Author Topic: Playback glitch  (Read 2936 times)

Offline MrChristmas2000

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Playback glitch
« on: December 31, 2013, »
I built a short sequence to turn all my lights on for guest to take pictures.

I converted it to a .xseq file.

Opened it in xLights/Nutcracker.

Added some text for the grid at the very beginning of the sequence.

Played the file in the simulator and it all looked fine.

Then I used xLights to play the file and watched the lights.

Remember this sequence turned all the display lights on including a stationary pattern on the megatree.

As I watched the sequence play I noticed my Mega Tree blink off for about 1/2  second a couple of times. I checked the original sequence and when it plays in both LSP and xLights simulator there is no indication of the blinking or missing effects.

What could be wrong?

Offline mitch09

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2013, »
Sounds like a hardware issue not software. Have you watched your other sequences to see if your tree is doing this at other times? Check all your had ware connections. My pixel tree does this at times, because the wind was pulling in the SSC

Offline taybrynn

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2013, »
If you repeat the effect in each set, you will tend to get this blinking effect as it started over each time.  If you want the effect to flow, set it on say row 1, then leave a bunch of rows below it empty ...
Scott - Castle Rock, Colorado   [ 2 homes, 100% RGB in 2016; since 2008; over 32k channels of E1.31 ]
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Offline MrChristmas2000

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2013, »
The tree works fine  in all my other sequences and have not seen the blinking before.

The other thing is that the effect was created inside LSP not Nutcracker because it is basically turning it on in a certain state and left on for about 20 seconds. The only effect that was added was to the the Grid in Nutcracker.



Offline JonB256

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2013, »
Be careful about fades in and out. They will cause blinking. Follow up a fade out with a black colorwash.

sent from my Galaxy Note


Offline MrChristmas2000

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2013, »
The blinking is occurring from an effect that was created in LSP and played in xLights.

I'll see if I can emulate the samething from within Nutcracker tomorrow to see if it is a HW or software glitch.

Last show is tomorrow evening.

Offline MrChristmas2000

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2014, »
Testing Update

I created a sequence from scratch in Nutcracker as follows.
Using the same audio file from the defective sequence I added two timing marks in this file. One to create a color wash of 'Red' at the 0 timing mark and nothing else.
Played this and the Mega tree turned on and stayed on for the entire time with no turning off.

In LSP I created a fresh sequence using the same audio file. Turned on all the pixels in the mega tree to 'Red' from about the 3 second timing mark through the end of the sequence. Converted it using Light elf then transferred it to the show system. Added this to a test schedule and using the play now function ran this sequence. The Mega Tree came on then after a few seconds turned off then back on and repeated this several times before the end of the sequence playing.


Offline keitha43

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2014, »
What if you use the conductor export in LSP and then use xlights to convert it back to xseq. I saw problems on another forum where there was a problem caused by xlights using 50ms timing as the original sequence had smaller timing.

Offline mitch09

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2014, »

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What if you use the conductor export in LSP and then use xlights to convert it back to xseq. I saw problems on another forum where there was a problem caused by xlights using 50ms timing as the original sequence had smaller timing.

I had a similar issue with conversions from LSP. My solution, I think was to take all RGB controllers out of my sequence in LSP and only use it for DMX. Then I exported to Conductor .seq and used Xlights to convert it to a .xseq. Almost all my RGB effects were done in nutcracker/Xlights this year.

Offline MrChristmas2000

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2014, »
I have been running all my exported sequences this year but after more closely observing my show this evening there is no equivalent effect usage except in that one new basically all on sequence. I'll try the export out as a conductor route and see if that makes any difference. It could actually be a bug in the Light Elf conversion and just not noticed unless a particular effect is left on in a stationary mode for more than 5 seconds.

Offline MrChristmas2000

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2014, »
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What if you use the conductor export in LSP and then use xlights to convert it back to xseq. I saw problems on another forum where there was a problem caused by xlights using 50ms timing as the original sequence had smaller timing.

I had a similar issue with conversions from LSP. My solution, I think was to take all RGB controllers out of my sequence in LSP and only use it for DMX. Then I exported to Conductor .seq and used Xlights to convert it to a .xseq. Almost all my RGB effects were done in nutcracker/Xlights this year.

Well that was an interesting test.

I exported my sequence to a conductor format, converted it in xLights to a .xseq format.

Well this is where things got funny.

Now the tree does not go completely off. No, the left half goes off then back on and then the right half goes off and on. Quite a unique effect but not really good for taking a picture. LOL

Offline MrChristmas2000

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #11 on: January 02, 2014, »
Tried another angle. I put none, none in all effect cells relating to the merged LSP sequence.

Unfortunately the blinking still occurs.

I'll see if I can figure out another angle.

Offline Justtazz

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #12 on: January 02, 2014, »
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Testing Update

I created a sequence from scratch in Nutcracker as follows.
Using the same audio file from the defective sequence I added two timing marks in this file. One to create a color wash of 'Red' at the 0 timing mark and nothing else[/b].
Played this and the Mega tree turned on and stayed on for the entire time with no turning off.

In LSP I created a fresh sequence using the same audio file. Turned on all the pixels in the mega tree to 'Red' from about the 3 second timing mark through the end of the sequence. Converted it using Light elf then transferred it to the show system. Added this to a test schedule and using the play now function ran this sequence. The Mega Tree came on then after a few seconds turned off then back on and repeated this several times before the end of the sequence playing.

Not sure but it appears you are not creating the same effects in Nutcracker vs LSP. check the above bold/underline.
Justin
Aurora, Co


Offline MrChristmas2000

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Re: Playback glitch
« Reply #13 on: January 02, 2014, »
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Testing Update

I created a sequence from scratch in Nutcracker as follows.
Using the same audio file from the defective sequence I added two timing marks in this file. One to create a color wash of 'Red' at the 0 timing mark and nothing else[/b].
Played this and the Mega tree turned on and stayed on for the entire time with no turning off.

In LSP I created a fresh sequence using the same audio file. Turned on all the pixels in the mega tree to 'Red' from about the 3 second timing mark through the end of the sequence. Converted it using Light elf then transferred it to the show system. Added this to a test schedule and using the play now function ran this sequence. The Mega Tree came on then after a few seconds turned off then back on and repeated this several times before the end of the sequence playing.

Not sure but it appears you are not creating the same effects in Nutcracker vs LSP. check the above bold/underline.
Ok here is a screen shot of my Nutcracker test sequence to turn the tree on fully for 10 seconds.

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Please note this turned the tree on full RED for the duration of the audio, I probably did not need the second timing mark but it did not glitch the tree.

And here is the LSP sequence that was supposed to be essentially doing the same operation. It was exported by Light Elf and a Conductor export and opened in xLights for playing.
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The only difference between using Light Elf and a Conductor export was that the Light Elf export turned the tree off completely for a half second and the Conductor export turned half the tree off and on then the other half off and on. Both occurred about 5 seconds into the play mode.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2014, by MrChristmas2000 »