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This is rarely a network issue, it is most typically a sign WATCHOUT Display (watchpoint) has locked up. Rebooting will always correct that. Re-establishing the online connection will work after watchdog has restarted watchpoint. You should re-visit your display computer tuning, check logs for hints, etc, Look for background tasks that should have been disabled, look for incorrect or default (Microsoft) drivers, all the things known to interfere covered in the document WATCHOUT Display & Production computer Tweaking list found in this post: WATCHOUT 5 - Technical Notes

Sounds more like a motherboard issue. When you replaced the motherboard were you able to find an exact duplicate with the same version of BIOS? If not, your restored image may be invalid. The 'stops' you are seeing are watchdog reseting the crashed display software, and should leave a trail in the watchdog logs.

WATCHOUT will add the soft edging automatically. Stage should be an accurate representation. You should use the pre-split video proxy for this type of video playback for best results.

Indeed! It is far more flexible with its floating point target value and optional incremental change instead of MIDI's simple 128 fixed steps. And generic input offers a second option - fading instead of jumping to the new value, useful in smoothing out course data.

I can not tell you how to program a CISCO switch, but I can assist in identifying the goals. From there, CISCO support should be able to guide you to a solution. Onyx systems, the integrator who installed a 36 channel WATCHOUT system at Virginia Beach Convention Center many years ago, experienced similar issues integrating into an existing Cisco intranet when they started. They were able to achieve a stable WATCHOUT system with some tuning. Most WATCHOUT communication uses the documented port numbers. However, the file server (used for downloading media files) uses a dynamically allocated port number. The built-in display computer management function uses a dynamically assigned port for its VNC connection. Hence, for all these functions to work in their default (dynamic) configuration, you really need to have (almost) unrestricted access to the computer. Both TCP and UDP traffic must be permitted. Dynamically allocated ports always are greater than 1024, so if you want to, you should be able to lock down all "well known" port numbers (ie, all below 1024 which you know you won't be using). These "well known" ports are often considered most vulnerable, since the kind of service can readily be assumed from the port number, so an attacker would have a better idea on what it might attempt on those ports. In theory, once the system has been installed and all media transferred (assuming there's no need for VNC remote managment), it should be possible to block all ports except the documented ones. This would, of course, disable the production computer from transferring files, so it is practically a WATCHOUT write protect for the display computers.

Hi Thomas, Guess it is a matter of terminology. Yes, Production can be IP controlled. No, production can not be controlled via RS-232, which for years has commonly been referred to in the US as serial control. And of course, from earlier direct communication with the customer, and the title of the thread, I know he was using RS-232 control, so I may have been assuming to much in that regard.

I can assure you that he is talking to the display with no production connected. There is no support for serial control of Production. I have been assisting them with this for over a week, not sure why they felt the need to post here, I had answered the same question within five minutes of its being asked of me directly.

Before you can send a run, you must send authenticate 1 You should also send a valid load command at lest once from that control connection prior to sending run, even if the show is already loaded. It is possible the hardware handshake that the PC provides by default is not being implemented by your show control system. Another common error is confusion between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-terminating Equipment (DTE/DCE) connections. And Thomas' comment about appending the carriage return ($0D) is also important.

It is already in there, has been since v4.2. A linear key (aka alpha key) requires two inputs. Send one to a normal layer and use masked by layer above for the input with the key information.

If those spaces are actually in your string, that will not work. If you have some reason for using all hex, it should be $54$41$4B$45$0D True, TAKE$0D is exactly equal to $54$41$4B$45$0D once it actually goes out as an IP packet. ???? The TAKE string would only work if the receiving device accepts ASCII characters in lieu of hex $0D, but that is extremely unusual.

Wording is a bit tricky here I suppose. Dataton does not support output cards, Dataton writes WATCHOUT software to the Windows standards outlined in the WATCHOUT User Guide Appendix A : System requirements That said, the ATi FirePro W series does meet the specification. There is a thread on this forum that confirms that: AMD Firepro w600 video cards

You may wish to consult with a DMX expert, may be a DMX wiring issue. At least he can monitor the line to see what is there, both on the ArtNet (ethernet) side and the DMX side of your ENTTEC Ode DMX node / adaptor. What you describe sounds a bit like improper termination of the DMX bus. The signal bounces back down the line with a slight delay, resulting in both constructive and destructive interference. Seen long threads on theater and show control forums on how that is addressed. ---------------- from: Integrated Controls Inc - DMX512 Protocol Standard

that's two questions It is always best to feed the projectors at their native resolution. So if the projectors are 1920x1080 native, use it. For two 1080p outputs, the need for pre-split would be dependent on the movie encoding. You should be able to get a 3840x1080 @ 25p to run smoothly with attention to encoding settings, and possibly even 3840x1080 @ 50p or 60p. This is something you should test and tune on your system as part of its build / certification process.

That command string is incorrect. Should be: %1AVMT 31$0D Projector browser software is not PJLink BTW. While that confirms the connection, it does not confirm the projector is properly setup for PJLink operation.

