Aside from the visualiser issues, from a programming standpoint, I question why there is a need for Hog PC for a Mac. An expensive truth is that most current Macs can run Windows, switching back and forth is easy, and then the mac can be used as a console or a remote. Furthermore, you can buy a laptop which will run HogPC for less than that cost of the Windows software. For example, last summer we ran 9 universes of movers and conventionals, 2 Hog3 consoles and a tablet for focusing off an 1.6 GHz Intel Celeron laptop with 736MB (not GB) of RAM as a server. During programming, we did everything we could to make the rig go down and it did not crash. That laptop is almost 6 years old.
I think there are other pressing issues, like the implementation of macros, etc. I mean, how many years did we wait for a "mark" feature?
I've been a Mac user since 1986, I know what I prefer. But emotions aside, what really are the compelling arguments for a Mac version? Sure it'd be nice to have it in a nice familiar interface, but aside from that, what would be gained by all the effort and (probably fairly rocky) road to implementation?
PS:iPhone/iPod Touch remote, works just fine with the HogPC, thanks to Jon Griffin and Scott Barnes....hope they don't mind me calling them out... www.housetohalf.net/iphone/iPhone/iPhone.html
[QUOTE=dslodki;42248]PS:iPhone/iPod Touch remote, works just fine with the HogPC, thanks to Jon Griffin and Scott Barnes....hope they don't mind me calling them out... www.housetohalf.net/iphone/iPhone/iPhone.html
Awe thanks! Don't mind at all. That's why we made it. Get it in the hands. BTW: there's a few new screens coming this week thanks to Scott.
As far as Mac Hog3PC...I've made my voice known above. Would I like it, YES. Do we need it? Not right now. If everything else was 99% finished and it was a "how can we spend our time right now?" then absolutely. Right now just isn't the time.
Development on the console is at a HUGE pace right now. Things are getting fixed, added, finalized and I love seeing the progress. I wouldn't even think of slowing that down for something along the lines of Mac Hog3PC. I would like to see MacCMA come further along but until the console has more features done, I'd say wait.
As a group we would like to do it however there are some serious hurdles to overcome..
1. Debian Linux != MACOS - There a tons of differences from a linux perspective where we today we can't just compile on Mac and we get it for free
2. User interface - It took us over a year from Hog3 (linux) to release Hog3 PC due to the many changes in how different the UI behaves.
3. Testing / Development load - Each new platform causes each release cycle to take longer and longer as platform specific issues come up and we must test on each new platform
4. Resources - We currently do not have many MAC developers in house.. (I am the only one who knows it). This would also mean our support guys would also have to become MAC savy.
5. We give away Hog3 PC away for free - We have looked at this as an investment where it would cost quite a bit to develop a MAC solution and the return didn't seem large enough offset the costs/issues above.
Given all that, we do anticipate in the not too distant future to have a MAC based connectivity driver. As we go along, we are choosing technologies that close the technology gap that hopefully will lower the technology hurdle and make it more viable.
I hope this gives you guys an insight as to where we stand on this topic..
That project is already under way.. We have larger plans for it but we are building te framework for it now
we need a smaller client footprint.. We want feedback, control, specific editors, etc
we have started this endeavor.. We see the need but do not want to build a iPhone specific client. We want to build a framework where any small client be it a visualier or a remote unit works pretty much the same way
currently to make a iPhone app useful we need to be able to see, edit, manipulate, and control every paletter/cue/list/master.
You can try to limit it to just remote focus but by the time u made that useful enough you have what I just described
we have spent the last few years rewriting every part of hog 3.. Now we have only playback part.. In order to build complete and seemless features we need the building blocks to be sound.
V3.1 is a stepping stone for us as we finished the ui to data changes and our ability to move data aroud efficiently. The next release is focused primarily on user level features and less infrastructure
i hope that helps. We do have plans and it is on our roadmap..
[quote=Steve Harper;41109] In general, it occurs to me that, as lighting and video continue to mush together, there's an increasing demand to get video assets and control interfaces to cooperate with each other. Apple OS will surely need to be a part of the picture in my mind, since much video editing and compression is Apple-centric. Now that Barco and HES are together ... and all recent HES fixtures entries have been of a video or pixel mapping nature, it seems logical to me that their control platform be evolving alongside the other products. Is the logical next evolution of Wholehog not a significant step toward real video control?
All the HES fixture entries of a video nature are windows based MediaServers The best and most powerfull MediaServer I know is the HippotizerHD v3.. There ain't a MAC based Server that can tip on Hippo's speed and ease.. Hippo uses onboard chip programming of it's output cards.. Which makes it so fast.. I use Catalyst now for over 4 years and I'm very happy with it, but it's realy not as fast and easy to use as a Hippo... Another power of windows is their SLI technology.. That's way better integrated in DirectX than in Mac.. DirectX is not only there for the games, now a days you have the aero stuff in windows which is rendered by DirectX and also my WYG screens are redered by it.. And what do you need in a mediaserver not compressing and not editing the video.. Playback the video and alter it's looks.. So basicly rendering new images constantly.. That's the only thing I don't like of mac.. And as much as I like Mac.. I think it's not the right thing for now.. As Robbie already said, it takes too much time in a lot of area's.. (Testing Developing Service etc)
As a side note with catalyst, 10.6 brought a massive speed boost to the graphics and the playback of video. It now roughly gets twice the performance of what a 10.5 machine did. Its all in the hard drives though. There are still a lot of catalyst systems that aren't using SSD's which degrades the performance massively.
That's true! SSD is a part of the solution.. I'm waiting for hologram technology.. That's gonna be fast.. But untill then I hope the output cards can keep up with all the data a processor can get from a SSD drive... And ofcourse all the side effects warmth and stuff.. I hope they can manage!
[QUOTE=stephlight;42552]Something Like that: forums.highend.com/showthread.php?t=5546 ?
No, i mean a remote directly to the Console via W-Lan like the Grandma Remote. I tried the Snatch Remote, but its not very usefull if i need to do a Network via Laptop to the Console.
[quote=nibor;42598]MAC please windows is dead Marty
Yeah...sure....right..........a quote I am fond of using is: "You cannot win an argument with a fool who is not burdened with the facts".
If you really want to have a rational discussion on the pros and cons of both PCs and Macs....feel free to e-mail me privately....I won't take the bait and turn this thread into something different. ;)
