Video

[derekb]

I am pretty sure I know the answer to this from researching, but just asking in case I missed anything. I recently was given 5 video projectors. My mind is going crazy with ideas of how to incorporate them into my show. If you have any examples or ideas to share, I would appreciate it. BUT, my question is, it appears that I can only have 1 media file per sequence. So that media file needs to be a video or an audio file. I have some sequences with audio already and was thinking about adding some video, but it seems it is one or the other, with me using the audio from the video file. That makes it tough and I would probably need to re-do the sequences with new video, Is this correct? I was just thinking having some video in spots in time with the show would be cool.

Edited June 20, 2013 by derekb

[bob]

It's true that there can be at most one media file per sequence.  I see two possible routes here, given that limitation:

 

(1) Use some sort of media editing program to make a single video file that contains both the audio and video that you want to use, and then use that single video file in the sequence.

 

(2) Use a Windows shell command to make the video run in some third party application (like Windows Media Player) whenever the sequence starts up in Light-O-Rama.  Two things to note about this possibility, though: (2A) This feature requires and Advanced license.  (2B) It's really just "start it up and forget about it", so the video that WMP runs may not be perfectly synced up with the audio/sequence that LOR runs.  That may or may not be acceptable, based on what you're hoping to accomplish.

[derekb]

Thanks for the information. I do have advanced license. I am going to play with Windows Movie Maker this weekend and see what I can conjure up.

[Orville]

And here's my 3rd alternative, suggestion/option{?} from Bob's 2 options. {This is almost like one of Bob's suggestions, but just how I'd go about doing it.}

 

Now I can't say if this will work as I have no way to test it, don't own a video projector presently, but have many different video and music editors I use.

 

Anyway here is what I would try if I had a video projector and wanted to add vids to my display only at specific parts.

 

#1. I'd create a blacked out video track that has nothing, no sound, just be a black screen so you don't see any light from the projector {again, not sure how well a blacked video may work}  This has to be the SAME LENGTH as the audio you will be using!

 

#2. Sequence my light display as usual with the song I want to use in the SE using a WAV or MP3 audio file.

 

#3. Make a copy of above sequence, use copy and add in where I want the video effect to operate.  I would strongly recommend also making a copy of your original video and not use the originals.  Just in case something goes wrong, you have the original files to create copies to start over with again.

 

#4. Use the previously created Black Out video, OVERLAY your video at the time where you want it to start within the SE in your display. {You will need to take notes on where each time section you want a video to operate in the display/track}.  Example: your lights dance to the music from start to end of your audio file, but you want a video to run for 45 seconds at 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the audio, you'd overlay the video at 2:30 in your video editor and end it at 3:15 for a 45 second video run.

 

#5. Save your customized video and audio file as one file, load it into the copy you created from the original sequence, now the light commands should still line up with your lights, and when time for the video to operate, the black screen will now turn on your video when it reaches the mark, 2:30 from the example above, run its duration, and then black out again at the end of the video duration mark, 3:15 from the previous example of 45 seconds.

 

In theory this should work, but again, not having a way to test it myself presently, I don't know how well it will work, or if it will work at all.

 

But this is just how I would try and do it.  It's just a suggestion to try.  If you try this and it works, please let the rest of us know, then when I finally get a projector I'll know the technique actually did worked or if it was a bust.

 

Good Luck with your projector{s} and projects.

 

p.s. you can add different vids at different sections, you can run 3 or 4 different ones by just overlaying the video into the video editor at the proper times within the black out video.   But remember the video has to match the time constraints of the audio file you're using.  And if you wanted the video to have vocals you could also edit the audio by adding in a voice track that would be overlayed together with the soundtrack {music}, so that both the new vocal and the soundtrack continue to play at the same time.  If the above works, there would be pretty much endless possibilities as to what you could create and do with this method.

 

Again, best of luck and hope it all works out.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Orville

[derekb]

Thanks for the ideas. That is kina where I was going with it. I will let you guys know as I get more into it. I have been playing around with simple videos of stars exploding, snow, and stuff like that. I think it would be cool to have my windows have some cool effects every once in a while throughout the songs. I am thinking of using a video splitter and wireless video transfer devices to get output to all the projectors throughout the house, without a computer by them. Anyway, as you can tell I have a lot to learn. And I still have not even come close to becoming even an amateur with the CCR's I bought. Gonna be a busy summer.

