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jfk

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Everything posted by jfk

  1. jfk
    First, i dispute your dismissal of VNC. I will bet no other product you have run uses the archaic DirectX 3D multi-output rendering method used by WATCHOUT. Vnc and rendering are interrelated. Furthermore, WATCHOUT uses DirectX 9, which almost no one else still uses. Any observations with other product likely mean nothing as it relates to WATCHOUT. Just the same, it is probably something else. My best guess is you are seeing watchpoint crashes with watchdog reset. The most common cause of watchpoint crash is incorrectly encoded mpeg (AVC / mpeg 4 / h.264). unless you are expert at codec settings minutiae, avoid mpeg (AVC / mpeg 4 / h.264). If settings are wrong, mpeg movies will play, but become time bombs, eventually crashing the system. Default encoder settings for mpeg will be the wrong settings. 'Best' encoder settings for mpeg will be wrong (and best is a misnomer, multiple choices can provide the same quality depending on other settings).
  2. jfk
    Not sure where to start. Best accomplished in cluster mode (ie turn off production and control display). In its simplest form, the IP command to play is run and the rewind is gotoTime 0 or possibly reset details … https://www.dataton.com/watchout-users-guide/appendix/c-control-protocol/controlling-the-display-software
  3. jfk
    Yes, that is true. i went there first too. Then i discovered the timecodeMode command is not available in watchmaker.
  4. jfk
    From watchmaker - no. Yes, in cluster mode. As watchmaker was never intended as a show controller, it lacks many show control features that are available in cluster mode. watchmaker is a composition assembly / editing tool.
  5. jfk
    Please visit the link provided above. Instructions on how to enable NoLogo are there. If you need information on how to prepare command line option, it is in the WATCHOUT User Guide on the previous page (accessed from the link at the bottom … ← D. Command Line Options) That is simply incorrect. Possibly you have an old shortcut with the modification already in place or whatever. Please consult your Dataton partner for further assistance.
  6. jfk
    It is normal for the logo screen to appear during update. If it was not appearing in an older version, then someone enabled the optional command line instruction -NoLogo. When you updated versions, you lost the optional switch. reference: https://www.dataton.com/watchout-users-guide/appendix/d-command-line-options/display-software
  7. jfk
    Seems an example of “your milage may vary”. I am not sure what you have experienced but that is not always the case. I have a fair amount of experience migrating shows from old versions, including moving shows from v4 to v6 and shows from v5 to v6. While i have observed issues with audio cues - video, stills and tween animation have been trouble free. In almost every case the migration included display upgrades that increased display resolution at the same time. To accomodate increased resolution i would move the original content to a different stage area where virtual displays at the original resolution were added. Then the virtual displays were scaled to the higher resolution new displays. That technique maintains original programming while providing access to the new resolution for new content.
  8. jfk
    Nine times out of ten, the network error message you observe is NOT a network issue. The significant part of that message is “… Connection lost…”. While a network error is one possible explanation for a lost connection, far more common is the WATCHOUT Display software (watchpoint) has crashed and stopped communicating, resulting in connection lost. So, when you see this message, observe what is occurring in WATCHOUT Display (watchpoint) to determine the more likely cause. If watchpoint is displaying its logo screen, that most likely means it has crashed and the monitoring part of watchpoint (aka watchdog) has restarted the watchpoint software. If you determine watchpoint has crashed / restarted, forget production and its meaningless message and focus on watchpoint and the possible causes for its crash.
  9. jfk
    You asked for info on WATCHPAX. WATCHMAX are not available in the North American market so i do not track them.
