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mindopera

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  1. mindopera
    In Quicktime, After Effects and Adobe Encoder there are few options available. The best option for coding in chunks is FFmpeg and I find the interface challenging, to say the least. The good news is if your hardware is high end and you have fast SSD's then the HAP and HAPQ files work well without chunking them. As with every solution in our industry the more you can test in a real situation the better your outcome will be when your live and in my humble opinion I seem to always have something to learn about video codecs for playback.
  2. mindopera
    It seems at one point or another we have all experimented with how we can do more with WO. In my experience of being onsite with live events switchers are much needed tools for easy workflow and allowing backup systems for WO, PowerPoint and possibly more. I agree that WO has some pluses in capabilities, but it is more of presenting tool not a switching tool. With that said, I have had much smaller events where I used WO to bring PPT on and off screen. I like having redundant systems on larger shows because failing is not an option and switchers are a good way to accomplish that. Can you give more detail on why you are attempting to emulate a switcher?
  3. mindopera
    Hi Salvo, welcome to the Watchout community. It may be the translation, but there doesn't seem to be a question in your post. Are you asking if certain hardware can be used with WO? Having well balanced hardware on the server side is key to getting reliable performance. Make sure that all aspects of your hardware meets with WO standards and always test your equipment and media before going live.
  4. mindopera
    I don't see where WATCHOUT is failing, but It does seem like your pushing the computer system past it's capabilities and the computer is failing to run the videos properly. I like to see how many video layers I can run at the same time on my computers, which helps me to manage their limits and clients expectations. What is the purpose of your experiment?
  5. mindopera
    What kind of testing and results have been done on open OS Watchout servers with Dante? Any issues with running Dante software with WO? I'm getting asked for this on an upcoming show and would like to know if it is a possible stable audio solution. Thanks
  6. mindopera
    OK, that works for me. It's a little clumsy to go through all my media and change that dialogue box. Is there a reason that a psd file wouldn't read as created? Is there a global way to handle it? I drag and drop a lot of media in the media bin. I'm using 6.1.5
  7. mindopera
    I'm seeing the same issue. Not sure how the fix it either.
  8. mindopera
    I have been using HAPQ files for about 8 months and love the result. It may be worth doing a test set of files to see if the results are better. HAPQ files use the GPU more directly, as opposed to MP4 files which use the CPU more. Also don't split the HAPQ files. Leave it as one file that fits accross the entire video canvas, such as 7680x1080. Give that a try also. Most video walls have a native resolution. Do you know what that is for the wall your working on. Are there video procecors in between your video signal and the video wall? What resolution are they sending to the wall? It could be the extra processing in between that is causing the sync issue. Call me if you want to talk. I'm in Seattle WA. Hope that helps.
  9. mindopera

    SDI output

    mindopera replied to MickM's topic in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Here is a post I shared earlier this year on converting HDMI to SDI. In actuality it's converting the DP outputs on aW7100 card to HDMI connectors then to BMD micro converters which converts them to SDI. The converters aren't the smartest converters in terms of programming, but they do the trick on most setups. I've been using them for months without issue. http://forum.dataton.com/topic/2172-moving-from-hdmi-to-sdi/
  10. mindopera
    I hope more info will trickle in, but I wanted to thank everyone that commented for taking the time to give me feedback, especially Claude for adding a lot of detail from a Pandora user perspective. Thank you all
  11. mindopera
    Hello everyone, What's the difference between WATCHOUT and Pandora's Box? I keep getting asked the question more and more when I'm meeting potential clients or AV companies for the first time. Some have not heard of WO and others use Pandora exclusively but are looking for alternatives. I'm a big fan of WO and have been using it for 11 years to produce impressive events. I've never had an opportunity to operate a Coolux solution or speak in depth with a Pandora programmer, so what I understand is only what I've read and watched in online tutorials. that's why I find it difficult to answer the question with any confidence. Anyone in the WO world that has some market differentiators? Any financial reason why AV companies would choose one over the other? Is pre-production and content planning important to clients anymore? This is what I think I know. WO uses an easy timeline-based approach to programming content. Pandora seems very clunky as a GUI and requires deeper technical knowledge to operate. WO Computers are not proprietary so typically they cost less to own and operate. WO works best when advance pre-production is used. Pandora can operate more on the fly. WO is a presentation tool, Pandora is a playback tool. I know I'm missing a ton of differentiators and my comments above may be incorrect, so If you could contribute your ideas I think it would be helpful to all WO users. Thank you in advance
  12. mindopera
    I did something similar years ago for a walkout module with images taken during the event. This way eliminates the Dynamic server. All I did was make multiple placeholder files of different shapes in a folder, then I programmed the timeline with the empty files. I believe I color coded the shapes so it was easier to track on the timeline. Once the timeline was built the way I wanted it, all I needed to do was replace the placeholder files with real images and update the timeline to the servers before I ran the show. The final images needed to match name, file type and pixel dimension of the placeholders for this to work properly. To do this we set up scripts and batch file processing in Photoshop, so the process was fast. If you get the images 20 minutes before the event this might not be fast enough. I did need a graphics person with me that helped me process the images. I also tested and practice before I ever committed to being able to do this. This was pre Dynamic Server, so I had no other option.
