- How to get "live" streaming onto infocasts (ex: getting rss feed from weather.com) during display wall mode
- Using live video feeds: getting live video streams from netvx (xbox, bluray) to display wall
- Do we have manager pro/how can we get manager pro
- Getting more input cards for Netvx (recommendation for converting from hd-sdi)
- Synchronizing players (without having to manually change time in windows)
- What all can with do with XML files
- Is there any way to take an infocast that was designed for a single screen and change it so that it can be displayed on the display wall
Here is the message I plan to send to my Harris contact. Do I have the correct terminology? Do the questions make sense? Any additions or clarifications? I would like to send the message first thing in the morning (Thursday).
We have started working with the InfoCaster software and systems over the last few weeks and are accumulating some questions. We have set up a scaled down version of the display wall, with a 2x2 grid of InfoCaster Players, four 17" VGA monitors, an InfoCaster Creation Station, and the InfoCaster Manager.
Would it be possible to arrange a teleconference with you to discuss a few things? Here are the kinds of questions we have…
1. What is the right way to synchronize the time on the players? When using Display Wall mode, the documentation indicates that the Internet time synchronization is turned off. However, when we try to stream video to the wall, the four segments appear to synchronize based on the local (player) time, rather than with one another.
2. How do we get an external live stream onto InfoCasts in Display Wall mode? Is that possible? For example, can we get an RSS feed from weather.com to display to the wall?
3. It appears that some features of the Manager, e.g., external triggers, are only available with Manager Pro. Is that right? If so, would it be possible for us to get the necessary software?
4. Our NetVX encoder card converts from HD-SDI to MPEG, but we don't have any sources that produce HD-SDI. Do you have a recommended converter, say, HDMI-to-HD-SDI, that we should buy? Also (or alternatively), are there NetVX encoder cards that take HDMI inputs? As a stop-gap measure to allow us to do some testing, does the NetVX encoder card have a "test pattern" mode in which it generates an encoded stream?
5. We've looked at the SDK documentation, but are unclear on how to use this information. How do we control the Manager using the XML described in the documentation? For example, we'd like to change the input stream associated with an item on the wall—can we send (somehow) an appropriate XML segment to make that happen?
6. The InfoCaster Player comes with a number of example InfoCasts (e.g., Museum). They seem to be designed to run on a single player and display. Is it possible to retarget them (in some direct way) to display on our video wall?
Our lab meets on Thursday from 11:30-1:20 ET, so a conference call during that period would be especially helpful since the whole group could participate. Otherwise, is there some other time when you are available?
I sent this message off this morning. We'll see how it goes.
Attendees from Purdue: Tim Korb, Tyler Wear, Nick Hendrickx. The conference call lasted about 40 minutes and was very helpful.
Answers…
1. The solution to this problem is clearer in the in the beta version, which Harris will send us. The solution is to set up one Player as the master, and all the others as "normal". The timing on the master controls all the other players, rather than using the Windows time. It is also possible to have a backup master player.
2. This problem is also fixed or improved in the beta version. In both cases, though, we need to set a key in the Windows registry to enable the feature. Harris will send us the registry key setting.
3. We don't need the Pro version of Manager, at least not yet. Harris will send us a JavaScript snippet that illustrates how to fire triggers in the players. The triggers are set up in the Creation station (with beta version and registry setting), published to the Manager, then propagate to the Players. The JavaScript snippet connects to each Player in the wall and causes the trigger to be fired. (Somehow they synchronize beyond that.)
4. Harris recommends an AJA converter. (Blackmagic is also good.)
5. For now (as above), ditch the SDK, use JavaScript to fire triggers instead. Eventually we may want to use the SDK to control the players since it allows a very fine level of access, but it also bypasses some of the features.
6. InfoCasts are device specific, so the answer is no, they need to be customized for each different display device (or wall).
I have added the materials received from Harris to the documentation page. These instructions include how to download beta versions of InfoCaster Creation Station, Player, and Manager; registry keys to enable streaming; and sample JavaScript code to send triggers to the players. Have at it!