Video stops playing/ White flashes

Same show different problems.

In the last scene of the afternoon performance white flashes occurred on the video outputs of our hired catalyst system (like camera flashes). These were visible on the local monitors.

In the evening these flashes became more frequent.

Unrelated to the white flashes, on 2 occasions video stopped playing mid cue (leaving the last played frame on the screen). Apart from these freezes, in the middle of running cues, all cues started correctly when cued.

This is not , I think, related to our previous issue as this time the flashes and freezes were visible on the local monitors. The screen blanking issue we had before was due to electrical disturbance on the Smart E Cat5 units dropping sync to the projectors. The show has run entirely trouble free for the past few days

We had the video freezing on a couple of clips 2 weeks ago on the second show of our first 2 show day. At the time I thought the cues had run out and made new extended versions. But thinking about it, the original cues had a good safety margin in terms of length and must have been playing slow as the 2 screens had drifted out of sync. (The layers are free running and not synced to an ID, but generally stay bang in time).

The common thing between these 2 ocassions when the video froze is that the control room is considerably hotter on the second show. Also the flashing problem only occurred towards the end of the first show. I would suspect a heat related problem with the hired server. The other server has not exhibited any problems. I am wary of acting on this diagnosis pending your thoughts on whether this sounds like a hardware issue.

Mic

Just a quick thought re white flashes. Do the flashes occur constantly dring cue playback - or just at the start of the cue?. (the latter can be solved by putting a 01.s delat time on the insensity channel on whatever control desk you're using)

Does it happen at the same q point - or randomly during cue playback?
re smart-e's - are they powered from both ends?
what is the cable route?
is it screened or un-screened cat 5 cable?
what version of catalyst are you running and what MAC OS is installed?
Who were the servers hired from?

>>Do the flashes occur constantly dring cue playback - or just at the start of the cue?. <<
>>Does it happen at the same q point - or randomly during cue playback? <<

within playing cues at random points.


>>re smart-e's - are they powered from both ends? <<

Transmitter end only. But please expand further on this as I am rapidly losing faith in these units. The white flashes are occurring on the local G5 monitors though, so unless the smart Es could cause this on the loop through rather than the CAT5 bit I think this can be discounted.


>>what is the cable route?
is it screened or un-screened cat 5 cable?<<

Clean route on cable tray in brand new UTP

>>what version of catalyst are you running and what MAC OS is installed?
Who were the servers hired from?<<

This is a standard XL Video hire system used as prepped.

Any thoughts on the freeze issue?. halfway through a cue 1 screen freezes 1 screen carries on playing. It's only happened twice in three weeks and the control room was rather warm on both occassions.

Thanks

Mic

It sounds more like a specific content issue or a graphics card failing.

The smart-e's are probably not the issue - although its is sometimes good to power from both ends (despite their specification)

Do any of the issues re-occur on any specific Q or content? - or is it mostly random on ANY Q

Please contact me Directly to discuss - I have emailed you my contact details etc...

Thanks

Simon

sounds more like a dmx problem to me.

could be noisy dmx - or the problematic artistic license firmware.. - are you using artnet? which box?

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but heat could also be a problem.
computers dont like things too hot. they need proper ventillation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samsc

sounds more like a dmx problem to me.

could be noisy dmx - or the problematic artistic license firmware.. - are you using artnet? which box?
.

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What is this problematic firmware? I am using an artistic licence catalynx on the server I bought and would be interested in knowing about the potential problems, but the hired server with the problem is on a CIB.

Mic

i have had 2 people using artnet boxes - output only - for dmx fixtures - report flickering dmx.
something to do with an rdm update for the etherlynx boxes.

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the problem you had was most likely heat related.
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Never had an issue with a CIB (except being unplugged from USB!) - The RDM compatible firmware on Artnet boxes has been known in few cases to cause DMX fluctuations, and therefore might explain the random white flashes - but not on the other 'cib' server... You should be able to downgrade the firmware to a non RDM version using 'DMX workshop' on a PC - check with Simon or Wayne at AL if you have any issues.

You should also be able to monitor this using the HUD in catalyst as discussed - either with a separate Mac over Ethernet - or on either of the servers (the one with the artnet box preferably...) any changes in DMX will be highlighted on cyan and seen if they are 'flickering' - alternatively - use an AL microscope (think you can do a flicker finder test on it??)

Try terminating the CIB DMX output if possible - most CIBs are auto-term, but I have had to terminate the DMX in the past.

Two other thought:

- Are either servers connected to your inter/intranet? It would be worth disabling any file sharing or VNC if its is enabled.

- Are you syncing playback across servers using sync id at any point when flashes occur?


However, it does seem like a heat issue - especially due to the random nature of it.

Re content freezing issue on the specific cue - still can't solve that one - will have a look at the system and content with the hog show when it returns next week. (don't delete the content!)

Cheers

S