Lights lagging

[dgrusty]

I've searched forums and Facebook groups but haven't gotten a good answer yet. Most all of my songs have a lag in the lights as the song goes on. They'll start out ok, but get worse as the song goes along. When I play from the Sequencer there is no lag. When I play from the Show is when the lag occurs.

My setup is as follows...

4 LOR 16 channel controllers; three are gen 3, and one us gen 2

1 Alphapix4 controller connected directly to my laptop (i.e. not through the LOR controllers). Has about 1900 pixels connected.

Running LOR 5.3.8

Any ideas why the lag when running from Show but not from Sequencer?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Dale 

 

[Oliver Blatt]

Quick question to diagnose this. Are you using variable rate MP3 files? This may cause the symptom you are describing.

[default]

Dale,

I no nothing of the Alphapix4 controllers but most times lag occurs is when there is more info on a network than it can handle. It is possible for you to run the Alphapix4 on another network? ie Aux A?

Alan...

 

 

[dgrusty]

54 minutes ago, Oliver Blatt said:

Quick question to diagnose this. Are you using variable rate MP3 files? This may cause the symptom you are describing.

I was quite sure all were but just double checked and a couple had a different bit rate while 2 were variable. I converted and will retry. Thanks.

[dgrusty]

18 minutes ago, default said:

Dale,

I no nothing of the Alphapix4 controllers but most times lag occurs is when there is more info on a network than it can handle. It is possible for you to run the Alphapix4 on another network? ie Aux A?

Alan...

 

 

I think I already do, as the LOR controllers run off the USB485 connector to the laptop while the Alphapix connects directly to the laptop via its ethernet connection. Doesn't that mean separate networks? I setup the DMX in LOR Network Setup with the Alphapix ip address. So my understanding was that the LOR software is talking  to the Alphapix directly, not through the LOR controllers. 

[PhilMassey]

Your Alphapix is, and should be on an Ethernet network running E1.31, separate from the LOR side Does the lag show up on the LOR controlled lights, the E1.31 side or both.

[dgrusty]

3 hours ago, PhilMassey said:

Your Alphapix is, and should be on an Ethernet network running E1.31, separate from the LOR side Does the lag show up on the LOR controlled lights, the E1.31 side or both.

You are correct. Lag showing in both, but only when running from Show. Runs fine from Sequencer. 

[PhilMassey]

Random thoughts.

Background tasks, antivirus,backups, downloads, updates?????. PC on wired or WIFI network? Network traffic?. 

You have done a restart, right. Disabled sleep, and hibernation, especially hibernation.No screensaver.

Interference, adjacent power lines, devices. 

Show player settings, select load as needed, not load all before.

 

[dgrusty]

2 hours ago, PhilMassey said:

Random thoughts.

Background tasks, antivirus,backups, downloads, updates?????. PC on wired or WIFI network? Network traffic?. 

You have done a restart, right. Disabled sleep, and hibernation, especially hibernation.No screensaver.

Interference, adjacent power lines, devices. 

Show player settings, select load as needed, not load all before.

 

Will try all the suggestions though most are already accounted for. Interesting on the interference though. How would that cause lag? Also, I'd think the loading would be better if I did load all before. The lag is not in loading but in the playback of the song.

[PhilMassey]

In my experience, "Loading all before" is a problematic, as it causes caching and decaching at inappropriate times, which COULD cause the pc to get busy for a moment. I have never found it helpful with S4 and especially S5. Can't hurt to try.

However I doubt that's your issue. I doubt it's interference either but you never know and I'm running out of ideas.

[Crimson Lane Lights Etown]

48 minutes ago, PhilMassey said:

In my experience, "Loading all before" is a problematic, as it causes caching and decaching at inappropriate times, which COULD cause the pc to get busy for a moment. I have never found it helpful with S4 and especially S5. Can't hurt to try.

 

Excuse me PhilMassey, I have resently noticed the "decaching" of sequences during show playback.  I did not know I was "Loading all before"  How do I fix that?

