ThomasL
-
Posts
55 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by ThomasL
-
-
I echo what the others have said - MIDI is relatively simple. But the amount of boxes and cabling added may be too much for you or your install?
If you want a simpler one-button trigger which outputs the command 'run' into the RS-232 port of your (Master) Display PC in a cluster, contact me offline and I'll put you in touch with a friend in London who can quote you and put that together for you - PIC chip, button, et al.
ThomasL
0 -
Next step, if you have not done so, is to download Watchout and play with it. It is free, and fully functional except for linking up and outputting to the Display PCs. Even the RS-232 and MIDI functions all work without having to purchase a licence. With a virtual MIDI Keyboard and Microsoft's Loopback Adapter, you can have working MIDI and RS-232 commands (using HW Virtual Serial Port free software) within the one Production PC for all your tests and exercises.
Work along with the video tutorials Mike pointed to, or create an exercise for yourself with media from one of your single screen shows. Expand it to 2 or more screens on the stage. You will be quite amazed at how well Watchout scales media to higher resolutions, other things being equal. Learn Aux Timelines, how it works, how they stack, and how to create triggers for them with MIDI.
Likewise with Compositions. All other features are icing on the cake!
ThomasL
0 -
Hi, we are recently facing the same problem...
Since the logo only surfaced recently, it is definitely caused by a most recent software installation.
I had the same problem and it was due to another production software that uses Medialooks for Quicktime. Curiously enough it was a version 3 of the software that I needed temporarily for a client who had bought that version from me. The version 4 of the same software did not give the same problem. Uninstalling that version 3 solved my problem.
There is another solution which gives me a software "switch" to on/off the Medialooks logo therefore allowing the culprit software that uses Medialooks to co-exist with Watchout in the same pc. But it involves the installation of a codec pack which also provides a tool to 'switch' said Medialooks codec on/off by substituting with the LAV Splitter. However, this codec pack is probably not recommended by Dataton though I've had no problem with substitute codec since only the Medialooks codec is substituted.
Thomas Leong
0 -
Agree with jfk.
So, for example, if one is using a laptop with built-in webcam as the Production PC, one could watch oneself on the webcam, whilst the Display PCs show the live video feed from other cameras!
0 -
Questions: Is the Ethernet switcher hub the same amongst all the shows? Have you tried swapping the Ethernet switcher to see if it is the cause of the problem? The Cat5 cables also. It is usually hard to nail down a specific cause in troubleshooting - could be hardware, could be software. It is a step by step procedure - tedious, but necessary. Only you, being on-site, would know what the difference is between this set up and the other, or the differences within the cluster itself.
If necessary, you could transfer the show you are having problems with, to the other cluster of PCs which have shown no problems, and run it there. Does the problem transfer over? What about the show on the 'no problem cluster' of equipment transferred over to this problem cluster? Does the problem repeat on this cluster? Working this way, narrows down the problem area, and eventually should nail down the cause.
Thomas
0 -
The pagefile is stored on the hard-disk, C:\ root unless otherwise specified. Maybe the bus from the harddisk to the CPU to the graphics card is the culprit.
I'd try tests again with the pagefile turned OFF. Should be no real harm done, except that the system is supposed to crash, but if it does not crash, then all is good.
0 -
I'll chip in with a shot.
Could it be that in the morning startup, at least one of the Slave Display PCs is slow in its startup readiness, and therefore the Master waits, and waits...and does not get a return signal from the slow Slave that it is now ready. On the manual re-start, all Slaves are ready, so it all runs thereon without a hitch, until the next morning startup?
Is such is the case, put in a longer delay on the Master startup to allow the slow Slave to get ready.
my 2 cents,
Thomas
0 -
email on the way!
0 -
Hi,
I have triggered a Pearl 2000 with MIDI, not Artnet, and even then, only the 15 faders. Couldn't get a Program Change, so we stayed with one program of 15 presets pre-programed by the lighting guy. Details available if you want.
Thomas
0 -
Shot in the dark: Windows Firewall. Disable it completely!! Common cause of disrupting Display PC connection.