[Robert Burton]

Bob,

I had a fellow over at DOITYOURSELFCHRISTMAS.COM give me a .bat and .bin file to start up my projector . Would the "Windows Shell Command" be what I would use to start up the projector at the first of the night and to shut it down at the end? Also, how in the world do I send this file(s) through the shell command. No idea how to do that ;-)

Robert

[Hilliard Lights]

Just to jump in here: You may have to remember that with the Blackout section of the Video: most projectors don't have a true black projection= usually it hints toward gray.  This is due to signal loss, etc. 

 

There are some options on the market (one includes a blackout motorized box) but all those are pricey.

 

I found that even running just the title for the songs that I didn't have full video got the viewer to ignore the gray screen the rest of the time.

[derekb]

Thanks, yes, I have been noticing that and I am working on some solution, but maybe they won't mind the grey screen sitting there. So far, I have pieces of the Grinch movie playing during the Grinch song. I am also working on a slideshow of pictures of military personnel during the soldiers silent night song, since I live in a subdivision that many people from Scott Air Force Base live in. I thought they may like that and I am sending out an email to the neighborhood to see if they want to contribute some photos. I still haven't figured out how I am going to use several projectors at once, but I hope that is going to "click" sometime this month for me.

[bob]

Bob,

I had a fellow over at DOITYOURSELFCHRISTMAS.COM give me a .bat and .bin file to start up my projector . Would the "Windows Shell Command" be what I would use to start up the projector at the first of the night and to shut it down at the end? Also, how in the world do I send this file(s) through the shell command. No idea how to do that ;-)

Robert

 

I don't know what the bin file is, but generally speaking anything you can run from a command line (like a batch file), you can run from within LOR using a Windows shell command.  Here is the help file page on them.

[Robert Burton]

I don't know what the bin file is, but generally speaking anything you can run from a command line (like a batch file), you can run from within LOR using a Windows shell command.  Here is the help file page on them.

I am stupid when it comes to the command line prompts ;-)

I have the bat file that points to the bin file in one directory. I can double click on the bat file, projector comes on. When I put the path of the file in the Windows Command File line, click "Ok", then run the sequence...it doesn't come on. When I put "run" in front of the path, it still does nothing. What am I missing???

[Orville]

I don't know what the bin file is, but generally speaking anything you can run from a command line (like a batch file), you can run from within LOR using a Windows shell command.  Here is the help file page on them.

Bob, and just which of those commands listed in that help file would run a .bat{batch} file?    I had thought about using batch files for some of my sequences, and I am familiar with the old DOS and BAT files, but could not figure out just which of those Windows Shell Commands would actually open and run the .bat file.   And I think that is why the OP is also having issues trying to figure this out.

 

I would think you could just type in the .bat filename in the Windows Shell Command box, but it does not appear from the page you posted that this works like that.

 

So could you please clarify which command actually would run a .bat file?

 

All I could see were mostly sequence related info and honestly could not find anything on how to run a .bat file from within the LOR software.

[bob]

I've just made a video on Windows shell commands (warning - it's about 22 minutes long).  Also:

 

I am stupid when it comes to the command line prompts ;-)

I have the bat file that points to the bin file in one directory. I can double click on the bat file, projector comes on. When I put the path of the file in the Windows Command File line, click "Ok", then run the sequence...it doesn't come on. When I put "run" in front of the path, it still does nothing. What am I missing???

 

I suspect that you'll have to be more explicit about where the batch file is located.  For example, maybe the name of your batch file is DoSomeAwesomeThing.bat, and you set up the Windows shell command as:

 

DoSomeAwesomeThing.bat

 

And nothing happens.  That could be because Windows has no idea where this file called DoSomeAwesomeThing.bat is located.  So you'll have to be explicit about the directory that it is contained in; perhaps something like:

 

"C:\Users\Robert Burton\Desktop\AwesomeThings\DoSomeAwesomeThing.bat"

 

Note the quotes - those are necessary if there are spaces in the filename / directory name.

 

This sort of thing is covered in the video that I just made.

 

Bob, and just which of those commands listed in that help file would run a .bat{batch} file?    I had thought about using batch files for some of my sequences, and I am familiar with the old DOS and BAT files, but could not figure out just which of those Windows Shell Commands would actually open and run the .bat file.   And I think that is why the OP is also having issues trying to figure this out.

 

I would think you could just type in the .bat filename in the Windows Shell Command box, but it does not appear from the page you posted that this works like that.

 

So could you please clarify which command actually would run a .bat file?

