Getting a show onto the SD Card

[rstately]

another way to do this is to set the controller to start when power is applied, then plug it into a timer that you set to turn on every 15 min?
(I think this would work?)
Hope this helps,


Ron

[Don]

july1962 wrote:

Don wrote:

And what would you like to have happen in the 9 minutes that is unaccounted for?

That depends. Before Halloween (the weeks leading up), I want animation, which I can do, but I have to skew the animation to an exact time in order for the time to fall on the 15 minute increments. Halloween night, I want nothing in between because I have a haunt in my yard that works independently of the light show. I'd also like to be able to ad pauses between each sequence, which I cannot do unless I tweak each sequence at the end.

Regardless of what I want right now, I'd like the ability to do whatever show I can do with the computer attached, with the MP3/SD card on its own.

The advertising for the MP3 Show Director says: "Load a completed show on to an SD memory card and plug the card into the LOR Show-in-a-Box controller."

But you can't do that completely, unless you use the computer instead. The scheduling/show software included with my equipment does not work with the Show Director, so you can't just take the shows they produce ("a completed show") and put them on an SD card as the ad says. You have to use the hardware utility to create a show which then in turns loads into the SD card. But that show is limited in comparison to what the other software can do.

Okay, so I think it is pretty well documented that you are not happy with the performance of the MP3 Director. If you are expecting LOR to provide a fix this season, then you will need to re-think that ... because the odds are low that will happen.

How about we focus on getting it to do what you want it to do? I know you don't like the idea of work-arounds, but sometimes it comes to that (even with the scheduler, actually.)

I think anyone here would be happy to help you get things going the way you want.

[Guest guest]

Don wrote:

Okay, so I think it is pretty well documented that you are not happy with the performance of the MP3 Director. If you are expecting LOR to provide a fix this season, then you will need to re-think that ... because the odds are low that will happen.

How about we focus on getting it to do what you want it to do? I know you don't like the idea of work-arounds, but sometimes it comes to that (even with the scheduler, actually.)

I think anyone here would be happy to help you get things going the way you want.

Why are the odds low that will happen? What company doesn't want to listen to its customers and make its product better? Interesting that you make it sound like I've gone on and on about this ad nauseum when I've merely been answering your questions.

Work-arounds are fine, I just don't think one should have to use them on such an expensive product. If this were $99 instead of almost $400, I could maybe see using work-arounds to get a result. But I spent $2000 based on advertising that doesn't really do what it said it would do, and didn't really provide very good manuals. So pardon me if I go on about it, I'm not rich and expect a lot of bang for my buck. When I buy a car, I expect to put the key in the ignition and start it, not reach under the dash and hot-wire it.

And you're right, everyone here has been pretty helpful, i've not complained about that...so thanks to all for the help!

[LightORamaDan]

To insert a pause between musical sequences, again you can use an animation sequence set to a particular length. In that sequence you can have the lights on or off or fading up/down... What ever you want.

So earlier I had mentioned using a filler sequence to fill out to the 15 minute point to so you would effectivly have a 15 minute show.

Lets say you want a 10 second pause between songs with the lights off. Create a sequence (P1) that is 10 seconds long with all channels off. You also have musical sequences name M1 and M2...

You could create a show with

M1, P1, M2

this will put a pause of 10 sec between the sequences.

[Don]

july1962 wrote:

Why are the odds low that will happen? What company doesn't want to listen to its customers and make its product better? Interesting that you make it sound like I've gone on and on about this ad nauseum when I've merely been answering your questions.

Work-arounds are fine, I just don't think one should have to use them on such an expensive product. If this were $99 instead of almost $400, I could maybe see using work-arounds to get a result. But I spent $2000 based on advertising that doesn't really do what it said it would do, and didn't really provide very good manuals. So pardon me if I go on about it, I'm not rich and expect a lot of bang for my buck. When I buy a car, I expect to put the key in the ignition and start it, not reach under the dash and hot-wire it.

And you're right, everyone here has been pretty helpful, i've not complained about that...so thanks to all for the help!

Even though I have nothing to apologize for, I'm sorry that things are not working out the way you expected with the MP3 player. I realize that you paid good money for it, and had an expectation that it would work a certian way. I never meant to imply that you were going on and on. If you read it that way, my apologies.

