Curtis Hutchins
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Posts posted by Curtis Hutchins
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Is there a particular benchmark software package in use at Dataton?
I have research a few and was wondering if any of these are recommended or better than another for WO.
http://www.sisoftware.net/?d=&f=downandbuy&l=en&a=
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Gotcha on the horse power.
I was under the misconception that EyeFinity required at least 1 Display port and that most cards disabled the HDMI output... But to be truthful, I have never understood the connection between DP outputs and EyeFinity.
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I would never trust a device that relies on power from the graphics card connection.
Look for extenders that have their own power supply to avoid such issues.
Yup. this was bad power supply to the extender. But as Macadler was saying, a lot of trouble that initially gets blamed on WO can actually be external cabling.
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This is where I think a lot of peoples redundancy arguments fall over - the addition of a matrix switcher does 2 things - it increases the number of failure points by (2xoutputs)+1 as there are now an additional 2 cables for every output as well as a single point of failure in the matrix - there is also no redundancy from the second half of the signal chain. I would rather put my money on WO straight to projector over redundant WO to a matrix to projector.
From my point of view after several hundred one-off watchout builds I have found most issues come from bad cables causing displays to drop and watchpoint to crack a spaz or bad media. Redundant PC's will obviously see you through the spaz out if a display drops (But you also have >2 times the chance of it happening on ONE of your machines as the Matrix can also drop out) - what really makes a hardened system is tweaking the OS as per the WO guide then testing your media thoroughly. Re-image your display and production machines regularly and if you have any concerns about your primary setup - from cables to projectors - replace it. If it is so critical that everything goes smoothly, the only redundancy worth considering is a completely separate system running in parallel. Double the projectors, double the cabling, double the WO Displays and double the WO Production PC's.
My 2c anyway.
You hit upon an interested subject, Is there a way to protect the system from the cabling side? as you say WO sometimes spaz's out from bad cabling or to be fair its the hardware. I recently had a flaky power to an HDMI extender that was drawing power from the card. It caused a ton of problems before we figured it out.
My thinking is that some videos cards (once that don't draw as much power and perhaps have better internal circuitry, and a more powerful power supply may help in this regard but I'm not really sure what else can.
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If you want truly small form factor, your're not going to get the best performance, as you probably figured. Here's a small "player" style box with four outputs that could perhaps qualify, depending on what you mean by "small-form":
http://www.aopen.com/us/shop/products/digital-engine-de6140
Mike
Wow that's a really small box. Have you used these? 4 HDMIouts, I couldn't tell but the spec sheet, probably not eyefinity capable... AMD Radeon HD 7660G
(built in APU R-464L)0 -
I have seen issues with the key not working properly in a USB 3 port. If you can, make sure to use a USB 2 port. Other than that, I have no ideas.
Thanks Steve for the tip, although I don't see that this is helping much.
As I mentioned, I occasionally do see that a key does not get recognized at start up. Although an annoyance it is usually fixed with a reboot or placement in another port.
What concerned me was when the key dropped off from the system when it was already previously recognized. I haven't been able to repeat this issue with any kind of frequency so its been hard to diagnose. I never had any issues whats so ever with the original v3 keys, they were always rock solid.
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Hello,
I was discussing my hardware with a few associates here and the idea came up as it has before that there should be a minimum hardware unit test to determine how a particular display system performs under various content loads.
I have my own media I use but I thought I would ask if there is a standardize unit test you use and would provide? I think this would be in your interest actual to separate hardware issues from software in the field.
Anyway, it would be exceedingly helpful to know how my system perform compared to others before a show in mixed environments. Perhaps this is something you may consider.
Regards,
Curtis
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I completely understand and appreciate these comments,
In this particular situation, the artist was involved and so he saw fit to use some other solution.
Thanks for the chats!
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Hi,
What might be the cause of a WATCHOUT key disappearing during a show.
This happen a long time ago and I had them replaced.
