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Run a show on a director continuously from 1 day to the next.


rcoaster

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I recently acquired a Director G4 to take advantage of show scheduling. In the past I would run a mini-director connected to a programmable timer, and now an outdoor smart switch (on a Wink smart home system). I like to have my show start promptly at a specific time, however, it starts a bit late due to boot-up times of the mini-director, and hoped the g4 would take care of that. 

The issue I'm having is the special schedule that I run on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. I have the show start at 5pm, and have it run continuously until midnight after Christmas day (for a total of 31 hours). How do I do this when creating a show in the Hub? On my programmable timer, I had 8 program slots where I could set the "ON" time on Tuesday 5pm and the "OFF" time at Thursday 12am. I can do the exact same with the smart switch, except that I can program everything from my smartphone (No more sitting outside in the cold pushing buttons and trying to read a tiny LCD screen). 

If this is not possible, is it because of the Showtime Director limitation? Or software design? Can the Director start a show on this day and time and stop a show on this day and time? Also, in my case, since the show stopped at midnight Thursday, that means I can't have it restart at 5pm Thursday as well. 

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i am not familiar with the G4 director but do use the original director.  Since I'm still using S4 this year I use the Hardware utility to set up my programs and I can set each day to start and stop at specific times.  WHen It gets close to Christmas eve I simply create a new SD card with revised times so that my programs run past midnight on Christmas eve and all day Christmas Day.  I know S5 does not use the hardware utility to create SD cards but I would guess it does provide the ability to create specific times for your programs to run from within the director.

 

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Yes, but how do I make the show start at 5pm Tuesday and end at midnight on Thursday? The Hub uses the same scheduling method as the HW Utility. 

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On 11/10/2019 at 5:41 PM, rcoaster said:

Yes, but how do I make the show start at 5pm Tuesday and end at midnight on Thursday? The Hub uses the same scheduling method as the HW Utility. 

You can't do it straight through using the time settings.  And I don't think this can be done at all on a Director unit, but would require a computer {See the 2nd option} The only way to do this on a Director is create a show for Tuesday starting at 5pm and ending at Midnight, then Wednesday start the same show file at Midnight and end at 11:59pm Wednesday night, then the same show again starting at Midnight and end it at 11:59PM on Thursday evening.  And with this there will be delay times during shutdown and start up of each show.  However, you can do this, but not the way you'd prefer.

Using a computer: The only way for a show to run NON-STOP is by clicking on the SHOW ON DEMAND option from the LOR Light Bulb icon and then selecting the show you want to run and put in 5:00pm in the "Start at this time" and on the END side, select "Play until I tell it to stop."  You will have to MANUALLY stop the show yourself at the time you want it to stop.   But this is the ONLY way I know how you can accomplish what you're trying to do.   But I'm pretty sure this WILL NOT work with a Director unit, again, it requires a computer.

The show set up in this fashion will run forever, until you END the show, either by selecting from the LOR Bulb icon: Disable Shows Immediately or Disable Shows Gracefully.   Selecting immediately will stop the show abruptly, whereas if you Disable Shows Gracefully, whatever is playing at the time will continue to play whatever sequence is playing, then finish and end the show once the sequence has completed playing.

But as for setting a time factor, I've never been able to do it when I used a Director, if I wanted to do this, a computer WAS REQUIRED.  Only using the Show On Demand option is the ONLY WAY I know how to accomplish what you are wanting to do.  And the only pitfalls are: I do not think this can be done with a Director unit{You'll get time conflicts}, a computer is needed and you have to be the one to end the show yourself at the time you want it to end.  So you have to remember to get to the computer and stop the show at the time you wish it to end.

Good Luck.

Edited by Orville
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Create a second SD with the option to 'run any time there is power'.  Then after 5pm Tuesday, insert the continuous run SD and it will run until you take it out.

I make 2 SD cards, one with my normal hours and a second one that I label continuous that I use when testing during daylight hours.

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Could you not just use the mini director and plug it directly in to an outlet not using a time?  The show would just continue looping until unplugged.  

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1 hour ago, JPat said:

Could you not just use the mini director and plug it directly in to an outlet not using a time?  The show would just continue looping until unplugged.  

The OP wants 2 different schedules depending on DAY of Week. I guess you could power down 1 director and power up the mini. RS485 does permit unpowered devices on the bus

BUT

Directors have termination (120ohm) and you cant have 2 at the same end (only terminate the ends ONCE)  💡 Put the other one at the other end of the loop (or run a cable back for this one)

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1 minute ago, TheDucks said:

The OP wants 2 different schedules depending on DAY of Week. I guess you could power down 1 director and power up the mini. RS485 does permit unpowered devices on the bus

BUT

Directors have termination (120ohm) and you cant have 2 at the same end (only terminate the ends ONCE)  💡 Put the other one at the other end of the loop (or run a cable back for this one)

He is asking to run a special schedule on 2 days of the season only.  He should run the normal show on schedule for season, and on those two specific days, take the show off the timer and just directly power it for desired length of time desired.  Seems like a much simpler option and would accomplish what he is looking to do.

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