As for an upgrade to that device this season ... it's 10/27. Most people are going to light-up one month from today. LOR's business is about to get even busier. I'm not saying they won't take into account your input for future upgrades, but I suspect the only upgrades we'll see for the remainder of 2009 is bug-fix type upgrades. And I don't know if it can only be done with software. There might be a firmware upgrade of the MP3 required. I don't own one, so I can't comment.? (-KLB- You have any comments there?)

All that said, I'm going to bow out of this thread. If others here are not able to assist you, then I would suggest emailing support@lightorama.com. (Or you can send me a PM, and I will try to help you as well.)

[Guest guest]

LightORamaDan wrote:

To insert a pause between musical sequences, again you can use an animation sequence set to a particular length. In that sequence you can have the lights on or off or fading up/down... What ever you want.

So earlier I had mentioned using a filler sequence to fill out to the 15 minute point to so you would effectivly have a 15 minute show.

Lets say you want a 10 second pause between songs with the lights off. Create a sequence (P1) that is 10 seconds long with all channels off. You also have musical sequences name M1 and M2...

You could create a show with

M1, P1, M2

this will put a pause of 10 sec between the sequences.

Yes, thanks Dan....I see how that could work. I could also just put more time at the end of each sequence. It's just frustrating knowing that you provide software that will just do that, but won't work with the MP3 Director.

Don mentioned that it isn't likely that you'll make any changes to the hardware. Is that true? When we bring things like this up, is it for nothing? And I certainly don't mean changes today...I mean in general.

[Guest guest]

Don wrote:

As for an upgrade to that device this season ... it's 10/27.

Who said anything about "this season?"

[Don]

july1962 wrote:

Don wrote:

As for an upgrade to that device this season ... it's 10/27.

Who said anything about "this season?"

I did, see.

Don wrote:

If you are expecting LOR to provide a fix this season,

[Guest guest]

Don wrote:

july1962 wrote:

Don wrote:

As for an upgrade to that device this season ... it's 10/27.

Who said anything about "this season?"

I did, see.

Don wrote:

If you are expecting LOR to provide a fix this season,

I realize that...you missed the point. "I" didn't mention it, so why are you supposing that I'm expecting them to fix it "this season?" I never said anything like that.

[-klb-]

Don wrote:

There might be a firmware upgrade of the MP3 required. I don't own one, so I can't comment.? (-KLB- You have any comments there?)

Actually, I currently only have the mini director, with a much more limited feature set. But yes, pretty much any changes to the capabilities of the director will most likely require new firmware development.

For how most people use the director card, it is a pretty impressive how much it manages to do with a microcontroller, as compared to what a PC based show does with a full microprocessor. As long as the director stays as low cost as it is, there will be features that it can not support. For example, sending data to a RDS radio, or a betabrite scrolling display. Or the ability to support 4 separate LOR data networks, or video as the media file.

For the way a large percentage of users do their shows, I don't think the limitations in function are all that noticeable, though the way you configure it can be annoyingly different than the PC based show. For the users where the functional difference is significant, it may be a challenge to figure out which functional gaps are most important to cover, for the largest group of users. But, I could see 15 minute scheduling in the short list, as I'm pretty sure I have heard this request more than once. But it will almost certainly take both firmware and software upgrades.

I for one tend to forget some of the functional limits of the director card, as I've never managed to conceptualize a case where I would care about anything other than the time the show starts, and when it ends, with the same content looping forever in between, but that is just me, and the two displays I take care of.

[Guest guest]

-klb- wrote:

Don wrote:

There might be a firmware upgrade of the MP3 required. I don't own one, so I can't comment.? (-KLB- You have any comments there?)

Actually, I currently only have the mini director, with a much more limited feature set. But yes, pretty much any changes to the capabilities of the director will most likely require new firmware development.

For how most people use the director card, it is a pretty impressive how much it manages to do with a microcontroller, as compared to what a PC based show does with a full microprocessor. As long as the director stays as low cost as it is, there will be features that it can not support. For example, sending data to a RDS radio, or a betabrite scrolling display. Or the ability to support 4 separate LOR data networks, or video as the media file.

