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Rogier Tuinte

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Posts posted by Rogier Tuinte

  1. This is exactly the same problem we had yesterday during a show.  As a temporary 'solution' we used only one side (left) from the audio. 

    The problem was still there but less annoying.

     

    This morning we tried to reproduce it in our office with different machines. With both versions. 6.1. and 6.1.1 it happens. It also happens offline - without a display machine connected.
    It happens with both, on machines with a onboard sound card and also with a external sound card from RME.

    Playback of the same audio file from outside Watchout works fine.

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Rogier

  2. Hello,

     

    I'm wondering if anyone sucessfully used a AJA Kona 4 capture card with Watchout.

     

    After installing the Kona card in our system together with the hardware drivers, the card works fine with the AJA software and utilities but the card does not appear in the video in list in the display software.

     

    After this I installed the AJA's DirectShow Filters. After a reboot the AJA device appears in the video in List. In the production software I created a new Live video input for the AJA device. Signal input SDI, Video Standard 720p50. I tried different settings without succes. 

     

    Other capture cards like the (Datapath VisionRGB-E2s and Blackmagic studio SDI) are working fine in this system.

     

    Tested both with Watchout V5.5 and V6

     

    Any idea's? 

     

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Rogier Tuinte

  3. Hello,

     

    We're working on a project with a widescreen projection with 4 projectors (each 1920 x 1200) 

    The total resolution of the projection is about 5500px x 1200px

     

    I'm wondering what is better for the workload of a Watchout machine:

     

    Working with proxy's and pre-split files for each display, resulting in playing four 1920 x 1200 files?

    Or positioning 3 files next to each other in 3 layers, resulting in two 1920 x 1200 files and one 1660 x 1200 file.

     

    It seems to me that playing back these 3 clips is less processor intense than four 1920 x 1200 proxy's.

    Am I right that Watchout is spreading the decoding of the proxy files across different cpu cores?

     

    I'm asking this because at some points, where the timeline is getting complex it could happen that when i start a new background movie, one of the pre-split background clips is running out of sync with maybe 1 or 2 frames.

     

    To be sure that the 3 movies are in perfect sync during playback. Does it help to put them in a composition?

    Or is it better to give the clips a pre-roll with a manual value instead of the automatic pre-roll?

    Does it help that I pause the timeline for a second in the middle of a pre-roll area, so that I'm sure that the new clips are fully loaded / cached?

     

    And now my second and last question.

    It seems to me that when I go offline and back online, clips are not starting smooth. As long as I stay online and after I played the clips for the first time, everything runs smoother.

     

    When I loop clips with a jump back cue on the timeline (and jump back to a position 1 second before the clip) this runs smoother than clips with the parameter freerunning and loopable set. (question 3 ;-)) 

     

    Codec:

    MP4 - 50fps - about 50mbit/s - each frame is a keyframe

     

    System specs:

    Intel XEON E5v2 Sixcore-Processor (6x 3.5GHz, max Turbo Frequency 3.9GHz)

    1x 120GB High-Performance SSD for operating system

    2x 120GB High-Performance SSD for content (RAID-1)

    AMD Firepro W9100, 16GB GDDR5 ECC with S400 Sync module

    Watchout 5.5.2

  4. We're working on a fixed installation and the end user needs PowerPoint in the Watchout presentation.

    The end-user can copy video files in a video folder, images in a image folder, audio in the audio folder and a PowerPoint presentation in a PowerPoint folder.

    All the cue's / external time lines are linked to these different media files. 

    I know it's not possible to play PowerPoint directly with Watchout. Capturing a separate computer with powerpoint is a solution, but the client prefer one system which can handle all the media, also the PowerPoint.

    Maybe it´s possible to create a interactive front-end which is running on a laptop / tablet which trigger Watchout and a PowerPoint viewer?

    Just wondering if someone has a workaround. Maybe in combination with the dynamic image server?
  5. Resolved the tearing problem.

    I've to enable Windows Aero theme else the v-sync option “Wait for vertical refresh” is not working.

     

    Since I disabled the Windows Aero theme by selecting a basic theme, i noticed the screen tearing artifact.

