VexFX
Active Member
Greetings, hope someone here can help.
We have a series of timeline shows, all playing in playlist mode triggered by timecode, each show set to a unique hour, 01:00:00:00, 2:00:00:00, etc.
Each show contains a video with audio in the top media layer, encoded to Motion JPEG, which is the only codec we could find that works well in timeline mode for frame-by-frame work, but also uses some basic compression, so our preview assets are not massive. More ideal codecs like H. 264 have issues in BEYOND updating frames properly when moving one frame at a time forward/backward to line up laser cues with the video during authoring. The video file is slid to the far left of the timeline to ensure no gap or delay, and then locked in place so it never moves when we move markers etc around.
Each show has a handful of basic laser cues on different tracks, nothing crazy or resource-intensive, all lined up to the video/audio to be frame accurate.
If I play the timeline show manually, our lasers and preview video/audio sync up perfectly every time, for every show file.
The issue we are having is when we playback our timeline shows in a playlist based on timecode, we've noticed some shows are out of sync by as much as half a second (500ms or 15 frames) from our other systems (video, audio, DMX lights), while other shows are spot-on, frame-perfect.
All shows are technically identical: a video with audio in Motion JPEG codec, a handful of basic cues, nothing resource-intensive, nothing using effects or generators that would be cause for concern, no live tracing or heavier tasks.
How could some shows be so far off, every time, while others are perfect every time? We see no variation; each show is either dead on 100% of the time or way off 100% of the time.
We run a sync playlist show by timecode that has a video containing timecode and visualizations for sync (moving lines, bouncing ball, counter, etc) and laser cues for a 60-second laser text time counter and a flashing circle on every 1-second mark to test audio/video sync. Based on that, we have the timecode sent to the lasers is perfectly offset to account for any delays on our systems. That value is hard-coded in our timecode generation system and locked in. All other systems (audio, video, and DMX lights) remain in perfect frame-accurate sync.
Hoping we can find a cause, as this is a major source of concern for us.
I've also not been able to find any way to have a show in a playlist tied to timecode for start time, but also have a +/- offset other than changing the start timecode, from something like 05:00:00:00 to 04:59:59:500, which makes managing our shows way more complicated. I did see that if I right-click in the playlist on a show, in show settings, there is an option that can be enabled to offset timecode +/-, however, that does not appear to work when enabled and played in a playlist. I set it to +5 seconds and -5 seconds, and never saw any change.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
/Chris
We have a series of timeline shows, all playing in playlist mode triggered by timecode, each show set to a unique hour, 01:00:00:00, 2:00:00:00, etc.
Each show contains a video with audio in the top media layer, encoded to Motion JPEG, which is the only codec we could find that works well in timeline mode for frame-by-frame work, but also uses some basic compression, so our preview assets are not massive. More ideal codecs like H. 264 have issues in BEYOND updating frames properly when moving one frame at a time forward/backward to line up laser cues with the video during authoring. The video file is slid to the far left of the timeline to ensure no gap or delay, and then locked in place so it never moves when we move markers etc around.
Each show has a handful of basic laser cues on different tracks, nothing crazy or resource-intensive, all lined up to the video/audio to be frame accurate.
If I play the timeline show manually, our lasers and preview video/audio sync up perfectly every time, for every show file.
The issue we are having is when we playback our timeline shows in a playlist based on timecode, we've noticed some shows are out of sync by as much as half a second (500ms or 15 frames) from our other systems (video, audio, DMX lights), while other shows are spot-on, frame-perfect.
All shows are technically identical: a video with audio in Motion JPEG codec, a handful of basic cues, nothing resource-intensive, nothing using effects or generators that would be cause for concern, no live tracing or heavier tasks.
How could some shows be so far off, every time, while others are perfect every time? We see no variation; each show is either dead on 100% of the time or way off 100% of the time.
We run a sync playlist show by timecode that has a video containing timecode and visualizations for sync (moving lines, bouncing ball, counter, etc) and laser cues for a 60-second laser text time counter and a flashing circle on every 1-second mark to test audio/video sync. Based on that, we have the timecode sent to the lasers is perfectly offset to account for any delays on our systems. That value is hard-coded in our timecode generation system and locked in. All other systems (audio, video, and DMX lights) remain in perfect frame-accurate sync.
Hoping we can find a cause, as this is a major source of concern for us.
I've also not been able to find any way to have a show in a playlist tied to timecode for start time, but also have a +/- offset other than changing the start timecode, from something like 05:00:00:00 to 04:59:59:500, which makes managing our shows way more complicated. I did see that if I right-click in the playlist on a show, in show settings, there is an option that can be enabled to offset timecode +/-, however, that does not appear to work when enabled and played in a playlist. I set it to +5 seconds and -5 seconds, and never saw any change.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
/Chris