Video Playback

[nicklmao]

Hi all. I'm a comedian and I use a big projector screen in my show. I've recently decided to add lighting and chose showxpress as it looks pretty easy to learn. I'm having problems with playing out video though...

If I move the Screen Control window to another monitor (the projector behaves as a second pc monitor) the video freezes. When I use the "Screen Mode" option all I get is a black screen.

Hoping someone can point me in the direction of being able to have reliable video playout as well as lighting control?

[Luc Henrion]

Mac? Windows? What OS? What graphic card (if any)? Does this setup work well with other software(s), if yes which one(s)? Give us as much precisions as you can please...

[nicklmao]

Thank you for replying. I am using a PC running win7, generic graphics card. For my shows I usually use windows media player which I like as the window is easily resized to fit the screen by double-clicking.

[Luc Henrion]

OK, let's go further...
CPU? RAM? What "Genreric" grahic card? There are many of them, like "Intel HD Graphics 520".
Do you have, by chance, another software that is able to display a video full screen on a second monitor, so you could check if it's related to showxpress only? You could try Cockos Reaper for instance (free trial download).
Also, what codec do you use to encode your video? I suspect this might be the culprit...

[nicklmao]

Hmmm, I had been trying this on my "editing" computer; but playing with Showxpress on my "show" computer seems to work better - I haven't tried with a second monitor or projector yet. I'll update when I've tried that

[nicklmao]

ok, I'm seeing the same behaviour on my other laptop - Video screen plays file, but freezes when moved to the projector side. If I try full screen mode it just displays a black screen which cannot be exited apart from restarting the Showxpress.

This is a win7 pc also; Intel Core i7 1.73 GHz 8GB RAM

Vegas Pro plays file ok, as does WMP and VLC (although you'd expect those to cope)

The file is an mpg2 720 x 576 25 FPS

I'll be upset if I can't get it working after investing in this dmx adaptor!

Oh! EDIT: Card is Nvidia GEForce 425M

[nicklmao]

In case anyone else has the same problem - I've fixed it It seems Showxpress really doesn't like my mpg2 files. It also wouldn't play an mp4 or a mov (it said codecs were missing but I am loathe to install codec packs) I've now found it will play an AVI or a WMV, so all I have to do now is re-render all of my videos. Phew!

[Luc Henrion]

Good to know. I was suspecting the codec indeed
If you ever use another software like Resolume for instance, you'd face the same issue: it only works with ONE codec (DXV3) that virtually no other software is able to use... Talk about compatibility.
But maybe you can "force" showxpress to see where your codecs are located? I don't know. Support ?

[support]

Our software uses the same codecs than "Windows Media Player".

Please play your media file with "Windows Media Player" (not "Film and TV") and tell us the result.

[nicklmao]

Plays in Windows Media Player without a problem