MediaMaster latency test on the A10 Media Server
Apr/100
On the support, we sometimes have to answer questions about the latency between the live input and output on computers running MediaMaster. We know this a concern for most users but actually, there’s no straight answer since the amount of latency you will get will depend on a lot of different hardware and software parameters and therefore will vary depending on your own setup.
In a perfect world, we would have zero frame delay but unfortunately this is not possible with current computer hardware; the simple fact that a computer is processing video already adds one frame of input delay, that frame is needed for the computer to store the complete image before having it processed by the video card. Then you can add another frame of output delay, caused by the video card processing the image. Before or after that, each device that is added to the pipeline – such as a camera, a mixer, a LED controller or a projector – will add some delay into the processing. In the end, if the delay becomes too big you will notice that the sound and the video are out of sync, for example you will hear the voice of the speaker before his lips start moving on the screen.
If we cannot tell what the latency will be with your setup, we can however provide you with a point of comparison by measuring how many frames are needed to process a live input on an ideal setup: MediaMaster running on one of our A10 Media Servers that are specially built and configured to get the most out of our software.
Why software genlock at 60 FPS does matter!
Sep/091
MediaMaster 1.1 brings important modifications to our video engine and particularly how the video synchronization and multi threading decoding is processed. It has been optimized to perform what can be called “software genlock” in order to ensure the best possible fluidity on computers equipped with multi core processors.
The genlocking we refer to is the action of locking the frequency of a media to a reference signal or clock (check out the related wikipedia article for a complete explanation).
Let’s examine quickly the process of displaying frames. Roughly, 3 steps must be acheived:
- get video frames from the disk
- upload them to the graphic card
- do the composition / blending of the layers and present them to the display
Now let’s describe how these steps are achieved without genlock and with genlock:
Create a clip with GrandVJ and Tenori-ON
Jul/090
Blindskunk, an ArKaos GrandVJ user from Australia we found on Twitter has made an interesting experience about creating an audio/visual clip using GrandVJ and Yamaha’s Tenori-ON.
The interest of this experience is that Blindskunk uses the musical instrument capabilities from the Tenori-ON to produce the music and at the same time its MIDI controller capabilities to trigger GrandVJ visuals in sync. To do so, he has linked every channel and button from the Tenori-ON to a visual in GrandVJ, and got that visual to play in time to the changes.
He has kindly shared with us a detailed log of his experimentation further below, including a MIDI template to use the Tenori-ON with GrandVJ.
But before you read any further, for those of you who don’t know about the Tenori-ON, here’s another clip from Blindskunk where you can see him using it as controller for GrandVJ:
GrandVJ, Ableton Live and Akai MPD24
Jun/092
Note: This is an un-edited post originally written by Modemasters (G’day Adelaide!) on VJ Forums, but we thought it might be worth having a copy here. Although focused on the MPD24, it’s a good general overwiew of using GrandVJ with Ableton Live and MIDI controllers.
Huge thanks to Modemasters for having done such a clear Tutorial!
New sync experiments at WWDC
Jun/091
Fraktus used the opportunity of having the compatibility lab at WWDC to put his synced visual network player at test with Snow Leopard and 6 computers (1 server, 5 clients). The clients are some low end Macs, Mac Mini, iMacs and a MacBook Pro.
Here is the result:
Visuals synced over a network of players
May/094
Here’s the latest idea from Fraktus (our Code Guru); a way to distribute visual content over a network of players. Note that it’s just a prototype and will not necessarily become a software feature or product.
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