0 -
...I still searching for simple tool that triggers a UDP string when a key is pressed.
The simplest is to use Perfect Cue for its main design purpose: as a Pavlov response system to cue the production pc operator to advance-and-play or back-up-a-ControlCue-and-play in Watchout, with the appropriate pause cues in Watchout's Timeline.
Alternatively is to program Perfect Cue to emulate the spacebar for Play and left-arrow key to reverse a ControlCue in Watchout.
Another is to use an iTouch as the physical remote controller (instead of Perfect Cue), installed with the free Watchout Remote from Watchout System Manager.
0 -
You could check out VenueMagic (DMXAV version) for user-defined timelines and playlists, buttons (that trigger a sequence of cues on a VenueMagic timeline or specific playlist Show Control buttons, as well as serial or MIDI Notes to Watchout.
I do not have Perfect Cue to test with VenueMagic, but if you do, test it out as an "External Control Source".
0 -
The article is irrelevant to the above problems.
I had a buffer overflow error message once when i was testing out a borrowed Behringer BCF 2000 with Watchout 5.x. I can't recall exactly but I think the error message is due either to a connection error between Watchout and the MIDI controller or a wrong setting on the Controller such that it is sending something that overloads the MIDI inputs on the WO computer. I solved it then but can't remember what I did exactly.
Check all your inputs and output connections between MIDI Controller and Watchout PC (should be simple basic stuff), and read the manual of the MIDI Controller.
0 -
If I read you correctly, you are trying to control, via TCP/IP Port 3039, one Display Computer from another in the same cluster. I have not tried that myself - Manual pg. 257 onwards. Do not forget the Carriage Return or LineFeed after each command (page 260 "Command Format"). Alternative is to type $0D ($ zero D) after each command which is the hex code for a carriage return.
The simpler method is use a Production PC to control a Display PC. And since you require 2 outputs, and assuming you are using WO version 5.x, a Display PC with a 2-output graphics card will achieve that easily WITHOUT using Port 3039. In the Production PC, use a Aux timeline for each video, Control Cues in the Main timeline to trigger/loop/stop,etc the Aux timelines, and Display output assignment via the Stage Window by clicking on each Display and assigning the (graphics card's) Output number to the same IP for your Display PC (either 2.0.0.2 or 2.0.0.12 as the case may be) and connect the projectors accordingly.
Hope this helps.
ThomasL
0 -
Apologies, correction.
Enabling the TCP/IP Control is not required in the case of MIDI Notes. Merely ensure your MIDI Controller sends out via port 1 and Watchout will respond.
0 -
Hello Roger,
MIDI Note is not MIDI Show Control. Two different things/protocols and codes.
For WO Production to read/learn the MIDI Notes, enable TCP/IP Production Computer Control.in Files > Preferences > Control
abd
Ensure that your MIDI Controller is sending to MIDI Port 1 because, if I'm not wrong, Watchout will only listen to inputs from that port.
Hope that works for you,
ThomasL
0 -
Here is an installation where AudioFire 8 has been installed and working with Watchout, though the article does not actually state so. But if I read it correctly, 'the video end of things' refers to Watchout and the AudioFire 8 would likely be installed in the same server -
http://livedesignonline.com/theatre/0412_magic_bird_show_control/index.html
ThomasL
0 -
One other thing I have noticed while researching SSD's for future purchase is the the OCZ line of series 3 disks are fraught with problems according to the reviews.Not sure what model you have but thought it worth mentioning...
That's history.. For some time now (around late 2011), OCZ released a firmware update for the Sandforce Controller used in the series 3 disks which has solved all those problems mentioned in the reviews and forums. I have had the OCZ Aigitily 3 for about 6 months now, which has been faultless and trouble-free since I applied the firmware update.
ThomasL
0 -
Had same problem of persisting 'Lost Connection' with a client's network recently. Cause turned out to be Windows Firewall. Turned it off, problem solved.
Re "Program box is getting its IP dynamically...The hub is a cisco/linksys e4200.". Suggest you change this to a static IP like the Display PC. Not sure if the cisco/linksys hub is also a router and plays a part in assigning the dynamic IP, but safer to eliminate any potential problems here.