    When I select a Windows Aero theme and enabled V-sync in the catalyst control center the tearing artifact disappear.

     

    Is there a disadvantage during Watchout use when a Windows Aero theme is on?

  6. Hello Neil,

     

    The mpeg loops smooth in VLC player (mac), also in the Wathout-composition. Once it plays, there is no problem.

    Only the beginning from play it stutters several times and the 3 Mpeg's do not play sync at the start.

    I'd like to make a smooth fade-in for the loop-background, of course without the stuttering.

     

    General

    Format : MPEG Video

    Format version : Version 2

    File size : 179 MiB

    Duration : 1mn 0s

    Overall bit rate : 25.0 Mbps

     

    Video

    Format : MPEG Video

    Format version : Version 2

    Format profile : Main@High

    Format settings, BVOP : Yes

    Format settings, Matrix : Default

    Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=24

    Duration : 1mn 0s

    Bit rate : 25.0 Mbps

    Width : 1 920 pixels

    Height : 1 080 pixels

    Display aspect ratio : 16:9

    Frame rate : 25.000 fps

    Color space : YUV

    Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

    Bit depth : 8 bits

    Scan type : Interlaced

    Scan order : Top Field First

    Compression mode : Lossy

    Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.482

    Stream size : 179 MiB (100%)

  7. I work a lot with loop-videobackgrounds for company presentations. This time I use a projection 5760 x 1080 pix (3x HD). And I rendered the loop content in 3 HD mpeg-2 video with 25 fps (30sec long). I used a control cue with "jump to". It runs very smoothly but always when it loops, it stutters! Also when the video starts at play.

     

    So what I did is, I made a composition and added the 3 mpegs. Then I created a task and imported the composition (Time at 2 sec on the timeline) with a opacity fade in. Added a pause-marker and set the composition on "free running" and "looping".

     

    This solved the looping problem perfectly. Only when I start the task it stutters several times during the first 1 - 2 seconds.

     

    Hopefully anyone can tell me how to solve this problem.

     

    Thanx in advance.

     

    Erik

     

    System Specs:

    Graphics: AMD Radeon HD6900

    MB: ASUS-P8P67-EVO-B3

    CPU: Core i7 2600 BOX 3.40

    SSD: 120GB SATA3 intel 510 series

    DDR3: 8GB

    OEM :Win 7 SP1 Home Prem 32b

  8. It seems to me that a option for selecting the midi input device ID in Watchout is a must. In windows 7 it's difficult / not possible to change the id's of the attached midi devices. In our system for example we've a sound card with midi input and a external usb midi controller. By default windows assign ID1 to the sound card. I'm not able to change the ID. So the midi input from the sound card is id 1 (which Watchout use).

  9. Sometimes we're using the display machines for other applications than Watchout as well. Last week we used a system with a eyefinity 6950 card for simply playing a mpg2 video with windows media player.

    I noticed a visual artifact called screen tearing.

    Searching the internet I found discussions about eyefinity setups which cause this artifact.

     

    "The problem is all about timing between the converters, while using a mixture of inputs and monitors have different timings for each."

    "The problem stems from using more than 1 type of connector for your monitors."

     

    In our situation we used one straight DVI connection for the primary monitor and a displayport to DVI adapter for the secondary monitor. While playing the video full screen on the secondary output i saw the screen tearing artifact.

    Connecting both monitors with a displayport to dvi adapter solved the problem.

     

    Just wondering how Watchout handles timings of the multiple outputs and if anyone saw this artifact while using Watchout with eyefinity cards as well?

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Rogier Tuinte

     

    Check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing

     

    Posted Image

  10. I'll try a fresh install on a different machine tomorrow.

    I've to tell that in this machine I used the older Datapath Vision RGBPro card before.

    But I removed the card and the drivers and related software from the system before installing the new Vision RGB-E2s card.

    Maybe it's still a conflict with the old drivers?!

    Something strange I noticed also is that beside the old RGBPro capture card I also removed a BMD SDI capture card. It looks like that the display software not recognise that the old cards are removed. The old entries are still listed in the "video in" menu in the display software..

