Video Problems

It has been said: "The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from". The field of video file formats is littered with "standards", some proprietary and some public domain. Research the MPEG format and you will find it contains many "parts" and this results in variations of the MPEG format. Handling the different formats is implemented via video codecs, but there are multiple codecs available for the same formats. The end result of this dog's breakfast is that it is difficult to include in SCS a video playback facility that can successfully handle all formats.

After a lot of research an experimentation, we have found the TVideoGrabber (TVG) playback library to be the most suitable for use with SCS.

Note: Before going further in trying to resolve video issues, make sure you have the latest LAVFilters installed and that you are using TVideoGrabber (TVG) as the video playback library in SCS. This combination has been found to work very well with all video file formats we've tried. If you have done this and still have video playback problems, then read on, or contact support@showcuesystems.com.

Here are some problems that have been reported by users, and suggestions on how to overcome them.

One of the more frequently asked questions is how to recover when windows loses connection to an external monitor / projector. This can be caused by a loose cable or and intermittent wireless network connection. At this point windows loses all connection and memory of the display. In order to get the display back windows has to negotiate with the display and create a new connection before allowing the display to be created internally in windows which can take quite a few seconds.

One method that can help is to use an EDID device between the PC and the monitor. This device is normally a small inline HDMI, DVI or VGA device that acts to windows as a display device and passes the video signal through to the monitor. Their original purpose is to correct display Id message corruption but they are a monitor emulator which enables them to give windows a stable monitor connection even if the actual monitor is turned off or disconnected.

We have tested SCS with a LINDY 32115 HDMI 2.0 EDID Emulator from www.lindy.co.uk

To windows it behaves like a monitor with a wide range of resolution settings and is capable of cloning the video resolution passing through it.

This method will not work for inbuilt wireless video connections, due the fragility of a wireless connection particularly in a show environment. We would recommend that you use wired interfaces wherever possible. One method of extending your HDMI is to use a CAT5/6/7 converter box to send the signal down standard Cat5/6/7 cable and a receiver box at the far end to convert back to HDMI.

This can occur if the video playback library runs out of resources to pre-load all the video files it is trying to load. This is most likely to occur if you are using video hotkey cues because SCS tries to pre-load files for all hotkey cues so they are ready for 'instant' playback. If this is the case in your production then set the property Do NOT Pre-Load Video Hotkey Cues. You can set this property in Production Properties - Run Time Settings. After saving your changes, close and restart SCS. Although there may now be a slight delay in starting a video hotkey cue, tests have shown that this delay is quite small.

If you lose connection to the secondary screen (eg due to a faulty HDMI cable) then SCS will attempt to recover from this situation. It's not a 100% guaranteed solution, but SCS will (a) detect if a screen has been disconnected or connected, and (b) attempt to reposition and resize the video/image targets. The following warning message will be displayed in the status line of the main window: "The number of connected screens has changed. SCS will try to recover but we recommend you close and restart SCS."

You will be able to access the 'close window' X marker, etc, as well as the SCS toolbar and/or menu items.

The checks on screens being disconnected or connected are not made if your production does not use any secondary screens (eg if there are no video/image cues).

Microsoft has provided a number of Video Renderers over the life of Windows versions. If you find that your videos do not play on the second screen, then try changing the Video Renderer. You change this setting in Options and Settings - Video Driver Settings.

I have a Matrox DualHead2Go/TripleHead2Go and I can only configure this as a stretched display

Matrox tech support have advised us that their GXM units can only configure the connected displays as a single stretched display unless you have a Matrox graphics card that supports independent mode. To get around this limitation you can go to Options and Settings - Video Driver Settings in SCS and configure the stretched display as independent displays for the 'Screen' in Video/Image Cues.