In general, I would agree that single SATA-III hi-speed SSDs are generally fast enough to handle most WATCHOUT requirements. We do have some customers who will drive each output of a multi-output system with both an mpeg2 and an overlaid animation codec .mov, and that content demand does seem to benefit from RAID on an Extreme Edition system. But I would put that advanced application in the 'rare' category.

The errors shown are responses to the commands in your start.txt file. It would appear, for some reason, the watchpoint computer IPv4 address is no longer set to the display IP address stored in the original show. The first error is the load command feeding back it could not find the IP address stored in the show. The second error indicates no show is loaded, which is the result of the previous load command failing. Are there any other network interfaces that might have been inadvertently activated? You also did not indicate the WATCHOUT version you are using? Did you update WATCHOUT recently? There have been changes related single computer cluster operation when no network is connected, so the version you are using might make a difference in determining the cause. Worse case, there is a workaround for older versions when no network is connected using a virtual network interface (standard Windows option, all versions). But if truly nothing has changed and this problem just started popping up, you may have more serious hardware issues.

A follow up to my post above. Our techs tell me that your issue sounds more like a defective drive. On rare occasions, we have seen the OCS Vertex 3 SSD drive boot up ok, Windows functions normally, and then the SSD drive will disappear after WATCHOUT is running. This is typically trapped in burn-in testing, and when it occurs, the drive is replaced and the probelm one sent for warranty replacement. Just the same, they all concur that the mb RAID controller is best avoided. I received comments from our tech staff like this: "The onboard is very fast, but it's got lots of problems and is ultimately a tech nightmare. Not to mention it cannot be backed up by Acronis. The PCIe controller solves all of our problems."

Have to agree with Thomas. Biggest issue in our testing is the mb RAID randomly not showing up on boot. Never got as far as using a mb RAID for a show. To date, we use PCIe RAID controllers on any system we build with RAID, and we always use a third non-RAID drive for the OS in such setups. Our testing has resulted in no compelling reason to change to the OCZ Agility series - so far, although that testing is ongoing - we test / prepare for our current choice reaching End of Life. We continue to use the Vertex 3 and Vertex 3 MAX IOPS edition as our workhorse SSDs for now. Note WATCHOUT uses DX DMA calls to the hard drives, which is a bit more stressful than most Windows programs demand of the HD. Wow. A drive that is being read from disappears and Windows doesn't go down in flames? If it were hardware caused, one would expect a BSOD. Even a driver doing such things under DMA demands, one would expect something to crash enough to interrupt a show. Very strange. Curious, did you check the Windows logs for clues?

Jonas is correct, when the production PC is designated to play audio, it will play all audio - it is all or none. Currently you have multiple audio files playing on the same channels, so they will be mixed together. However, you might be able to achieve what you need. Depends on how many channels your program audio is using and the multi-channel output capabilities of your production PC. You could designate your timecode audio to output on higher numbered channels unused by the program audio, and just feed the timecode audio channels to the light board. Use channelshifter.air to move the timecode audio to alternate output channels to accomplish that.

Panasonic PJLink - projector control Just had to work with a pair of Panasonic PT-DW6300 projectors. Couple of notes. If necessary, remove administrator password. The TCP connection port is fixed at 4352. There is a command control port setting, which confused me, but that port setting is not related to PJLink. It is necesary to enable PJLink control. The Command port setting is not related to PJLink and does not matter, PJLink port is fixed at 4352. Of course, the network settings need to be in the same subnet as the WATCHOUT system. Typically, the gateway setting should be left blank. Each projector in a system must have a unique IP address, and that is the only form of addressing required for PJLink. Strings we used successfully. Shutter close (picture mute) %1AVMT 31$0D Shutter open %1AVMT 30$0D DVI input select %1INPT 32$0D VGA input select %1INPT 12$0D

A dimmer switch? make, model, etc? What part of the WATCHOUT 5.2 User Guide output and DMX instructions on pages (201), 204 and 205 are you having difficulty with?

Also, operating instructions for the Adobe Air version of WATCHOUT Remote can be found in the pdf user guide WATCHOUT System Manager on pages 9 - 14. The pdf user guide is part of the Systems Manager download aka ShowMan. Although the iOS page layouts are a bit different, connection and general function is the same in the iOS and the .air version.

Yes. Any WATCHOUT show (version 2.3 or newer) can be opened in a newer WATCHOUT version. Since version 2.3, all WATCHOUT show files are forward compatible (and older shows can still be opened in newer versions with a two step process.) No need to rebuild when going forward to newer versions.

That depends on the timecode format. NTSC frame rates of 29.97 NDF, 29.97 DF, 59.94 are not time accurate and the times will be off when compared to a stopwatch. The bigger the timecode value, the bigger the error.

Probably yes. The trick is to make the video cue free running. If necessary, also make it loop so it won't run out. Then you can pause the timeline immediately after the video is running, free running will keep the video going with the timeline paused. After the pause, the same cue fades out using the tween Opacity track. I usually use a duration of just one second plus fade out time, with the pause placed immediately before the fade out portion of the cue. So the fade out will occur "on cue".