DL3 fixture video speeds

In short, yes it is possible. There are many factors that could cause inconsistent playback between fixtures:

1) Always the most important is Content and how it's encoded. Things like not having all i-frames, no End of Sequence headers, interlaced encoding instead of progressive, etc. can all cause slight variations in how the videos will playback. If you are seeing this with stock content, then none of those things should be factors since all of the stock content is encoded properly. However, if you are using User Content, be sure that it is encoded properly. I will be happy to take a look at a piece or two of the content and check it for encoding.

2) How the movie playback is being started. We always recommend a 'set-up' cue that loads the movie and puts it into the "Pause and Rewind" play mode. Then, on the next cue, fade up the intensity/opacity and put the movie into "Loop forward" play mode. This process makes sure that the movies start at the same time. If you simply load the movies directly into loop forward and start them that way, there is a good chance the movies will not start at the same time due to differences in loading times between fixtures. You could see up to 1/4 second difference right off the bat unless the first process is followed.

3) Computer hardware. You said they run "similar" hardware, but how similar? Small differences in the computer hardware can cause large differences in playback.

4) Just the general way in which Windows XP and Windows applications work. Each computer has its own clock that the graphics engine application runs against, and the clocks are not sync'ed to anything. Also, we have tried to slim down the application and operating system as much as possible, but there are still background processes and other things running on the DL servers that can cause slight variations in playback performance.

There's more to it, but these are just some of the reasons why network sync was created in the first place. When Collage Generator was first implemented (which was before network sync worked properly), we were happy when we could get two DL servers to stay in sync for a minute before there was noticeable playback drift. We have made a few playback improvements since then, but the big leap came with network sync. We always recommend using it for Collaging or in situations where two or more servers need to keep their movies in time.

Hope this helps. I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Thanks,

In short, yes it is possible. There are many factors that could cause inconsistent playback between fixtures:

1) Always the most important is Content and how it's encoded. Things like not having all i-frames, no End of Sequence headers, interlaced encoding instead of progressive, etc. can all cause slight variations in how the videos will playback. If you are seeing this with stock content, then none of those things should be factors since all of the stock content is encoded properly. However, if you are using User Content, be sure that it is encoded properly. I will be happy to take a look at a piece or two of the content and check it for encoding.

2) How the movie playback is being started. We always recommend a 'set-up' cue that loads the movie and puts it into the "Pause and Rewind" play mode. Then, on the next cue, fade up the intensity/opacity and put the movie into "Loop forward" play mode. This process makes sure that the movies start at the same time. If you simply load the movies directly into loop forward and start them that way, there is a good chance the movies will not start at the same time due to differences in loading times between fixtures. You could see up to 1/4 second difference right off the bat unless the first process is followed.

3) Computer hardware. You said they run "similar" hardware, but how similar? Small differences in the computer hardware can cause large differences in playback.

4) Just the general way in which Windows XP and Windows applications work. Each computer has its own clock that the graphics engine application runs against, and the clocks are not sync'ed to anything. Also, we have tried to slim down the application and operating system as much as possible, but there are still background processes and other things running on the DL servers that can cause slight variations in playback performance.

There's more to it, but these are just some of the reasons why network sync was created in the first place. When Collage Generator was first implemented (which was before network sync worked properly), we were happy when we could get two DL servers to stay in sync for a minute before there was noticeable playback drift. We have made a few playback improvements since then, but the big leap came with network sync. We always recommend using it for Collaging or in situations where two or more servers need to keep their movies in time.

Hope this helps. I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Thanks,