ThomasL

I second what Jonas says. I bought a supposedly AMD approved mini-dp to VGA adapter from cableclub.com, and it does not work. Zilch response from my HD6950 when the adapter is attached. CableClub.com is from China (that's where my shipping papers say they are from), and they do not understand the importance of the word 'Active' in cases like ours. So do not waste your time and money. ThomasL

Just grab and drag the unwanted point(s) off the window.

Interesting. I do not have 3D files nor a Datapath E2 to test, but I wonder if the shareware Stereoscopic Player from http://3dtv.at/Index_en.aspx can be used to split such a file, output via a dual out graphics card, capture live into a E2 Datapath feeding Watchout, and back out again to a Watchout Display PC. Rather a roundabout way, and probably with some loss in quality, I would think, but might be the only solution in realtime when the situation calls for it. Thomas Leong

With still pictures, it is quite easily done with 3 MIDI Notes controlling 3 Aux Timelines. For each Aux Timeline, put a Pause cue just before a fade out of the still pix (and probably a STOP-and-Jump-to-0 Time cue to stop the Aux Timeline and reset it for reuse) In Watchout, open an Input Window and add 3 MIDI Notes - use the Learn feature to determine which MIDI Notes to assign. (You'll need a MIDI Keyboard - a virtual keyboard can be obtained free from http://www.granucon.com/SoftwarePages/Default.aspx. Install in the Production PC. You'll also need a MIDI port in the WO Production PC - I use MIDI Yoke from http://www.midiox.com). As an example, call the 3 MIDI Notes A, B, C. Set the keyboard to output to MIDI Yoke (port) 1 which is what Watchout seems to only accept. In Watchout's Task Window, assign a Trigger to each Aux Timeline - the same A, B, C in our example. Now to play an Aux Timeline, hit A, B, or C on the MIDI Keyboard and that will play assigned Aux Timeline. Since each Aux Timeline goes into Pause mode, the next A, B, or C will trigger the fade off. You can also combine keys as a trigger, eg. for the 3 Aux Timelines, the triggers can be A+D, B+D, C+D such that D will trigger all 3 Aux Timeline simultaneously, and A, B and C will trigger only the ones they have been assigned to.

For what it is worth, here are the results of my own tests with 1 Prodn PC and 1 Display PC using relatively old CPUs and PCs upgraded to one high end graphics card on the Display PC. The 3-output video files I ran in a loop for hours on end are - 1x Canopus HQ AVI file of 1920x1080 with a data-rate of 13,971kpbs at a frame-rate of 29fps 1x MPEG-2 file of 720x480 with a data-rate of 19,379kpbs at a frame-rate of 59.94fps 1x WMV file of 1280x720 with a data-rate of 6,000kpbs at a frame-rate of 23fps (downloaded from Microsoft's web-site for WMV HD - titled "Speed_720") 1x 48KHz Audio WAV file extracted from the above MPEG-2 with a bitrate of 384 kb/s All are running smooth as silk with all 3 video files off ONE x 7200rpm SATA mechanical drive. Also tried off a RAID 0 2-disk set, and off a OCZ Agility 3 SSD connected to SATA-2 instead of SATA-3. Initially had some jerkiness with the WMV file, but found that I had been using a MPEG-2 version which I had converted previously either with Canopus Procoder 2 or a shareware converter I have. So lesson learned here is that the file and/or conversion matters. Production PC old Shuttle PC - FB61, a P4 2.8GHz Intel CPU with 2GB RAM and VisionTek HD2600XT AGP graphics card - note AGP not PCIe...told you they were old!! No problems as a Production PC though - Watchout v5.1 OS: windows XP 32-bit Display PC OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit CPU: Intel Q6600 at 2.4GHz (have over-clocked up to 3.2GHz with little to no problems except for heat)...but the test video files run smooth at default 2.4GHz anyway (monitored visually and with FRAPS) RAM: 6-GB DDR2 mixed but running in Dual-channel mode - 2 x 2GB Corsair DDR2 Gaming Memory + 2 x 1GB Corsair XMS2 (reason for mix: 1 of 4 pieces of 2GB Gaming memory is faulty and is being RMA'ed) Motherboard: ASUS P5Q Deluxe - capable of 3 PCIe cards, but won't work with Watchout; besides a 2nd gfx card will not work with the HD6950 - different driver from my other old gfx cards which require the ATI Legacy drivers; these older Legacy cards work together in the mobo when installed together all using the Legacy drivers only, though Watchout will only work with one; my other apps will work with all 3 - not Crossfired. Graphics Card: ASUS HD6950 2GB version, unlocked to HD6970 specs...hehe!! Display output to all 3 monitors are at 1280x1024 - 1xVGA (off the Single-link DVI), 2xDVI-D (1 off the Dual-link DVI and 1 off a mini-Display Port -> DVI Active adaptor). Bought off the web, an AMD-approved mini-DP to VGA adapter, but proved not to be Active, so not workable; still shopping for one; the sites that sell do not ship to my country, so may have to get it shipped to my brother or sister in the U.S. and have them bring it in when they visit in February 2012). Tuning and Tweaking of Display PC Only disabled Media Centre, Windows Security Centre & Auto Updates, Remote Assistance, etc. Performance Options at default (Windows decide, i.e. am using Aero) Windows Experience Index: 5.3 (owing to Primary hd being a 7200rpm 80-GB SATA unit); Processor and Memory at 7.3, Graphics at 7.9) A mix of mainly old stuff with the Graphics card being the only new component, but it works outputting to 3 displays each at 1280x1024 with Watchout 5.1 So I dare say that if you intend only 3 displays each at 1024x768 you do not need high end specs except for the gfx card. However, since you are starting anew, it is always best to have a buffer and cater for the unplanned - I dare say the Intel 2600K CPU will more than suffice. The Firepro? Sorry, no experience with it, but I don't think it is necessary since a lower cost unit such as the HD6950 or 6970 will do - only caveat here is that, depending on the manufacturer and the card, using the HDMI output may disable the DVI-D (dual-link) output. Thomas Leong