I have 4.4.4 Pro  Thanks

[dgrusty]

56 minutes ago, PhilMassey said:

In my experience, "Loading all before" is a problematic, as it causes caching and decaching at inappropriate times, which COULD cause the pc to get busy for a moment. I have never found it helpful with S4 and especially S5. Can't hurt to try.

However I doubt that's your issue. I doubt it's interference either but you never know and I'm running out of ideas.

Thanks for the info. I addressed each if the items but still no luck. What's odd is that the lag is so consistent almost down to the millisecond. It's just about always the same with each run through the Show Player. It must be related to pixels though as i took a version of a song removing all pixels and it ran fine from Show Player. 

Wish there was a way to run multiple sequences from Sequencer since it runs fine there. 

[PhilMassey]

12 minutes ago, Crimson Lane Lights Etown said:

Excuse me PhilMassey, I have resently noticed the "decaching" of sequences during show playback.  I did not know I was "Loading all before"  How do I fix that?

I have 4.4.4 Pro  Thanks

Show editor, options, uncheck load all, check load as needed. Wording approximate.

[dgrusty]

I should also clarify that by lag, I mean the lights lag the song. Music plays fine but very gradually the lights get out of synch and are behind the music.

[dgrusty]

So...I rebooted again, and the first time through the 1 song show, all was good. The second time, it started lagging a bit. I noticed the Windows lock screen had kicked in. I stood there and made sure no lock screen, and it seemed to run correctly. I've disabled the lock screen and will let run several times and let you know how it comes out.

[PhilMassey]

Lock screen= sleep perhaps.

[dgrusty]

It's not sleeping. I checked that a while back. Could just be coincidence. But strange its good first time through after reboot.

[dgrusty]

Well, rebooted again and this time the lag is back. Xlights next year I think. 

[Orville]

I have never had a lag issue with using the LOAD ALL option and I use an ancient desktop system to run my shows, 4 CTB16PC {all V2} and 5 RGB Controllers.  CTB16PC's are on Regular Network, 115K, 5 RGB controllers are on Aux A, 500K and Enhanced.   I also LOCK my computer while the show is running, it DOES NOT put the computer to sleep, that's a different option{at least in Windows 7, it has no effect on my shows}.

But everything else is shut off, all Windows sound effects are muted under the Sound Option, created a LOR ONLY option that allows sounds to be played, but removed all the built-in Windows sounds, No Wifi, No Internet via Ethernet port, no updates, no screen saver, and no anti-virus software except for the Microsoft Security Essentials, and that has never affected my shows or created any lag times during playback.  Also all other background programs that are unnecessary are also turned off and no other software except for LOR and MSE program are the only ones running.  Even with the computer in LOCK mode, my shows still start and start when they are supposed too, but I have shows running 24/7 when in operation.

For example the music only sequences play from 11pm-7pm, Actual Musical Light Show runs from 7pm-11pm.  And it runs like that for the entire season it's being used for. Christmas with the time shift backwards, the time changes by about 1 to 1-1/2 hours earlier to start the Light Show, but the Music only sequences still play from 11pm-7am.  Only the Music format would change if I were doing Halloween and then Christmas.  I only do Christmas now, but this is how I have done it for years and not had any issues when doing both Halloween and Christmas.

So I can't really see how using LOAD ALL would create a lag in the lights, only lag times I had was when I used the Load When Needed, and it wasn't the lights that lagged, it was the time between the end of one sequence and the loading of the next.  I get far better results with using LOAD ALL over the other.  But that's been my experience, others may differ and from the commentary, seems it has for some reason.  But I just can't see why it would slow the show down like that, since it has never caused me any lag time issues during a show.

 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Orville

[dgrusty]

When I've had something else running the sequence will have lag and stuttering but the music and lights still stay in synch.  It's almost as if the lights think the song is 10% longer in duration than the music.