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Any advice For setting up Firepro with S400 sync card?


Silentonset

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Hi People,

 

New to this forum, i've lotsa useful info so far but i can' seem to find much on the firepro and sync card.

 

I'm looking at building 2 systems with 4 output to achieve 8 output for driving an led wall setup.

It'll be pretty much a 15360 x 860 image size.

 

I'm looking at fitting the system with a ATI AMD Firepro W7000 with S400 sync card.

 

My question is:

 

1) Does the sync card work at the hardware level to sync up the 2 display machines or do i need some extra bit of software or driver to activate the sync?

 

2) Is the physical setup as simple as connecting a network cable between the 2 sync cards in both the machines? Is Genlock required for the framelock to take place?

 

3) Is a pre-spilt MPEG 2 still my best bet as far as video format is concern?

 

All advice is much appreciated! Please let me know if there is anything i overlooked, Thanks.

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I was looking over the sync card and am curious why you need it. Watchout should sync both computers and all 8 displays. I would definitely pre-split my movies to 1920X860. There may be some reason you have that I don't know of to use the sync card, but I've never had a problem with 2 identical machines getting out of sync.

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  • Dataton Partner

Hi,

the answer is:

 

The S400 sync board will now synchronize all outputs of the FirePro card sitting next to it in the same computer. Those outputs will not be perfectly in sync without the S400 even though they are sitting on the same board. In the near future you should be able to sync across servers with the upcoming version WATCHOUT 5.5. Then it should be enough to point the first card to a stable clock signal (either an external black burst or one of the connected DP outputs) and connect the second card using the RJ45 ports on both sync boards.

 

Hope it helps,

best regards

 

Rainer Beddig

 

WATCHOUT Premium Partner (Germany - Austria - Switzerland)

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Moderator

It does not appear that you have received direct answers to your straightforward questions.

 

Hi People,

New to this forum, i've lotsa useful info so far but i can' seem to find much on the firepro and sync card.

I'm looking at building 2 systems with 4 output to achieve 8 output for driving an led wall setup.
It'll be pretty much a 15360 x 860 image size.

I'm looking at fitting the system with a ATI AMD Firepro W7000 with S400 sync card.

My question is:

1) Does the sync card work at the hardware level to sync up the 2 display machines

 

Yes.

 

or do i need some extra bit of software or driver to activate the sync?

 

There is software you must set up.

It is in the Catalyst Control Center under AMD FirePro - Synchronization.

 

ccc_synch.png

 

 

2) Is the physical setup as simple as connecting a network cable between the 2 sync cards in both the machines?

 

Yes, providing they are connected to the correct ports on each s400 card AND the software setup above is correct.

 

Is Genlock required for the framelock to take place?

 

No, it is an available option, but the s400 can just as easily use one of its outputs as the synch master.

Either of these two example setups are valid.

 

s400-setups.png

 

3) Is a pre-spilt MPEG 2 still my best bet as far as video format is concern?

 

Yes, that has not changed yet.

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  • 2 years later...

Hi,

i have 3 Firepro W9100 and one S400 card.

now i want to create a Eyefinity group with 15 Display as a Single desktop.

 

as i read user guide and datasheets it need S400 card and Eyefinity Pro software. but when i try to do it i can only use one of my VGA to create group with max 6 display!!!

 

i want to run a 3x5 video wall.

 

what should i do to create group with 15 display?

 

please help me. it's urgent for me.

 

thanks

 

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Hi,

 

i need help on creating Eyefinity group. 

 

i have 3x5 video wall. i have 3 W9100 and one S400 card. i connected 3 VGA to S400 with their cable.

 

when i try to create group i can use only all Display that are connected to one VGA (Max 6 Display). but i need to create a group with 15 LCD as a single Desktop for video wall.

 

please help me.

 

Thanks.

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Watchout can work with Eyefinity but you will not be able to apply blending between displays.

Watchout works only with Displays setup as Extended Displays.

Watchout works only with ONE graphics card per Display PC. It will ignore other graphics cards installed in the same PC.

 

To achieve what you want: 15 Displays

you need:

1 Watchout Production PC + 1 licence

3 Watchout Display PCs + 3 licences (each PC fitted with one W9100 + one S400 outputting, say, to 5 Displays from each PC = 15)

Ethernet link to all of the PCs.

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Do the videowall really need native input per Display as you describe? (ie 1920x1080, I presume?)

This will be seriously heavy on the content creation side, and also playback hardware will have to be very fast.

As Thomas describes, and mentioned many times here, WATCHOUT will only output through one graphics card per Display computer/License.

 

WATCHOUT Multi-output:

WATCHOUT Multi-output ONLY works with one graphics card.
That one graphics card may have up to six (6) outputs, provided the graphics card vendor 
includes driver support for multiple outputs under DirectX/Direct3D in 3D mode.
All outputs MUST be the same resolution AND refresh rate. 

 

Normally one uses the monitors internal split-function to divide a 1920x1080 signal over a 2x2 or 3x3 screen setup.

Is this a possibility here?

 

/jonas

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

I'm planning a system that has a single W9100 and s400 in each display machine.

All the display machine outputs will patch into a DVI RTR.

DVI RTR outputs will patch into Spyder X20.

X20 outputs will patch into Folsom Image Pro 2's.

Image Pro 2 outputs will patch into LED Wall Processors.

 

My concern is the sync. If it's all getting the same black burst, in theory it should work.... right?

 

 

cheers.

 

 

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  • Moderator

Wow does that signal get stepped on a few times in that path. Can you say delay?

Not sure you need to go to the trouble of locking everything to house synch,
if the sources are synched, that synch should not change each time its stepped on
with those types of devices.
i.e. I doubt they introduce variable delay between their inputs and outputs.

Just the same, you can genlock it all if you want, won't hurt when done correctly.

 

Hi,

I'm planning a system that has a single W9100 and s400 in each display machine.

All the display machine outputs will patch into a DVI RTR.

DVI RTR outputs will patch into Spyder X20.

X20 outputs will patch into Folsom Image Pro 2's.

Image Pro 2 outputs will patch into LED Wall Processors.

 

My concern is the sync. If it's all getting the same black burst, in theory it should work.... right?

 

 

cheers.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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