    Rogier

  11. Same problems for me with the VisionRGB-E2s card and Watchout version 5.2

    Tried the above mentioned things as well.

    Installed a new card in a Watchout system with version 5.2 already installed. (driver v6.3.2)

    When I add a live feed cue on the timeline. (using DVI as the source (RGB - 720p50 chosen in WO) and go for the first time online while the timeline is at the live feed cue the capture is working. When i move the timeline to another point and then back to the live feed cue. The capture is not working...

    Closing the display software and opening the vision software I can see the feed.

    I've to restart the display machine completely to get the capture working again.

    As long as the live cue is active everything is working. Changing opacity, etc, etc.

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Rogier

  12. Hello all,

     

    I'm just wondering...

    Our Watchout system works perfect. Inside the players we've multiple capture cards. BMD Intensity Pro, BMD Decklink SDI, Datapath Vision RGB Pro.

    I want to upgrade the systems with the VisionRGB-E2 capture cards.

     

    The delay while capturing only live video with the SDI capture card is acceptable. In the past we did some tests with adding color effects / tween tracks to the live video input. Overlay the live video with logo's, etc. This resulted in a extra delay.

     

    For a upcoming project I've to show live video (SDI input) and computer graphics (Vision RGB input) at the same time.

    Do I get extra delay when I capture the computer graphics at the same time with the live video feed? Without using effects and similar.

     

    I'd like to have a discussion about what's important to consider while capturing live inputs in combination with:

    - Color effects and other tween tracks.

    - Picture in picture borders with transparency

    - Overlay other media elements

    - Etc, etc.

    How does Watchout process live inputs?

     

    It seems to me that capturing analog video signals from a camera results in more delay then capturing a SDI signal from the same camera. Because of the conversion from analog to digital. Am I correct?

     

    Something else i noticed is that the SDI or HDMI output of a capture card is disabled as long as there are no cue's on the timeline. As soon as I trigger a live feed Que. Watchout or the capture card driver enables the output of the capture card.

    I want to use the outputs for the preview monitors. Now I've to trigger the live feed and play with the opacity during the presentation, so that the output is always active.

     

    The output is also useful for linking the capture cards output from one display machine to the capture cards input from another display computer. In this case no need for a SDI or HDMI splitter.

    But this only works when the live feed is active in Watchout.

    Beside this I don't know if there is a small delay between the input and output of a capture card or if the signal is routed directly to the output without any processing / delay.

     

    Kind regards

     

    Rogier Tuinte

  13. Hello,

     

    I'm trying to connect a M-Audio Uno midi controller to a Watchout input.

    I installed the drivers in Windows 7 SP1 64 bit

    Using the midi-ox tool, i receive midi note and control messages from the Uno controller.

    In the Watchout production software i enabled the Midi show control option and set the correct Device ID.

    When I click the learn button in the Midi controller input dialog, Watchout is not receiving a midi input....

    Am I missing something?

     

    Kind regards

     

    Rogier

  14. We're working on a stereoscopic project for which we want to use the Barco DP4K-32B projector with the necessary 3D add-ons, 2 x SMPTE 292M inputs and 2 x DVI inputs.

    Is it correct that when we connect the video feed for the left eye to DVI input A and for the right eye to DVI input B, the projector combines both signals, doubles the refresh rate and takes care that the DVI input A is for example horizontally polarized and the DVI input B vertically polarized.

  15. We used the new 3D functionality for projection onto a cube. Each video projector, projecting onto 2 sides of the cube.

     

    Check

    http://vimeo.com/28925396

     

    I’m not sure if the 3D perspective settings in Watchout is created with these kind of application in mind. But it would be useful when it’s possible to set the 3D perspective settings for each projector / display output.

    Especially when one projector is closer to the object then the other or because of different lenses.

  16. A time elapsed / time remaining counter for media elements and tasks.

    (useful when you want to tell the show director how many seconds left before the end of a video / task)

     

    The possibility to create folders in the task window.

     

    Change time-display units to 25 fps / 50 fps / seconds / etc

    (for the timelines but also for time and duration settings)

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