transfering files from pc to pc question

[ericg2000]

i created a sequence last night on my vista laptop, and this morning copied it, the visualization file and the mp3 to my xp desktop.  i openned the sequence and went to edit, media file and reselected the mp3, then i openned the visualization file to watch it while the sequence played, but it did not work.  i tried resaving them hoping it would ressociate the two files together but no luck.  what else do i need to do. 

 

basically, my plan is to do my editing and sequence creation on both machines, it just depends on where i am when i do the editing and the final show will play off the laptop.  am i restricted to the laptop only on can i do as planned and use both computers for editing and creation.

[TonyD]

what happens if you try to play the media file (through Windows Media Player for example)? Does it work? Is it a valid mp3 file, do you have permission to it? etc

[viennaxmas]

It does work and many here are using multiple computers.

There are a few basic possibilities depending on what you have available:

Using a cloud file share like Dropbox:

Set it up on both computers and direct you LOR software to use a Dropbox folder as working folder.

Advantage: you have an offsite backup.

Disadvantage: the free version has limited space.

Sharing a folder on one of your machines:

You can share you LOR folder on one of the machines and the other one maps this folder. Then both LOR software are configured to use this common folder.

Advantage: no need for an Internet connection, unlimited space

Disadvantage: if you want to edit on the connecting computer, the one with the share must be on.

Using a NAS device or other network storage:

All LOR files are located on a third system. There are some external hard drives which come with a built in file server and NIC card. Files are kept there and both computers access the same files.

Advantage: lots of space, not dependent on computer running

Disadvantage: some of those are a bit tricky to set up

Correctly.

What I like about all these solutions is that you almost never have to mess with the show computer. My show computer sits in the basement and I use my desktop for all editing. Even changing a show or schedule while it is running does get picked up as soon as it is saved. And you get full flexibility where you do you editing. My show computer only has a 15" monitor where my desktop has dual 27". So editing large sequences is just not an option on the show computer...

[TonyD]

what happens if you try to play the media file (through Windows Media Player for example)? Does it work? Is it a valid mp3 file, do you have permission to it? etc

 

Let me clarify my comment. I'm trying to troubleshoot why in this particular case the media file can't be (re)associated with the sequence after copying the files to a different location. I was suggesting he make sure the MP3 file is readable, he has permission to it, etc.

 

I've also had issues in the past with MP3 files created from iTunes not working on another computer (which wasn't authorized to play that song) due to DRM i suspect. So if he can actually play "just" the MP3 (outside of LOR) then that would remove these variables from the problem.

[ericg2000]

The mp3 works fine on both computers with this particular sequence. It's the visualization file that's not working.

On the vista laptop I have the visualization file open to play with the sequence so I can see the light strings operate. But when I copied it all over to the xp desktop the visualization file opens and I see the light strings on my house, but when I play the associated sequence all the strings are off, or not turning on as the should.

[ericg2000]

i figured it out... stupid me didn't have the check box selected in sequence editor to control the visualizer.  it works now.  thanks for all the info guys.

Edited May 4, 2013 by ericg2000

[nmonkman]

I am reading this post one at a time saying "check box" at each post, then I saw the last one. Glad you got it sorted out.

[Little_b]

I too have a question.  I programed on one computer and need to copy the files to my show computer.  I can copy them over no problem.  The issue I'm having is the playback through Visualizer gets choppy, esp. the PE portion of the file.  It's like watching a video that is still buffering.  Is this normal, or is it the capacity of the show computer?  My doubts with this is that I can go in and program the same effects on the show computer and not have the problems.  I have all the files in a folder and I copy and paste it.  Should I only be copying the .lms files instead of all the files, .bak, .lpe etc.?
 

[debtoews]

I only copy the LMS files and nothing else....

[Little_b]

OK so I'm back to trying to transfer my files over again and I'm running into the same problem as before.  I tried only copying the .lms and .lms.lpe.lid files over, but they still playback really choppy in Visualizer.  Could it be that my Laptop (Show Computer) isn't powerful enough to handle all the info?   128+ channels with 8000+ Pixels over E.31 on 2 Pixcon 16 controllers.

Processor- AMD E1-1200 APU @ 1.40 GHz

4GB Ram

64-bit OS

[k6ccc]

Bring up the task manager and see what the CPU and RAM usage is when trying to play.  Yes, it is quite possible that the computer can't keep up.  I don't know the AMD product lines well enough to know if that's a decent CPU or not.  The other part is that the playback may be overly taxing your video card in the laptop.

Assuming you are playing the sequence via the Sequence Editor, there is quite a bit of overhead required there.  Try creating a show and set the show player to control Visualizer in addition to the lights.  Then run the show.  If you are a little computer savey, you can also have visualizer running on a network connected computer rather than the show computer.  I do this.  My show computer is an ancient old XP desktop and it is spitting the show out the three LOR networks, plus E1.31, plus visualizer commands to my sequencing computer (and it does not care if the sequencing computer is doing anything with those commands).  The old show computer keeps up just fine with my 4020 channels of E1.31 and 955 LOR channels.