This appears to be happening on two separate computers but not all the time so its hard to understand.
Nothing has really changed in the system to mention. these are tried and true.
I also have issues with the key not being recognized in a particular port.
Sometimes requiring a restart. This problem is not new.
Thanks for your help.
C.
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Hi All,
Has anyone found a small-form computer for 4 channel displays they prefer over Shuttle's offerings?
We like Shuttles but I'd prefer to find a more robust product that can solidly support 4 channels and still keep the small-form footprint.
The systems we currently have configured are Shuttle SH87R6, i7-4771 @ 3.5ghz, 8 GB (DDR 1333), 256GB - SSD, FirePro V7900 .
These run 4-channels of video in most circumstances but the motherboards do not provide enough throughput in all situations compared to other rack mounted systems.
Thanks for your suggestions!
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Thanks Jonas,
I guess what got me currious about this and not mentioned previously is that one of my display computers came back with software installed on it and that system did play the ProRes video files...
I refreshed the partition so now I can not go back and see what might have been added. The software didn't seem special to me so I assumed some codec was also installed.
I figured it was a trick of some kind.
Okay, well I agree its not a good idea so for now I will leave it at that.
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Hi all,
Is there a list of currently recommended and tested AMD video cards for single pci-express slots?
That would save a huge amount of time in testing.
Video capture cards too although I don't think they have changed much.
Thx!
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Hi all,
I know apple pro res is not a recommended playback codec, however I have had a few clients request it after explaining otherwise... One gallery was so set on it they went with another playback solution..
Question, how does one install pro res to even test?
I thought it was part of qt. After reinstalling qt no video is decoded only sound. The apple codec download for windows prores 1.0 (older I think) failed to install.
Thx.
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Hi All,
What is the recommend tool for imaging a Watchout System these days?
I have always used Acronis but the new version although very pretty just isnt as easy to use.
Leads me to think I am using teh wrong version as this version is geared for increment backups more than imaging and unless I am doing someting wrong, everytime I restore, teh system forget my safezone partition.
thx.
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Maybe, but I think its a network switch cache issue... Eitherway it appears resolved now.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to replicate the problem.
To report back on what I did and my findings:
I restored an image backup will no improvement. (So not the software)
Other computers on the network had no problem with the network or switch, swapped network cables anyway. (so assumed not teh cables or switch)
I set up a repeating ping that never loss connection.
My thinking was either video card or Nic card because,
- Watchdog occasionally said it could not find media that was present...
- The admin error log had no errors but was showing information logs under applications about the video card control panel (ccc.exe) that looked suspicious.
- WO would sometimes show a message saying the display cube vanished.
On a lark, I just replace the switch and it started working. Put the switch back in place and it continued to work,
Perhaps there is a bad port on the switch or the switch needed to be reset.
Got me!
Thanks for the suggestions.
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Hello,
I was hoping someone could shed some light on an issue I am having where Watchout freezes up about 30 seconds into any show I run. It doesn't matter where in the timeline it is and doesn't appear to be the show files since it is happening now on 3 different shows that work on other displays each have with very different media.
Note: Windows is NOT crashing and I am able to toggle back and forth going online so that WO restarts the show. Sadly, it stops again at roughly 30 seconds into the show.
What changed:
This cube, one of six WO display cubes recently required a Motherboard replacement. The OS and harddrive appear to be just fine and continue to work as expected but Watchout freezes about 30 seconds into a show.
What I have tried,
- I uninstalled WO and reinstalled twice removing the Dataton folder as well.
- Only changes I made were to upgrade to latest QT and AMD display driver. Could this be a display driver issue?
I guess my next step will be to restore the system from a backup to rule that out.
Current system is info
WO 5.3
Windows 7
4 GB RAM
Solid state drive.
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Hi All!
Recently I setup a VPN connection to test updating Watchout shows remotely over the Internet.