 

All I could see were mostly sequence related info and honestly could not find anything on how to run a .bat file from within the LOR software.

 

No, that's exactly what you do - type in the name of the batch file (although, as noted above, you might have to be explicit about it).  I suspect that you're looking at the section of that help file page which is entitled "Shell Command Variables".  Those are not shell commands that you're allowed to run; rather, they're things that will get substituted out before the shell command is run.  For example, maybe you've got a batch file that takes the name of the song as a parameter.  So you might set up a Windows shell command that is something like:

 

"C:\Users\Robert Burton\Desktop\AwesomeThings\DoSomeAwesomeThing.bat" "Moonlight Sonata"

 

Those shell command variables allow you to instead do something like:

 

"C:\Users\Robert Burton\Desktop\AwesomeThings\DoSomeAwesomeThing.bat" "%MEDIA_TITLE%"

 

And if your sequence is set up (via Edit / Sequence Info) so that it knows "Moonlight Sonata" is the name of the song, then LOR will execute the shell command:

 

"C:\Users\Robert Burton\Desktop\AwesomeThings\DoSomeAwesomeThing.bat" "Moonlight Sonata"

 

Even though you set it up to execute:

 

"C:\Users\Robert Burton\Desktop\AwesomeThings\DoSomeAwesomeThing.bat" "%MEDIA_TITLE%"

 

This sort of thing is also covered in the video I linked to above.

[Robert Burton]

Bob,

Thanks a bunch. All of this makes perfect sense now.

However, I need now to figure out what is going on, on my end!  I am able to double click on the file and get it to work...sometimes. I have noticed when the command prompt comes up for just a second...if it is slow, it actually has a list of "stuff" that it is going to do. I guess that is the .bin file running after the .bat tells it to. However, when I click it some minutes later (after letting the projector cool down...after shutting it down with a .bat file)...the "clicked" .bat file FLIES by and never seems to start the .bin file. Cannot figure out why.

 

Again, I am stupid when it comes to this stuff. I thought it was the speed I was clicking the file. Nope. Thought the .bat or .bin file was still in memory. Not according to the Task Manager. If I can figure out what my .bat and .bin file is doing...I may be able to get this to work every time :-)

[bob]

Bob,

Thanks a bunch. All of this makes perfect sense now.

However, I need now to figure out what is going on, on my end!  I am able to double click on the file and get it to work...sometimes. I have noticed when the command prompt comes up for just a second...if it is slow, it actually has a list of "stuff" that it is going to do. I guess that is the .bin file running after the .bat tells it to. However, when I click it some minutes later (after letting the projector cool down...after shutting it down with a .bat file)...the "clicked" .bat file FLIES by and never seems to start the .bin file. Cannot figure out why.

 

Again, I am stupid when it comes to this stuff. I thought it was the speed I was clicking the file. Nope. Thought the .bat or .bin file was still in memory. Not according to the Task Manager. If I can figure out what my .bat and .bin file is doing...I may be able to get this to work every time :-)

 

I would edit the batch file (in a text editor, like Notepad), putting the following on a new line at the very end:

 

   pause

 

That should cause the command prompt window to stick around until you hit a key to dismiss it, instead of just disappearing when it's done.  You can then look at the output within the command prompt window to see if it gives a clue as to what's going wrong.

 

Note, though: It's possible that the batch script might be exiting somewhere other than its very end.  So if putting "pause" at its end doesn't help, you might have to more carefully look at the script to figure out where "pause" should go.  If this happens, and you're not comfortable figuring out where to put "pause", send me (bob@lightorama.com) a copy of the batch file, and I'll take a look at it.  Also note: If you email me the batch file, put it into a zip file rather than sending me the raw *.bat file - sometimes email systems refuse to send *.bat files.

[Robert Burton]

Well,

That did the trick to see what was going on. Thanks!

Says "Device Comm3 is not currently available". Even though the Device Manager says that it is working properly. It is a Prolific USB to Serial Comm Port (USB to db9 converter). Has worked on and off as mentioned above. Not sure why it is not now. The .bat file is simple;

@Echo off
mode com3 BAUD=19200 PARITY=N DATA=8 STOP=1
copy On.bin com3: >nul
pause
 

The off command for the projector just has the Off.bin file pointed to.

So close ;-)

[Orville]

Thanks Bob!  Now that all makes sense.   Those %xxx% commands were definitely what threw me off and made me think you had to do something different than just typing in the bat filename in the shell command.

