Compressing and Exporting Sequences

[xtremeone]

Sooo.... I do not see the compressor in S6 for sequences. My Dilemma, I would like to compress my sequences on my sequencing computer and export them to my show computer since the sequencing computer is so mush faster. Or... put my show together and export the playback files to my show computer. Is this possible in S6...???

[Don]

Compressing takes place automatically. When you build the show, it does the compression in the background.

 

[xtremeone]

So....Can I compress just one song and add to the show when I revise it...or do I need to compress the whole show again which would suck.

[k6ccc]

The Show Player in S6 is far smarter and it will automagicly do it in the background.  Also note that if your sequencing computer and your show player computer do not have the same network configuration (common issue since the sequencing computer generally does not need any networks set up), the show player computer is going to need to "Prep" the sequences in the show - even if already done on the other computer.  This is the case even if both computers are using the same files (for example on a file server - my situation).

 

[Don]

This video show adding 9+ songs to a show.

Adding 1 song shouldn't take as long, but you will need to verify.

 

 

[xtremeone]

Thanks Guys for answering!

[TexasLights]

Just adding a note to this one since while I agree it is better, I would like someway to force it. 

First time I start a show or if I change the preview, it builds everything.  In my case, with about 60 songs, that takes about half an hour.  During this intitalization phase, the show isn't playing so I need to start the show at some point before I really want to start it.   

If I just change a song before a show is started, it is smart enough to only do that song and doesn't take as long but it could still lag a bit. So I still need to do this ahead of time to avoid surprises. 

If I change a song while a show is playing (I know why do that right? But there have been occassions where something got messed up) than it will compress when it goes to play that song. That of course translates to down time to anyone watching the show and a minute or 2 of dead air means people think its over.

With S5, I could manually compress things external to the show so looking to see how others are handling these?

Edited October 27, 2023 by TexasLights

[k6ccc]

1 hour ago, TexasLights said:

If I change a song while a show is playing (I know why do that right? But there have been occassions where something got messed up)

I can't tell you how many times I have been out watching the show and spotted something that either was wrong or I think would look better if I made some change.  Then into the house, make the change and put the change into the show.  Since I'm using MIIP, it's fairly easy to change the sequence and have the new version play next time that sequence plays.  Not yet sure how that will play with S6 and MIIP (things changed this year).

 

[PhilMassey]

In S5 you can use the Sequence Compressor to compress a single sequence or an entire show, providing that particular sequence is not currently playing. 

That is all gone in S6. In the new Control Panel Create shows tab, there is a button at the top center, which shows the status of your show files. Either Ready to Play, or the number of files which Need Prep. Click the button to prep files.

[Jeremiah Ackermann]

3 hours ago, TexasLights said:

I would like someway to force it. 

As Phil mentioned/hinted, there is a way to force it. The first step is go to Create Shows page and run "Update Status" (top right menu button). After that check completes, each show will update its status to either "Ready to play" or "Needs prep: XYZ). Any errors will also show. Clicking the diagonal, double arrow button will prep that show, very similar to what the compressor did in prior versions.

Unfortunately that status doesn't tell you the exact sequences it wants to prepare for playing or which one has errors. But you can double click/edit the show and go to the Verifier page and run the show check to see which files have errors and need preparation along with details on why. It would be nice if the verifier page allowed you to run the "show prep" directly from there as well.

[Jeremiah Ackermann]

3 hours ago, TexasLights said:

If I change a song while a show is playing (I know why do that right? But there have been occassions where something got messed up) than it will compress when it goes to play that song

So two things here that can be good, bad, or both.

Unless the behavior has changed, the show player will not pick up a sequence's changes while it is playing. The good is that you will not get that dead air space anymore. The bad is the updated sequence also will not show up. I just tried doing a show prep while the show is playing to see if it will update the sequence and it seems to be erroring out. I had to set the show inactive AND stop the show since setting it inactive did not automatically stop the show (in hindsight, could just just stop the show). Then I could prep the show without error, then reactivate the show. However, just reactivating the show is sadly not enough likely because it was just stopped. A restart of Control Panel got the show going again.

So trying to get a sequence update through without any downtime doesn't seem possible at the moment.

[TexasLights]

Thanks, I should have mentioned that I am also a Miip user and the behavior is a bit different with S6. With S5, Miip rewrote the show file to get the new order and that triggered show player to do an update which caused the delay if it had to be rebuilt.  With S6, the show doesnt change/reload and Miip is reordering song order on the fly. So since the show file is not changing, it does not recognize the sequence change and doesn't cause it to recompress.  still playing with Miip and S6 to get it sorted out. 

Edited October 28, 2023 by TexasLights

[Steven]

This has been mentioned in other threads, but it applies to this discussion as well.

If one or more of your sequences include SuperStar effects, those effects are "compressed", but unlike the rest of effects, they are compressed into a separate SS_*.avi file, and they are not compressed by the show player but by the Sequencer. This means that if you transfer all the *.loredit files from your sequencing computer to your show computer, but don't transfer the SS*.avi files, the SuperStar effects will not appear in your show.