  10. jfk
    This is not an official Dataton web page, it is one i maintain personally for that purpose. http://www.dataton.net/watchpax/watchpax-image-wo_ver.pdf
  11. jfk
    WATCHOUT 6.7.2 is in public release: Dataton WATCHOUT current version
  12. jfk
    Check the watchpoint audio output menu to confirm the audio is correctly assigned to the 2i2. Switching from v5 to v6 may break audio cues, they may lose their assignment to a server. It is best to update all audio cues from the old ‘assign by an icon on the stage’ to the newer ‘assign by server name’. I also encountered a v5 system that when updated would not play some of its wav files (that worked in 5). Opening them in an audio editor and resaving them cleaned that up.
  13. jfk
    Very possibly yes. Won’t hurt to try . Given a choice, i would pick ASIO.
  14. jfk
    The audio driver should come from the entity providing the audio hardware. In the case of motherboard audio, then the motherboard vendor. If this is not possible, i believe there maybe generic WASAPI drivers that may do the trick. Hopefully someone can assist with a source for that.
  15. jfk
    WATCHOUT prior to v6.2 uses DirectX WDM for audio. WATCHOUT 6.2+ changes to ASIO or WASAPI for audio. Most likely you will need to find a different / appropriate ASIO or WASAPI driver for audio to function properly.
  16. jfk
    fyi This is now a known issue with some variants of Window 7. WATCHOUT 6.7.2 will correct this issue.
  17. jfk
    It is pretty tough to beat the Notebook offered by Show*Sage. They have optimized so many details, for example, the keyboard has a separate number pad to take full advantage of WATCHOUT shortcuts. And more. https://www.showsage.com/beta/docs/workstation_guide.pdf More important, they have performed the tuning and critical confirmation testing. And should anything go awry, they support the notebook / WATCHOUT combination. Put a price on that I am sure the AMD processors will work fine. The few users who have gone that route have not reported any issues. On the other hand, that is a small sample size. The overwhelming majority of WATCHOUT server cpu s in the field are Intel based.
  18. jfk
    Society of Motion Picture and Televison Engineers — SMPTE
  19. jfk
    The servers rely on UDP timing data from the master to maintain synchronisation with each other. Possibly something is disrupting those transmissions?
  20. jfk
    OK, that indicates a valid network cable / hardware / electrical connection Powered off, may indicate ready for Wake-On-LAN. It does not tell you if or when the OS driver is loaded and initialized.
  21. jfk
    Correct. And this is a situation where the duration may exceed the clip length as it will keep lopping for any duration. I was answering that one when this post appeared .
  22. jfk
    It is an oversimplification of a precaution. If media starts at 0.000 AND the timeline is stopped, when you send it a play it will not have the media loaded as the auxiliary timeline is not in memory / stopped. It will transition from stop to play as commanded, but since no media is loaded, it will stumble while it tries to catch up. Creating that empty space at the beginning provides time for media to load. There are other ways, however. If you want to set media at 0 time, you must first tell the auxiliary timeline to Pause, which will cause it to activate and load media but not start playing. Then when you send it a play it will work as expected. You can have multiple auxiliary timelines in pause, ready to fire on cue, but there are limits determined by memory, content loaded, etc. Personally, I am completely against using auxiliary timelines in a scripted show that always follows the same sequence. And I blame the Dataton academy for unintentionally sending people down that path . For most scripted events, one timeline is the best way to go.
  23. jfk
    When the timeline pauses, the clip stops. Free running basically indicates, once a free running clip is started, if the timeline pauses while the cue is still present, the clip continues. As a result, free running and looping clips should have a minimum duration to handle the effects and no more. For example, whenever I set a clip to free running, I typically shorten its "duration" to 2-4 seconds. Possibly. You need to go into Timeline settings and trim the composition duration to the end of the clip and then lock duration.
  24. jfk
    I wish I could provide a specific response. I am not at liberty to do so.
  25. jfk
    watchpoint's NIC selection is not related to Windows NIC priority. Apparently something in the registry determines the NIC selection when more than one active NIC is available when watchpoint starts. It would appear your only choice is to both use the NIC watchpoint automatically selects AND set that NIC as first in Windows priority when more than one active NIC is available.
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