program sends, and then mimic that. But of course having proper docs that shows exactly what data to send is preferable (including "framing" such as a CR at the end of the line, or whatever is expected).

     

    Mike

  5. It means that the computer you send the load command to loads a show with specified name. It then tries to find "itself" in that show, and the display output(s) to be used. This operation fails. Perhaps since its IP address doesn't match, or perhaps its name doesn't match (if you use named computers instead of IP addresses). For instance, if you load the show form a command file, and have no network attached, the computer may not find itself based on IP address, since it typically  has no IP address unless there's a network connection.

     

    Mike

  6. That would be a particularly crummy implementation of TCP which just throws away data when not "ready". But I wouldn't be surprised if Bill is right (he typically knows what he's talking about ;-). Bill's suggestions of sending two cues, the first with jusy a $OD anf the second with the real command, spaced apart by a second or so, should tell. The first command will open the connection and send  a (hopefully) innocent Carriage Return character. The delay will let the projector "wake up" and come to its senses. The second should then execute the desired command.

     

    After opening a TCP connection, WATCHOUT will keep it open for a while (about a minute if memory serves me), in case new commands come along to the same connection. After a timeout with no further data being sent, WATCHOUT will close the connection.

     

    Mike

  7. You can switch the status displays to match DF or NDF SMPTE, but the timeline readout is always in real time (with mS resolution), so it may differ if you're using certain SMPTE formats. Straight B&W 30fps timecode should always match to the second though (although its resolution is 30fps frame rather than mS, of course).

     

    Mike

  8. Best way to troubleshoot this is probably to snoop the Ethernet wire data and compare what WATCHOUT sends with what some other controller sends, to see if there's any difference that can explain the discrepancy. I use Wireshark, which is a free utility.

     

    Mike

  9. Here's another similar example, this one encoding staight from an image sequence (which is often a more practical source format:

     

    ffmpeg -y -threads auto \

    -r 25 -i "/Volumes/Backup/InkDrop4kJpeg/InkDrop4kHD[0000-3827]%04d.jpg" \
    -f vob -vcodec mpeg2video -b:v 60000k -minrate 60000k -maxrate 60000k -g 15 -bf 2 -an -trellis 2 \
    "/Users/mike/Desktop/inkDrops-60MBit.mpg" 
     
    Hope this helps.
     
    Mike
  10. This is one I used:

     

    ffmpeg -y -threads auto \

    -i "/Volumes/rawvideo/R3D_3840x2160_30FPS.mp4" \
    -f vob -vcodec mpeg2video -b:v 80000k -minrate 80000k -maxrate 80000k -g 15 -bf 2 -an -trellis 2 \
    "/Users/mike/Desktop/3840x2160-80MBit.mpg" 
     
    I also made some tests with H264, which also worked fine, although MPEG2 is less taxing on the CPU.
     
    We recently ran three 4k outputs from a single chassis, which seemed to work well. This was on a fairly beefy AMD card, with DisplayPort straight to the displays (running 4k at 60Hz).
     
    Mike
  11. There's no built-in way to do what you want. It would be rather simple to make an external control app talking to WATCHMAKER through its network port to trigger those. That would then live in its own window, providing only the controls you need (e.g., press spacebar to trigger main timeline, and a few keytboard or on-screen buttons to trigger other timelines).

     

    Mike

  12. Something like this

     

     

    var wo : WATCHMan = new WATCHMan("192.168.1.221");

    var auxTL : AuxTimeline = wo.GetAuxTimeline("MyAuxTimelineName");

    auxTL.addEventListener(AuxTimeline.KEvt_PlayingChanged, function(evt : Event) {
      if (auxTL.Playing)

        gotoAndStop(10);

      else
        gotoAndStop(1);

    });

     
     

     

    (writing from memory, so take the above with a grain of salt)
     
    Mike
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