Also check for faulty CAT-5 cables and plug-ends. Simpliest is to change to known working and stable cables or use a cable tester.
0 -
Here's a request for the future (near future we hope) -
The abilitiy to use multiple graphics cards across the one motherboard rather than limited to one Eyefinity card. 2-output graphics cards are cheaper and less complicated (in determining which output is which and does away with dp and mdp adapters) than the Eyefinity stuff.
Thomas Leong
0 -
...
so on the two display port i can have 4 dvi outputs in total ( 2 for each minidisplay)?
if it's correct i need an adaptators from 1 minidp to 2 dvi?
No, that is not correct.
2 display ports = 2 dvi outputs (1 for each port)
You need an adaptor from 1 minidp to 1 dvi.
(For those who know, daisy-chaining is not considered here)
0 -
....what you mean with "Connecting the HDMI port internally disconnects the dual-link DVI port"?
On my HD6950 (modded to HD6970), the HDMI port is shared with the dual-link DVI port. I can only use one at any one time -either the HDMI or the dual-link DVI, but not both at the same time. If I have both connected up, I get a black/blank screen on the monitor. I have to have one of them not connected to anything. I don't think the original HD6970 is any different from my HD6950.
In any case, as aforesaid, the dual-link can only connect to a DVI monitor. Even an active DVI-VGA adaptor will not work. The monitor/projector must have a DVI input for this port to work.
this is my setup
I have 3 main projectors not in softedge and 1 backups
All the projectors are the classic 15.000 fron eiky, the signal transport is on rgbhv, with a ohm suppressor.
i use 2 display and 1 producer for the setup.
1 display for the two side projector (two different video al the resolution of 1024X768)
1 display for the central and the backup (two different video al the resolution of 1024X768).
Since all your projector inputs are rbghv (which is analog, not digital), you need 4 analog (VGA) outputs from your HD6970. Unfortunately, only the single-link DVI will work (with a simple/common DVI-VGA adaptor). There is only one single-link DVI per HD6970. That gives you a total of 2 analog outputs (one per card).
For the others, you will have to use one of the display ports with an ACTIVE display port-to-VGA adaptor. Non-active adaptors will not work.
Per Jonas' post in http://dataton.com/forum/topic/93-wo5-multi-output/ active adaptors can be found at -
http://www.accellcables.com/products/DisplayPort/DisplayPort.htm
http://www.accellcables.com/products/DisplayPort/DP/dp_vga.htm
http://www.accellcables.com/products/DisplayPort/DP/mdp_vga.html
http://www.amazon.com/Accell-UltraAV-B101B-003B-Display-Adapter/dp/B003HC85D2
I'm not sure if any of the ones in Jim's post above work because none of them say 'Active' in the description. I've seen one at a client's place (he bought from a supplier from Singapore) and it has the word 'ACTIVE' embossed in the VGA plug end. Without the emboss, I would doubt it is active.
A rough guide is the price - around US$30+/-. The non-active adaptors are cheaper.
ThomasL
0 -
One more thing: Connecting the HDMI port internally disconnects the dual-link DVI port. Only one of these 2 ports can be used at any one time.
I have the HD6950, hacked to 6970, and that's how mine behaves.
0 -
Quesion also: Though you are using the 2 DVI ports, are you connecting them to VGA projectors/monitors?
The dual-link DVI port does not work with VGA. Only the single-link DVI can. Maybe that's why you cannot 'see' the second monitor/projector.
0
Export 3D mapping projector view?
in WATCHOUT FORUM
Posted
If it is just a still capture of the 3D Projector view, then built into Windows is the Snipping Tool. You will have to drag out the view to fill your monitor, then use the Rectangular Tool to drag-select-and-snap and save it.
If you require a video of the 3D Projector view, Watchout has the File > Export Movie of the viewable Stage. Needs a licence key. Again drag out the Stage to fill Watchout as this export is WYSIWYG of the Stage.
Thomas Leong