  13. mindopera
    I'm not sure if this will help since I just found out that Echo has discontinued (still servicing) there Audiofire products. I used the Echo Audiofire 8 succefully for years on WO version 5 & 6 timelines. It used FireWire connections and 8 channels of audio with a properly installed video driver. I only took advantage of the 8 channels once but I used the units for 3 years. Perhaps you can purchase used units online at eBay. I still have two Audiofire 8's in my position I would consider renting if your interested. Now I am using Yamaha Audiogram3's or 6's. They are USB powered, need no drivers and are compact and light weight. At least the 3's are.
  14. mindopera
    Kevin, thanks for the detailed response. I'm not a video engineer, more of a content provider, but fortunately I was raised by an electronic engineer, so I know a lot about the theories and very little about how switching equipment practically works, so I rely on good communication and knowledgeable of people like yourself to help me not make any serious mistakes. I did feel like it was an operator that didn't know enough about their equipment and left it up to me to fix the situation. Now my policy includes a look at the schematic while speaking directly to the switcher operator. David
  15. mindopera
    Hi Bluetoneblue, thanks for your response. I recently went through an E2 switcher with some major challenges. I always try and send a scematic like the one above to the video engineer. The drawing showed my set up with several blended areas and I believed I was going through a Spyder switcher. In fact the engineer never looked at my scematic and the switcher was an E2. All my video was created as video proxies to span several WO servers and when I got onsite I was told that I had to redo all of my content without any blends because the E2 wasn't capable of overlapping video. I also didn't have sync cards so by butting and not blending, my content had noticable sync tearing at the seams. It was a mess and a lot of sleepless nights. My question to you is, did I have to remove the blends and do you use sync cards when using the E2? Also are there any other issues when going through an E2 that I should be aware of? Thanks again
  16. mindopera
    Hi Mark, I always have a conversation with the video engineer before assuming my equipment will always play well with others, so I will make sure and ask if that is an issue with SDI video rates and other switchers we might use. Thanks for the input.
  17. mindopera
    Thanks for the reply. For this simple set up it took only 45 minutes to set it up versus the 2 1/2 hours it use to take. Being onsite is always rife with issues, so if I can eliminate most of them on my side, I can help others or start working on the timeline. In the DVI scenario I'm spending a lot of time with cable, EDID and splitter issues. Not to mention all the challenges with multiple monitors and space. Have you run into any issues connecting to switchers? I'm mainly interfacing with Spyder x20.