eh...are you sure the "Enttec Open Artnet to DMX dongle" is Artnet? Don't see the word 'Artnet' in any of their Open DMX products.

Let's get this right first - Watchout is v5.0 Production PC Laptop outputs audio for the show - correct? No problems with the show's audio - correct? Display PC outputs audio timecode to the Hog 3 - correct? If this is so, then the speaker icon must be within the relevant Display boundaries in the Stage Window, eg. Display 1 and not 2 nor 3. In any case, being mini rts to XLR, it is probably unbalanced. I'd literally listen to the output for hum. Perhaps you need one of these to provide a balanced output - http://www.dsan.com/sc/shop/category.asp?catid=6

The above sticky does state : "NVidia NVS series will not do, they lack sufficient DirectX acceleration for WATCHOUT-use. Same thing with AMD FireMV and Matrox M91xx-series." I would think that's clear your 4 head Matrox 9140 is NOT compatible with Watchout.

That's a pity, Jonas. I think Dataton should look into extending DX/D3D into multiple graphics cards. VJ software such as Resolume, Archaos, etc are able to use all the outputs from a pc with more than one graphics card installed. So does another multi-display software from Austria though this is currently limited to max 4. It does down bring the cost of graphics cards since 2 output cards are generally cheaper. Additionally, these have less configuration headaches and the need for active adapters.

I'm inclined to half the spending on the usual SATA drive and go for a SSD instead. There is a big gap in performance even if the SSD is a moderate performer by SSD standards. Basically, use the ole spinning SATA for extra storage, and run Watchout on an SSD - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-upgrade-hdd-performance,3023.html After Effects thrives on RAM so you'll need 16-32GB for that depending on how heavy your usage of AFx is.

Thanks. Apologies for hi-jacking your post. Can anyone help Dr. Z re his question on the Mainconcept H.264 Decoder not using Multi-Threading?

Hi Dr. Z, Thanks, but the way I read it, it seems to be that you are monitoring the Production PC and not the Display PC. Thomas

Apologies digging this old List post up. I tried exactly as Mike said, and Windows refused to accept the line in the shortcut "Target" field saying it was not valid. Did anyone have any success doing this exactly as indicated? I solved it my way with a workaround, eventually pointing the -ShowPath /e:/Shows/ to my RAID 0 drives instead of c: drive. 1. First I copied the line from the shortcut "Target" field to Notepad, deleted the quote marks at both ends of the command line, added echo off before it, and made some changesto conform to the 8-character DOS limitation, then saved this as Watchpoint.bat. I therefore had the following as my batch file - echo off C:\Progra~2\Dataton\Watcho~1\Watchpoint.exe -ShowPath /e:/Shows/ Note: Above is for Win7 64-bit which installs Watchout into Program Files (x86) = Progra~2 For 32-bit OS, it would be Progra~1 instead. 2. Created a shortcut to this on the desktop. 3. Then changed the icon of the shortcut to Watchpoint's icon. Tested and my 3-display Show files from RAID 0 drives run much much smoother than from my C: drive (a single 7,200rpm ordinary SATA drive). Graphics card: Asus EAH6950 2GB. CPU: old Intel Q6600 overclocked to 3.0GHz Mobo: old Asus P5Q Deluxe with 6GB RAM Power supply : Gigabyte 450watts (yes I know, just barely enough for the EAH6950) Watchout 5

