Show lags at a certain point then catches up, to much data?

[thebaronn]

Hello!

I have an issue with a sequence. (only one sequence so far, but I am not 100% done with the rest).

At a certain point in the show while a gif is playing on the matrix, everything lags and then catches up.

Any ideas on how to remedy this?

Sequence is 10min and a shade under 1GB (not my biggest sequence by far)

5800 pixels all on unicast and 32 regular LOR AC channels.

Using a 2 output usb adapter with power output.

Computer is an i7-2699k CPU @3.40GHz

Each show was started using the show on demand option with compressed sequences checked.

It starts at about 54 sec mark. The two rooks coincide with the 2 quick bass beats, they stop and then do pretty much 4 in a row. It is very subtle but I checked the sequence and it is correct, the output is just a little behind.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Eric

[plasmadrive]

I had that kind of  problem with my mini pixel trees (MPT) last year.  My setup used two AP and a wireless router in a bridge config.. I took out the AP that was driving the MPTs and ran a hard wire connection and the problem was gone.  This year I am using a Ubiquiti wireless bridge and it works great.. no lag. 

 

is the lag in the same place every time?  Mine was random and sometimes really bad..

[plasmadrive]

duplicate post.. weird..

Edited November 14, 2015 by plasmadrive

[bob]

Yes, lag at a certain spot in the sequence might indicate too much data.  But even if it is, it might not mean "too bad, you've got too much data"; it might be "you've got too much data for the way you've currently got things set up, let's see if we can fix that".

 

It might mean you'll need a different physical network setup (like plasmadrive is describing).  Or in the LOR protocol case perhaps splitting stuff up into multiple networks and/or using faster network speeds. 

 

Or an entirely different sort of possibility is trying to simplify the effects that are done at the time of the lag.  This might not require making them look different to the human eye: Sometimes effects that were generated by a computer, rather than a person, can be very inefficient, and they can be simplified so that they are much more efficient while looking the same (or at least not looking worse).  You might want to try the Smooth to Fades tool on the sections of the sequence where you're seeing lag; in many cases it can do this sort of thing automatically.  You can read about the Smooth to Fades tool in the help file here.

[thebaronn]

The lag happens in the same place every time.

I have 6 spots where I am playing video on the matrix.

It lags there (where the whole show lags) and then it lags again at the end, although it looks like only the video lags.

I had 4K pixels playing video in 2012 with no lag whatsoever (but the shows were only 3-4min long, but they were 1.5GB in size)

 

I do not know how I can set it up differently, except mayne to use a dmx bridge and run everything on dmx mode.

 

I was so sick this weekend that I didn't get anything done, hopefully I can test some stuff this weekend.

 

Thank you for the input

 

Regarding fades, when I first started displaying video in 2012 I had a lengthy discussion with Dan and he said that fades use more data that simple on/off commands.

[bob]

Regarding fades, when I first started displaying video in 2012 I had a lengthy discussion with Dan and he said that fades use more data that simple on/off commands.

 

Either he was mistaken, or you misheard or are misremembering, or I'm misunderstanding you, or else in context he was talking about something other than I'm talking about.

 

My guess is that perhaps he was saying that a single fade uses more data than a single on or off command, which is true.  But a single fade can stand in place of many individual intensity commands (including on/off commands), and can use much, much less data than they do in aggregate.

[wmilkie]

I had a similiar problem; lag/erratic results always at same point(s) in only some sequences

 

I had a dmx network and a lor network together

 

Troubleshooting it, found if I unplugged lor network; everything worked perfect, so lor network was creating "lag"

 

Per Bob, split network into one 500k high speed for ccb's, and one 115k for standard controllers(Aux A)

now, everything works great

[thebaronn]

I only have 32 LOR channels used over 3 controllers, is that the issue?

It seems like such a small number of channels should be a non-issue.

 

hmmmm

[wmilkie]

maybe; try unplugging the lor stuff, see if your problem goes away; my problem was the dmx stuff had lag/erratic stopping at certain points; always same spot, always same sequences.