 

Now I can set up what I may try and see how it all works.    Will also go take a look at your videos to be sure.

[Orville]

Well,

That did the trick to see what was going on. Thanks!

Says "Device Comm3 is not currently available". Even though the Device Manager says that it is working properly. It is a Prolific USB to Serial Comm Port (USB to db9 converter). Has worked on and off as mentioned above. Not sure why it is not now. The .bat file is simple;

@Echo off

mode com3 BAUD=19200 PARITY=N DATA=8 STOP=1

copy On.bin com3: >nul

pause

 

The off command for the projector just has the Off.bin file pointed to.

So close ;-)

 

Just guessing here, but thinking maybe the BAUD=xxxxx in the bat file may need to match the baud rate in the LOR suite.  However, after just looking at it, the actual baud rate I was unable to locate, in the older versions you actually saw what the baud rate actually was, not it doesn't give that number.   And I'm thinking that this may be the problem, but since I have no idea what the "regular"{default} baud rate is now, wouldn't know what to set the BAUD=xxxxx too now.

 

Just noticed that the actual baud rate is now MIA in the LOR Suite, I'd prefer to have kept that info viewable for such cases as this where BAUD=xxxxx may need to match the exact Baud rate in the LOR Suite.   

 

So don't quite get why the numbers were taken out for the baud rates.   Or if they are still there, I haven't been successful in relocating that info.

[Robert Burton]

Just guessing here, but thinking maybe the BAUD=xxxxx in the bat file may need to match the baud rate in the LOR suite.  However, after just looking at it, the actual baud rate I was unable to locate, in the older versions you actually saw what the baud rate actually was, not it doesn't give that number.   And I'm thinking that this may be the problem, but since I have no idea what the "regular"{default} baud rate is now, wouldn't know what to set the BAUD=xxxxx too now.

 

Just noticed that the actual baud rate is now MIA in the LOR Suite, I'd prefer to have kept that info viewable for such cases as this where BAUD=xxxxx may need to match the exact Baud rate in the LOR Suite.   

 

So don't quite get why the numbers were taken out for the baud rates.   Or if they are still there, I haven't been successful in relocating that info.

 

The baud rate is set to 19200 because that is what the projector is set to.

http://www-it.desy.de/fepos/download/geraete/LCD-Beamer_Hitachi_CP_X275.pdf in the very back of the pdf on the Technical page 4.

It is going through a comm port that really is not used by the LOR dongle (or the dmx dongle I use).

 

Glad Bob put in the video about using the .bat file on another computer!  That would have driven me crazy too :-)

 

Still looking "why" the comm port is not currently available :-(

[derekb]

If it helps anyone, I am already using windows shell commands for RDS. This is an example of how it looks:

 

In the sequence file, Under Edit, Windows Command I have:

C:\Users\Derek\Documents\Light-O-Rama\RDS\Nutrocker.bat

 

The Nutrocker.bat file contains this command:

copy C:\Users\Derek\Documents\Light-O-Rama\RDS\Nutrocker.txt C:\Users\Derek\Documents\Light-O-Rama\RDS\NowPlaying.txt

 

The Nutrocker.txt file contains this:

Nutrocker by Trans Siberian Orchestra

 

The RDS software I have set to always read the file NowPlaying.txt when a sequence plays, so the RDS is changed for each song.

 

I guess I am now going to edit the .bat files to do some window media player commands on other computers for other videos, if possible. The commands I am playing with:

 

• /open: Open the file, don't automatically start playing.
• /play: Start playing the file as soon the player is launched.
• /close: Close the player after playback (only works when used with /play).
• /fullscreen: Start the file in full-screen mode.
• /new: Use a new instance of the player.

For example, to play a file and close the player when done:

Mplayer2.exe /play /close C:\directoryt\Sample.avi

 

I am still figuring out the security and options to make one computer send this to another one in order to use multiple projectors and laptops.

Edited July 4, 2013 by derekb

[derekb]

Looks like I might be able to use a utility called psexec from Microsoft TechNet. Will be testing after the 4th, unless I get crazy tonight. My first initial command in the .bat file will be:

 

psexec \\laptop1 -s -d "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player/wmplayer.exe /play /fullscreen c:\directory\sample1.avi"

psexec \\laptop2 -s -d "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player/wmplayer.exe /play /fullscreen c:\directory\sample2.avi"

psexec \\laptop3 -s -d "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player/wmplayer.exe /play /fullscreen c:\directory\sample3.avi"