Scheduler/Show Timing

[justanotherewbie]

Hey all,

1st year with LOR.  I get it for the most part but have a general question.  I have 2 shows setup.  One for a 5 song "highly programed" show that I made and want to play on the hour between certain hours of the evening, and, another "passive" show to play during the off time for the rest of the hour.  The show that will play on the hour is 15:41 long, and the other show is about 32:00 long.  I have them both setup in the scheduler, but if you do the math, the 2 combined shows do not add up to a total hour.

Question:  If I set the start and stop time within the scheduler for the longer show to make up the complete difference in time relative to the shorter show, will the scheduler loop that show within the time I allotted for it until the 1st show is set to start again?

 

ex.  5:00 PM - 5:15:42 PM    show 1

       5:15:43 PM -  5:59:59 PM  show 2        show 2 is only 32:00 long      will it loop in the schedule until 5:59:59?

 

Thanks for any help. 

[Orville]

Yes, that is exactly what it will do, if you set the 1st show to run longer than it's duration, it will loop back to the beginning and start again, HOWEVER, and ,make note of this, the last song will have ti finish BEFORE the shorter or longer show would start, same with the second show, the last song would have to finish BEFORE it would revert back to the other show.   So you have to be very careful with your time set up to make sure your last song WILL NOT overlap into the START time of the other show!  It can be done, but it takes some figuring to make sure your shows don't interfere with each others start and end times with any kind of overlap.

Best way I found for this is to run the shows at their full times, then use an animation only sequence as a filler between the two shows, this way you can set the animation to run as soon as the 1st show ends, then the 2nd show will start at the end of the time you need it for, it can end at the exact same time as the start of your 2nd show{which now becomes a 3rd show in reality}, then when this show ends, if it doesn't take up the full time, run the same animation file again and end it at the time you want the original 1st show to start up again.

It sounds a lot more complex than it is, but there are different ways to handle it, these are the 2 ways I use to set up multiple shows, the first one is actually easier once you have the time factor figured out for starting and ending, but both work very well.  Just depends on which you feel most comfortable with setting up and using.

Good Luck.

[justanotherewbie]

Thanks Orville!  Yup found that out (the hard way).  lol.   I have to play with that first (longer) show to get the music to end within the scheduled time now.  Thanks for the help!!

 

....64 channels!.  Nice!  I wanna be like you when I grow up! 

Edited November 16, 2016 by justanotherewbie

[Santas Helper]

22 hours ago, Orville said:

Yes, that is exactly what it will do, if you set the 1st show to run longer than it's duration, it will loop back to the beginning and start again, HOWEVER, and ,make note of this, the last song will have ti finish BEFORE the shorter or longer show would start, same with the second show, the last song would have to finish BEFORE it would revert back to the other show.  

This is not correct. The last sequence/song doesn't have to finish. The sequence/song currently playing at the scheduled end time will have to finish, but then the next show will start right after.

Edited November 16, 2016 by Santas Helper

[justanotherewbie]

Overall I like the LOR logic and system but the scheduler is tricky.  I think I got it now though.  Thanks!

[Santas Helper]

Honestly, it's not too bad to try to keep on schedule. It is a matter of being just a little flexible in the schedule.

As previously mentioned, maybe a short animation sequence filler, or a musical sequence filler with a voice over of a description of the display with background music. Fillers can be easily added to keep the schedule in check.

[OzAz]

speaking of voice overs, found out about this on another forum Santa Clause voiceover on fiverr 

[justanotherewbie]

hmph.  so I thought I had it.  If no manual changes are made to the length of the sequences, Is it accurate to calculate the length of a show by the length of the mp3's within it?

The first show of the two kicks off at the accurate time, plays through, and ends normally, but for some reason instead of the second show that is set in the scheduler beginning, the first show begins again. There is a 10 second time lag from the end time of the first show to the start time of the second show.

Show 1 - 16:08

Show 2 - 43:25

Show 1 starts at 5:00 PM and ends at 5:16:08

Show 2 starts at 5:16:18 and ends at 5:59:43

Problem is Show 2 never starts, Show 1 starts over again.    ..........confused.......  

[Orville]

On 11/16/2016 at 10:13 AM, Santas Helper said:

This is not correct. The last sequence/song doesn't have to finish. The sequence/song currently playing at the scheduled end time will have to finish, but then the next show will start right after.

Actually that is "correct", as when I state "last song", I mean the last song playing from the prior show at the 1st shows end time, before the 2nd show would start.    Sorry if that wasn't crystal clear in my initial reply.   Been doing it for years like this and that's how mine always worked.

[Orville]

On 11/17/2016 at 9:46 PM, justanotherewbie said:

hmph.  so I thought I had it.  If no manual changes are made to the length of the sequences, Is it accurate to calculate the length of a show by the length of the mp3's within it?

The first show of the two kicks off at the accurate time, plays through, and ends normally, but for some reason instead of the second show that is set in the scheduler beginning, the first show begins again. There is a 10 second time lag from the end time of the first show to the start time of the second show.

Show 1 - 16:08

Show 2 - 43:25

Show 1 starts at 5:00 PM and ends at 5:16:08

Show 2 starts at 5:16:18 and ends at 5:59:43

Problem is Show 2 never starts, Show 1 starts over again.    ..........confused.......  

Instead of making it that close together, try starting the 2nd show at 5:17:00 and put a small filler animation sequence from 5:16:00-5:17:00 and see if that might help.  

[Santas Helper]

1 hour ago, Orville said:

Actually that is "correct", as when I state "last song", I mean the last song playing from the prior show at the 1st shows end time, before the 2nd show would start.    Sorry if that wasn't crystal clear in my initial reply.   Been doing it for years like this and that's how mine always worked.

It's all in how things get worded Orville. 

[superslim0five]

I have a similar question but first - how do I know how long my show is? Do I just add all the sequence times? Then I want the show to play in full followed by a static on sequence. Per mt understanding this would need to be two separate shows, correct? I just want the animation (static on) sequence to run for about 5 minutes and then the show to start again. I believe the show is just under 30 mins.

[Santas Helper]

in my experience, A "show" set up to be animated but being static runs people away.

if they see a radio sign in the yard for an animated show and all it's doing is being silent and static, they will drive off thinking you messed up.

Why not just schedule the show a full run from 6pm to 10pm for example.

5 minutes of static is a long time and some folks will wonder why it's just static.

I myself wonder why be static for 5 minutes if it's an animated display.

Sit outside your house house for 5 minutes and see how long that really is.

And to add, people are in a rush during the holidays. They won't spend precious time to sit around waiting for something to happen.

Just my thoughts...