 

I'm using about 80 lor channels, but it was the lor network speed that was the culprite 

 

Also, I changed the lor network speed from 57k to 115k, that helped; but problem still existed until I split the networks up

 

This meant I had to change my controller assisgnments on all my sequences plus change the network configuration, but couple hours later, it worked

[thebaronn]

maybe; try unplugging the lor stuff, see if your problem goes away; my problem was the dmx stuff had lag/erratic stopping at certain points; always same spot, always same sequences.

 

I'm using about 80 lor channels, but it was the lor network speed that was the culprite 

 

Also, I changed the lor network speed from 57k to 115k, that helped; but problem still existed until I split the networks up

 

This meant I had to change my controller assisgnments on all my sequences plus change the network configuration, but couple hours later, it worked

I was hoping that this issue would be limited to my halloween sequence which was 10 min long. But I just finished my COTB sequence and it lags also. I ran the show without and reg LOR channels and just the e1.31 and t lags in the same spots every time. The sequence is 900megs using 5800 pixels for video (and Im not done, lol)

In 2012 I had 4000 pixels running video constantly (my skrillex sequence was 4 min and 1.5GB) and it ran flawlessly.

I really expected this to work.

[Mastertech]

I have the same problem I pull all my large sequence out of my shows. Some of the smaller sequence have some lag but not as bad as the large ones. All network switch are 1 gigabyte and still lags

[k6ccc]

There are several things that can cause lags.  Network (LOR or ethernet) can be one of them.  I'm pretty sure I was up against the limit of what my old show computer could do on one song.  For Christmas this year I have less than 100 LOR channls on two LOR networks (enhanced vs non-enhanced networks), and 300 CCPs on a third LOR network (500K enhanced).  The other almost 4,000 channels are all E1.31 on a dedicated 100Mb/s LAN.  During pre-show opening testing, as I kept adding channels to Wizards In Winter, I started seeing lag on both the E1.31 and CCPs.  Since those are completely different networks, I quickly started realizing that the old show computer might not be up to the task.  I fired up Windows Task Manager and pretty well confirmed the issue.  My solution was to export the sequence from SuperStar as an intensity file rather than in legacy format.  Problem solved. I have added even more channels to WiW and no issues at all.

[thebaronn]

There are several things that can cause lags.  Network (LOR or ethernet) can be one of them.  I'm pretty sure I was up against the limit of what my old show computer could do on one song.  For Christmas this year I have less than 100 LOR channls on two LOR networks (enhanced vs non-enhanced networks), and 300 CCPs on a third LOR network (500K enhanced).  The other almost 4,000 channels are all E1.31 on a dedicated 100Mb/s LAN.  During pre-show opening testing, as I kept adding channels to Wizards In Winter, I started seeing lag on both the E1.31 and CCPs.  Since those are completely different networks, I quickly started realizing that the old show computer might not be up to the task.  I fired up Windows Task Manager and pretty well confirmed the issue.  My solution was to export the sequence from SuperStar as an intensity file rather than in legacy format.  Problem solved. I have added even more channels to WiW and no issues at all.

 

I would love it if my show computer was the issue!

I am going to try and re-render the video at 15fps and see if that works. If not, then I need to find another option to run the show, booooo.

[aesl1982]

I have lag to. So a new computer with better specs helps run the show better?

[plasmadrive]

I just had the lag for the first time I know of on Sat.  Of course it was my first night in the streets..... my e1.31 hiccuped

[thebaronn]

Well as much as I hated doing so....

I rendered the matrix again at 10fps instead of 20fps.

It's very smooth now, funny though, the only things that look choppy are the pics that cruise across the matrix, ha!

Video is perfect though!

[EmmienLightFan]

Better late than never.

That is what I was going to suggest.

You could cut and paste the pictures scrolling across from the 20 frames per second sequence to the non lag one.

I have not seen your Skrillex video in a while and I am on a mobile device right now, but was the video as fast moving as this year's whole cartoon clips? For a cartoon there are a lot of pixels updating every frame.