  18. mindopera
    I wanted to share with the group that I am sending HDMI video signals from my WO Servers as SDI signals to a switcher or router as on onsite operator. I know many of you may have done this already and I'm hoping you will share what kind of issues you've run into or maybe better ways to accomplish this, but it's been such a game changer for me I felt like it was worth sharing and discussing. I'm now converting the HDMI video signals from the WO server to SDI and sending the SDI signal to the switcher or router. I have been using BMD micro HDMI to SDI converters (www.blackmagicdesign.com) and sending one side of the SDI to the switcher and the other side to a Decimator Multi-viewer, DMON-16SL (www.decimator.com). I'm in Amsterdam now running 8 channels (see diagram and photos below) of video, 4 main and 4 backup using only one monitor for viewing the signals. I also have a Program and OpMon feed on the The key for me is using AMD W7100 or higher video cards. I have been testing this scenario over the last 3 months with very great success. Here are the benefits as I see it. Shorter set up time. No EDID issues when using the W7100 video card Fewer monitors (I'm to one monitor in Amsterdam) Fewer cables Fewer power strips BMD micro converters use USB power, so only one or two multi USB chargers take the place of multiple wall wart. (see photo below) I bring my own well maintained cables for my system. Can easily put most setups in my suitcase (minus servers) for travel. Relying more on equipment I bring and maintain. Most equipment (multi-viewer, cables and converters) are inexpensive, so it is now part of my onsite kit and not rented. Fewer connections means less issues and less time troubleshooting. I know this doesn't fit every scenario and I will continue testing and learning, but I believe that this is how I will setup in the future, because it's a game changer for on onsite corporate work and lets me concentrate on content not technical challenges. Please share your experiences or comments.
  19. mindopera
    Hi Ron, I am a highly skilled professional WO operator with the ability to also do creative and content production assignments. I am in Seattle and I'm hired nationally and internationally to deliver WO content for fortune 500 companies. I have my own well tuned WO equipment that can be shipped to NY. I can recommend companies for delivering the rest of your AV needs and I'm happy to put together an estimate for you. Also I am available in October. Looking forward to hearing from you. davidj@mindopera.com
  20. mindopera
    Your WO server machine sounds like it has plenty of power to run many layers of video. Is it clean of other software and properly tweaked? Have you opened the chassis and check that all of your connections are secure? Have you had this issue before on these exact machines? Do you own these machines or are you renting? Did you have try all of the WO recommended video codecs and did you get the same results of stuttering? Have you tried a video that you know to work on another system? Does it stutter? What is running on the timeline right before the video plays? Any big graphics or other video? If you place a single video on a empty spot in the timeline does it stutter? If yes then it would seem as if it would be a hardware or software issue not a codec issue. More info could help isolate the issue.
  21. mindopera
    I have been testing HapQ files for a show that has been traveling around the world. I started out using MP4 files and have slowly replaced the files with HAPQ files as i have gotten more confident with them. I have been very impressed with the quality and performance. I have been relying on the AMD W7100 video card for all of these tests and using a multitude of I7 processors from a 3rd gen to a 5th gen. The videos have been running smoother and have been able to run a lot more video at the same time. On the I7 3rd generation processor I had as many as five 4320x720 videos running on top of each other without a hitch. I will continue to test the codec, but as it stands HAPQ has been easy to integrate the codec into Adobe Encoder, high quality, smooth running, has simplified the codec jumble that I run into on a daily bases and is my new favorite codec. Feedback, comments?
  22. mindopera
    I'm confused the WO manual says it is supported. In order to include transparency information in the video file, you must choose a codec that supports this, such as the Animation or HAP codecs. If exporting the video, set to use “Millions+” of colors. The “+” at the end stands for the transparency information. This is sometimes called “Millions+Alpha”. You must also use an application that’s capable of reproducing and/or generating transparency information, such as Adobe After Effects.
  23. mindopera
    I saw this issue early and have used the option sparingly for concern of the timeline shifting. I'm eager to hear from Dataton on the issue.
  24. mindopera
    I continue to be asked to add an extra network card in my machines for audio delivery using the Dante Virtual Card. It would deliver sound as a digital source and no need to convert an analog signal. Does anyone have any experience with this method and product using WO? Is this a good idea to use this product with WO? Is Dataton working on or testing this delivery method? Thanks
  25. mindopera
    I have been having the same issue with video proxies and finally had to lay all the video pieces separately into the timeline for it to work. This has always worked nicely in earlier version and I like using video proxies to spare the layers, so would love to get this fixed. Thanks
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