For the way a large percentage of users do their shows, I don't think the limitations in function are all that noticeable, though the way you configure it can be annoyingly different than the PC based show. For the users where the functional difference is significant, it may be a challenge to figure out which functional gaps are most important to cover, for the largest group of users. But, I could see 15 minute scheduling in the short list, as I'm pretty sure I have heard this request more than once. But it will almost certainly take both firmware and software upgrades.

I for one tend to forget some of the functional limits of the director card, as I've never managed to conceptualize a case where I would care about anything other than the time the show starts, and when it ends, with the same content looping forever in between, but that is just me, and the two displays I take care of.

Thanks for all that, good info to know. I guess I'm different than most in that I hate my display to look exactly the same every year. I take great pains to change it up as much as possible on a small budget. So the freedom that comes from the software would be very welcome to me in using the MP3 Director. I don't know the technical stuff, but it just seems to me if you can tell it to do 30 minutes, you can tell it to do 15 or 38 or 55...somehow. I know it's not set up to do it now, but I can't believe it's not possible. It would be great if whatever the output of the "show" is, the MP3 Director could read it just as well as the computer. The other stuff you mentioned, radio and multiple LOR networks, I know nothing about. I just want music and lights and the ability to tell it when to do each.

[Denny]

I know that LOR is well aware of your suggestion now, but would like to suggest something else to you as well for future reference. LOR has established a special e-mail address for suggestions, requests for future improvements, etc. I think that when most of us are sequencing or working on our shows, we see things that could be improved or think "wouldn't it be great if...." Me, I'm senile half the time, so I like to keep a notepad near by to write my thoughts down. Then, when I am finished doing the task at hand, I fire an e-mail off to LOR with my request/suggestion. Some also post their suggestions on the forum here for discussion among other members. With the brainstorming that happens, the initial thought/suggestion can be improved even more. Also, if others like the suggestion, LOR wants others to forward an e-mail requesting the same suggestion. That way, they know what we would like and the more requests for the same feature, the higher it goes up on their priority list for implementation. I know this won't help for this problem, but it's something to keep in mind for future reference.

[Guest guest]

Denny wrote:

I know that LOR is well aware of your suggestion now, but would like to suggest something else to you as well for future reference. LOR has established a special e-mail address for suggestions, requests for future improvements, etc. I think that when most of us are sequencing or working on our shows, we see things that could be improved or think "wouldn't it be great if...." Me, I'm senile half the time, so I like to keep a notepad near by to write my thoughts down. Then, when I am finished doing the task at hand, I fire an e-mail off to LOR with my request/suggestion. Some also post their suggestions on the forum here for discussion among other members. With the brainstorming that happens, the initial thought/suggestion can be improved even more. Also, if others like the suggestion, LOR wants others to forward an e-mail requesting the same suggestion. That way, they know what we would like and the more requests for the same feature, the higher it goes up on their priority list for implementation. I know this won't help for this problem, but it's something to keep in mind for future reference.

Thanks Denny...good to know. What's the special email address?

[-klb-]

I would guess that if you started a poll, you would find that far more users have their show loop constantly, rather than pause and restart at specified intervals. I suspect that percentage does not vary significantly if you are talking about those who use otherwise obsolete PC's that they have around the house, director cards, or those who purchase PC's to run the show.

But, you are right, for those who do want the show only start and run once every XX interval, on the quarter hour does sound like a highly desirable feature, as would on the 10's. But with everything Don pointed out, I would guess that an update like that would be more likely during the next calendar year than this one. I would suggest that you try and work out a concise description of what you would like to see added/changed, and send it to the LOR feature request mailbox. I believe it is Wishlist@lightorama.com. Try to be concise. Asking for the director to do everything that the PC based show can do would imply video media, multiple network support, RDS and reader board support, and other things that from what I can tell are not part of your actual desires.

This is not some zero sum game. There is no intent to stake out a fixed box that is the feature set that LOR caters to, and anyone outside that looses out. I think it really is a collaborative effort between LOR and their customers to try and build bigger and better shows each year, and to have a more capable product based on what the customers are asking for. By the same token, there are a lot of people who have come here knowing they are asking for something that is either outside the current capabilities, or pushing the limits, and received a number of suggestions about how they might accomplish it. If I am reading things correctly, you have received a suggestion for how to accomplish what you want to do this year, and you now have info on how to formally get your desired feature into the design hopper.