Hi Dr. Zhivago, How's Omar?...;-) I'm not Dataton, and not able to answer your question, but have a question if you can help me instead. How have you been able to see and monitor the Display PCs? I've tried, but in Online mode, Watchout takes over the monitor and overlays the output over whatever else I have (eg. Windows Task Manager). I can monitor the Production PC, but not the Displays. Pray tell if you know a way. Thanks. Thomas Leong

The second assumption is correct. Remember the Production PC cannot output its contents to beamers, etc. so you need one dongle for Production, and one dongle for Display to get the 6 displays out from one Display PC's one graphics card. Watchout will not 'see' more than one graphics card. Recommend you check out the relevant Stickys posted near the top of this forum, in particular "Multi output", "Specifications on Infocomm 2011" and "Eyefinity 6". No. It will only ask for one dongle per PC.

Every window in Watchout can only operate within the boundary of the program itself. You should not click the square icon in the top right corner as this merely fills a single monitor. So, drag the edges of Watchout to extend it into the second monitor. Thereafter, you can re-position and re-size the Stage window as you please.

I've just gone through a whole lot of old posts at Showroom List under "Decklink". Quite a bit of useful info there, and problems and successes encountered, etc. I've also gone through Decklink's recommendation for motherboards, but it is not an updated list. Looks like they have stopped testing mobos with their cards! So I'd still appreciate some updated info, user experience, recommendation re the newer Decklinks and motherboards, please. Thanks. Thomas Leong

Being a rental company, client needs versatility of inputs, reliability and relatively hassle-free operation problems, with little to zero frame delay for IMAG situations if possible (as it would be difficult to explain to his clients). PC/Mac capture is not necessary. Been looking at Decklink Studio and Decklink HD Extreme 3D in particular versus the Datapath options. Is the Decklink still fussy on motherboards and other components in the PC? Thinking of using ASUS Sabretooth mobo, Win7 64-bit rather than 32-bit, and one of the high-end Eyefinity cards. Recommendation on the capture card is appreciated, preferably based on experience with card. Thanks. Thomas Leong

One would need a crossover Ethernet cable for this to work. The normal straight Ethernet cable that one usually uses for hubs, switches, etc will not do.

A correction to my post above. Since then I have been able to get my Genovation 681 programmable keypad to send commands direct to the Watchout Prodn PC without going through another application like VenueMagic, though that is also a workable option (in order to send other commands like MIDI to a Pearl 2000 Lighting Controller, and serials to a Matrix switcher like the Kramer VP-88ETH - both of which I have done successfully, via VenueMagic). My earlier mistake, I think, was using a serial mapper. I've since successfully used the TCPclient setup in Virtual Serial Ports Emulator from Etherlogic.com directing the Gen681 Com 5 to TCP port 3040 of Watchout. VSPE 32-bit is free, 64-bit is payware, though it is working on my 64-bit Win 7 install at the moment without paying...probably will ask me to pay after a number of starts or lapse of days. So basically now, I've got - Gen 681 -> virtual Com 5 USB-Serial cable -> re-directed by Etherlogic VSPE TCPclient option -> TCP/IP port 3040 -> Watchout Prodn PC I could not use the other freeware HWVSP3 from HW-group.com because it creates a virtual Com port that conflicts with that of my USB-Serial cable. I could use it to create, say, Com 3 that does not conflict with my Com 5, but would need to re-direct any signals from Com 5 to Com 3 in order to reach TCP port 3040. A roundabout way, which I did once, but cannot seem to repeat it. So a direct route with a Com to TCP client re-director that does not create a conflicting Com port, but merely uses an existing Com port, seems to be a more efficient solution. With this, I can program the Gen 681 keys to run, halt, etc...as well as trigger Aux Timelines with the setInput command (and reset to value 0 with another key).. Wish I had a sensor to try. BTW, one can use a freeware virtual programmable Serial Buttons from http://www.audiovisualdevices.com.au/software/serialbuttons/index.php instead of the Genovation 681 keypad. In such case, you do not need the Etherlogic VSPE to re-direct Com 5 -> Com 3. Just HWVSP3 to create the virtual Com port that Serial Buttons will use, and HWVP3 will direct com signals to the tCP/IP port 3040 that Watchout will listen on. With Serial Buttons, just have to watch one's syntax especially when mixing ASCII and Hex codes in the same command line. [em][strong](edited for errors in procedure many hours after initial posting)[/strong][/em]