So far this setup kind of works but has issues that perhaps someone could illuminate...
I am able to update a show, downloading pictures and go online with a show to move it along the timeline BUT using space bar or play arrow does not start or stop show.
My setup: I am using a win7 64bit laptop with a Verizon PC card in order to have an outside IP to connect to my office LAN via VPN. The VPN connection is working. I am able onto my network.
Any ideas on whats going on?
has this ever bit successfully done before?
thanks for any help.
Curtis
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I seem to have all updated drivers. Swapping memory does not appear to help.
I am going to upgrade the power supplies to 500 Watts because on face value its the only spec that is wrong. I'll report back if I find anything else out.
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I can do up to 3 with my cards but for these test I am only using 1 screen output and I am running 4 videos, wmv mov at 720 p and 1080p resolutions. The display is set to 1080p
I'm thinking the power supply's are not delivering enough peak power. The Eyefinity card calls for 400 Watts or greater. the shuttles are a bit anemic.
The kind of issues I am experiencing.
- Blue screens or system lock up. This is after a 2-4 days.
- Occasional watchdog screen coming forwards while Watchpoint is running in the background.
The system error log just indicates Kernel Failure.
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This was better explained to me recently here.
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Hi All,
How important is it to partition the drive separating the system software from the WATCHOUT software? Is this a big concern for stability?
What is a reasonable average run time for a WATCHOUT display computer running version 5.2?
Has there been any correlation between Eyefinity Power requirements and system crashes?
I have 6 Identical Shuttle Computers, i7, WIN.7 32bit with SSD hard drives, 4GB Ram, EyeFinity cards, etc. All set up the same way at the same time based on the recommendations I found within this forum minus the partition recommendation... Most seem to run for 4- 9 days before some kind of issue.
I would like to get this average higher..
Thanks for your advice!
Curtis
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Following up on this topic a bit further...
What is happening when Watchdog comes forward on the screen displaying the WATCHOUT Screen and an hour glass? I don't think WATCHPOINT was restarted, or if it was no message is sent back to the WATCHOUT production tool message window.
This situation where WATCHPOINT becomes minimize/hidden and still running in the background has happened several times now. is there is something that I can do to prevent this?
Thanks,
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Thanks,
That was informative.
The problem I have seen is where the active program switches - so all you see if the watchout screen. If I switch back then the show is still running. That is undesirable.
I'm not sure what caused this and it seems to be sporadic.
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Hello,
INFO: My systems are running Watchout 5.2, (32bit version of Windows 7)
I've noticed while using Watchout 5 that two instances of Wacthout appear to launch during start up. I am wondering if this is normal or a problem?
When I bring up the task manager using Ctrl-Alt-Del you can see a Watchout Instance running called "Watchout" and another instance named "Watchpoint" The instance named Watchout appears to actually be Watchpoint and stuck.
Switching to the instance named "Watchout" shows the normal Watchout 5 screen with an hour glass and it appears stuck. If fact some times the task manager windows says that it is not responding... Switching to the WatchPoint instance, and watchout is running my show as expected. If I force quick the the instance named "Watchout" I am able to switch back to watchpoint and the show continues without instance.
Is this a known problem?
I have noticed sometimes Wachout has switched over to the instance that is stuck. This happens sometimes on startup and also happened once after a 12 hour period. The computer and WatchPoint program were working correctly it just happend to be switched over to the Watchout instance.
I launch WatchPoint from the startup menu items and it is the only item in there except code-meter
Any thoughts on this much appreciated.
Thanks,
Curtis
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Best Practice for Redundant Show Playback? (aka Backup)
in WATCHOUT FORUM
Posted
I've never understood how/why EDID can actually crash a computer which I have seen a several occasions. It would be good to understand this...
I have definitely had issues with Extenders as mentioned above but we do what we must. Never used a Parrot but I know a DVI-Detective can sometimes make all the difference...
Thanks again.