[Denny]

july1962 wrote:

Denny wrote: Thanks Denny...good to know. What's the special email address?

Man, I am getting senile or is it the pressure of the season! Suggest you contact an e-mail address in the future and then forget to post it. wishlist@lightorama.com

[Guest wbottomley]

-klb- wrote:

This is not some zero sum game. There is no intent to stake out a fixed box that is the feature set that LOR caters to, and anyone outside that looses out. I think it really is a collaborative effort between LOR and their customers to try and build bigger and better shows each year, and to have a more capable product based on what the customers are asking for. By the same token, there are a lot of people who have come here knowing they are asking for something that is either outside the current capabilities, or pushing the limits, and received a number of suggestions about how they might accomplish it. If I am reading things correctly, you have received a suggestion for how to accomplish what you want to do this year, and you now have info on how to formally get your desired feature into the design hopper.

Thank you!

Much nicer response than I would've posted.

Before I drop $2K, I would read, research, and ask questions.

[Surfing4Dough]

july1962 wrote

It would be great if whatever the output of the "show" is, the MP3 Director could read it just as well as the computer.

Seems to me I would just use a computer to run my show if that was the type of show I was desiring to run. Being new this year too, I am planning to use a mini-director, and was never under the impression that it would do everything as well as a computer (since it ISN'T a computer). And assumed that "all the software" included with my purchase was intended for those that would run a show using a computer (since I figured that that was how most people ran their shows), and figured some of it would be unused by me since I am using a mini-director. I am grateful that they still included that software though in case I desire to switch over to a computer-run show at some point down the road. As with everything in life, there are pros and cons of doing things different ways. I think that there are some advantages to the mini-director (and/or mp3 director) over the computer, and vice-versa.

[Guest guest]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

Seems to me I would just use a computer to run my show if that was the type of show I was desiring to run. Being new this year too, I am planning to use a mini-director, and was never under the impression that it would do everything as well as a computer (since it ISN'T a computer). And assumed that "all the software" included with my purchase was intended for those that would run a show using a computer (since I figured that that was how most people ran their shows), and figured some of it would be unused by me since I am using a mini-director. I am grateful that they still included that software though in case I desire to switch over to a computer-run show at some point down the road. As with everything in life, there are pros and cons of doing things different ways. I think that there are some advantages to the mini-director (and/or mp3 director) over the computer, and vice-versa.

That's easier said than done for some. Not having a laptop that can easily be moved around...and a desktop that gets used readily by many members of the family makes the Director a necessity. As I mentioned above, the advertising for the Show Director says "Load a completed show on to an SD memory card and plug the card into the LOR Show-in-a-Box controller." To me, that alludes to the fact that it can run whatever show the software can produce. I wrote to Dan BEFORE I purchased all my equipment with lots of questions. This is his response in regard to the MP3 Director:

"With any of the MP3 Directors, you can put the show on a SD card and have the MP3 director run the show. (no PC is required to run the show). You can control a large number of channels (500 to 1000) depending on the intensity of the shows activity. To create shows on the SD card with more than 32 channels you will need a license level for the software that supports that number of channels."

That's very misleading considering what I know now. Sure, a PC isn't "required" to run the show, but the Director won't run all shows either...it's limited in what it can do in comparison to the computer. None of the advertising says that. He also alludes to the fact that I need a license for the "software" in the same paragraph he talks about the director, which tells me that all the software works with it.

I wish I had known all this before I purchased. I would have still purchased the Director, but I wouldn't have spent a whole day (that I needed to work on my display) trying to figure out how to get my "scheduled" show onto the SD card.

[lightsbyjoe]

Anyone elze get tha feeling hes not happy with lor? only said it like 10 timez now lol

[Guest guest]

lightsbyjoe wrote:

Anyone elze get tha feeling hes not happy with lor? only said it like 10 timez now lol

That's not true at all. I'm very happy with my LOR. What I'm not happy with it the lack of abilities of the MP3 Director and the poorly written manuals.

Are you trying to incite something?