Author Topic: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help (Solved)  (Read 2939 times)

Offline lboucher

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Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help (Solved)
« on: December 13, 2012, »
Hi All

I have no idea what is going on this year.
I am only running some smart strings, (5 total strings) and nothing else.
For whatever reason is has been seeming to error almost every pass through the program the past week or so.
Finally have some time to look into it, and I have become really confused.

When I play a sequence from the editor, and the position marker is display, it works great, no lag at all!!!
But if all I do, is go into preferences, sequence execution, and uncheck display position marker, I suddenly lag all over the place.
Whats absolutely hilarious, if I uncheck Auto Scrolling, and have the Display Position Marker checked, literally the second the position marker is no longer on the screen, I get massive lag.

If I play from the programs, I seem to always be getting lag....

I have zero idea how to actually fix this, and have been experimenting with everything I can think of.

Anyone else ever see this.
Is this like a screen/graphics card thing.....

I am using Vixen 2.5.0.9, Windows 7, 25 ms sequence, CHannels 103 thru 2000 something all going to Pixelnet plug on Com 9, Lynx Dongle to Smart String hub.

Please help, so confused.
« Last Edit: December 15, 2012, by lboucher »
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Offline rrowan

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2012, »
Not even sure what the DPM is but when you run a show you must uncheck the adjust preview. Its also recommended that you use a profile in the program and not the sequence option.

Rick R.
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Offline chrisatpsu

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2012, »
once I got above about 1000 channels, it seemed painful for me to run on the usb dongle. It seemed like there was extra strain on the computer.

once i moved over to the EtherDongle...  poof!   smooth running.
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Offline lboucher

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2012, »
The DPM, is the little yellow bar that goes across when you hit play from the editor screen.
Definitely not showing the adjustable preview.

Actually went through and just detached everything but Pixelnet, and made a profile to use.
Really no difference.

I half wonder if it this computer.... But I don't  have another to test with.
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Offline lboucher

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2012, »
Yes, I am definitly more intersted in the Ether Dongle for that very reason.
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Offline lboucher

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2012, »
Deleted all but 500 channels and it makes no difference.
I had had the plugin going from channel 103 to 500 (skipping first 102 that aren't hooked up)
Changed that to 1 - 500 just in case.

Makes zero difference.
Plays fine in the editor, but horrible in the programs player.....
Driving me nuts.
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Offline lboucher

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2012, »
After sleeping on it, here are my potential path forwards to fix.
Try a new computer (doubtful fix, as I can literally see how a checkbox changes the output)
Try Vixen Version 2.1.4 (Might Very Well work, but bad for me as I need 2.5.0.9 for a project this upcoming year.)
Etherdongle
Look for an updated Pixelnet plugin. (None found, and I could not image how this could be etherdongle firmware related.)

If anyone else has any thoughts let me know.
Thanks
« Last Edit: December 14, 2012, by lboucher »
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Offline zwiller

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2012, »
Maybe someone will correct me but I thought the PN plugin only supported 2.1 NOT 2.5. 

Another thought is try saving a copy of sequence at 50ms.  And then maybe 75ms. 
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Offline rrowan

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2012, »
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Maybe someone will correct me but I thought the PN plugin only supported 2.1 NOT 2.5. 

Another thought is try saving a copy of sequence at 50ms.  And then maybe 75ms.

The USB Dongle has both versions. Currently the EtherDongle only has the 2.1 ver

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Offline lboucher

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #9 on: December 14, 2012, »
I did try 50 millisecond, no effect. I am really thinking its version 2.5 that is killing me, will test soon
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Offline tallan

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #10 on: December 15, 2012, »
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When I play a sequence from the editor, and the position marker is display, it works great, no lag at all!!!

Please help, so confused.

Hello,

I can't recall the reason but Vixen 2.5 had issues and we were advised to use 2.1

If it is lag free with the display marker on then I would leave it on. :)   

Right now I am running 2 universes (16 full flex strips at 8192 channels) of smart strings on Vixen 2.1 and the only issue I get on occasion is a out of memory error when managing the programs. I hear a lot of other folks do as well but it still runs the show great once you get it scheduled. 

I wish I could help with your problem but Vixen 2.5 was put aside for vixen 3, which is what I suspect I will be running next year.

Tallan

Offline lboucher

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help
« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2012, »
Agreed that 2.1 is more stable, but I need features in 2.5.9
I would also like to use the sequence editor to play the show, but then I loose the ability to set up a program/schedule.
And some of my sequences have different plugins, which really does need to stay that way so I don't have input plugins acitve on regular songs... So I cannot really just merge everything into one sequence.

Will be testing 2.1 today and also managed to get someone willing to let me borrow an etherdongle, so maybe that will help.

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Offline lboucher

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Re: Amazing Vixen Lag, Please Help (Solved)
« Reply #12 on: December 15, 2012, »
Hi all

So i think I solved it.
When I went back to test Version 2.1.4, I was amazed to find that it had horrible lag, worse than I was getting, like way way bad.
So experimenting with that a bit I did find that the sequence cannot be 25 milliseconds.
Switching to 50 ms everything works fine.

So I went back to Version 2.5.0.9 and even though I thought I had tested this, I changed every single sequence to 50 millisenconds and moved everything else away for a clean execution. It appears to work pretty darn good, maybe just the slightest of lag. Then I thought maybe having 25 ms and 50 ms sequences combined in a program would cause the issue.
Testing wasn't super clear if just having one 25 ms sequence in a program affected the other sequences that would play, but it did show me that Vixen hates switching from 25 ms timing to 50 ms timing (and I assume visa versa. It just froze. This likely explains alot of my freezing this year.

Sweet.
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