Yep, according to the DZ-110XE manual pages 119-120, you have been using RS232 rather than PJ-Link since you mention 00pon for power on, and 00osh:1 for shutter execute. As I said earlier, most times it is syntax error on the user part. For example, I don't know what the 00 is before pon, and also before osh:1 (Note it is the letter o, not numeral 0, in the command osh). According to the Basic Format given on page 119, it should be - 02ZZ;PON03$0D (read as: zero 3ZZ semi-colon;capital PON with letter O, not number 0 followed by zero 3 then Watchout's requirement for the carriage return $0D as in zero D) but since the start and end bytes are hex codes and output from Watchout requires that hex be preceded with a $ sign, I think it should actually be - $02ZZ;PON$03$0D Some serials are case sensitive, so I've used capitals where so given in the manual. The only doubt I have in the above is the Projector ID syntax. I have used the string ZZ to identify ALL projectors. I could be wrong (and without a projector to test, I'm only guessing). For shutter control, try - 02ZZ;OSH:103$0D (where value 1 is for shutter execute, and value 0 is for shutter end (I presume on and off, respectively.) or $02ZZ;OSH:1$03$0D Note: No command can be sent or received for 60 secs when the projector lamps have just started. As an after-thought, perhaps the PJLink protocol is easier to use as the PJLink Specification 100.pdf document gives clear examples of the syntax to use for every command.

I've downloaded and browsed through the manuals for the PT-DZ6710 and PT-DZ110X. The latter is more detailed compared to the manual for the DZ6710. Referring to page 95 of the DZ-110XE manual for the Network Setup, it appears that there are 3 ways to control the projector: Web, PJ-Link, and RS-232 Command. Shot in the dark: Since you said you have to send the command 3 times, and it always responds on the 3rd time, perhaps the projector is cycling through its protocol for each send it receives - Web first, then PJ-Link, then RS-232 Command - and finds that the 3rd protocol corresponds with your commands, then responds to it. So I think you have to navigate to this Network Settings menu, and SET the protocol to the third RS232 Command, Save, then try a send from Watchout. The other forum post that I referred you to, used PJ-Link because he mentioned that he used %... in one of his commands. From the PJ-Link specifications 100.pdf, it says "All PJLINK command lines, without exception, start with ‘%’. If it has not worked for you, I reckon you have not selected PJ-Link as the protocol to use for the projector.

This probably verifies Jim's rationale above, i.e. the need for an intermediate device/software. Following this thread, it gave me the idea that Aux Timelines could be triggered by a Generic Input apart from the Main Timeline, and I tried it today with a Genovation 681 (programmable serial keypad). Alas, the Gen 681 does not work connected to Com 1, and using a mapper to re-map Com 1 to Com 3, and the freeware HWVSP3 to re-direct Com 3 to TCP/Ip port 3040 of the Watchout PC. However, the same connections and software work when I have the Gen 681 sending generic commands to another software (VenueMagic DMXAV ) which in turn has a Timeline programmed to output the serial commands required by Watchout (eg. setInput V 1$0D or setInput V 0$0D). Needless to say, run, halt and gotoControlCue all work as well. So now, I am able to program a key on the Gen 681 keypad to output a generic serial command such as playAuxT1 in my case, and send this via Com 1 to VenueMagic DMXAV (I'll call it VM from here on). In VM, I enable its serial input to accept the command playAuxT1 and play a VM Timeline called AuxT1 when such command is received. In this VM Timeline, I have an Event cue to output the serial string setInput V 0[CR][LF], immediately followed by another cue which sets the generic input V to the value 1. This is because the Aux Timeline in Watchout will not start to play unless the generic input is set to 0 value. These serial commands from VM are sent out on Com 3 re-directed to TCP/Ip port 3040 on the Watchout PC. Com1 is also mapped to Com 3 with another software re-director. (All these tests can be done on the one laptop using the free Windows Loopback Connection, ie. no need to connect to another PC) Additionally, in VM I assign the Timeline AuxT1 to a virtual button provided by VM, and also assign this button to be triggered by an external source such as my keyboard's letter A. So now, I have the option of triggering Watchout's Aux Timeline(s) from 5 possible sources - the Genovation 681 keypad, a virtual button in VenueMagic, my keyboard's keys, click and drag of the generic input in Watchout's Input Window, or clicking the green play arrow icon in the Task window. Obviously, in Watchout, I have to create a generic input (called V in my tests), assign it to Opacity, and whatever else I want, and life's sweet! Without the intermediate, remote would not work.

Off-hand, if the command(s) you are sending works, albeit on the 3rd try, then the command is essentially correct. It is then likely that the port or TCP/IP link is at fault the first two times, either from the Panasonic end, or the Watchout PC end, or at the router/switcher/hub. Difficult to narrow down unless you can monitor at each stop the in-coming signal. The workaround at this point, without wasting more time on it, is to put 3 instances of each command in Watchout's Timeline, staggered at say, 0.1 - 0.5seconds apart. WO will then send the command 3 times at those intervals, and the 3rd should work.

Maybe this other post may help - http://www.dataton.com/forum/viewthread/93/ Generally, it is all to do with the correct syntax in the command from Watchout, and TCP port for the projector(s) you are using.