Show Control

Onlyview features multiple capabilities to run a recurring show autonomously.

Running a show autonomously

Powering the main computer

The main computer will typically be auto-started each morning by one of two means:

Starting Producer

Producer needs to be auto-started when Windows boots. This setup currently needs to be done manually. Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc to open the Windows’ Task Manager, go in the startup tasks tab, create a new one, and navigate to "C:\Program Files\Onlyview\ov_producer.exe"

In Producer Options (File -> Producer Options), you also need to check “Load last show when Producer starts”, otherwise it will remain on the startup screen.

Powering the Displays

The Displays can be turned on either with the same mechanism, or via WakeOnLan (which must be enabled in each BIOS).

Create a new timeline dedicated to the show control, and make it auto-start :

Then, from the OBJECTS tab, drag&drop each Display in a Command layer, and select Wake On LAN. It is recommended to spread all the commands to avoid power consumption spikes.

Powering the projectors

Create a PJLink device for each projector, then add “Set Power On” CommandCues.

Automatically starting Displays

Onlyview’s installer configures Windows to automatically start Watchdog during boot. In turn, Watchdog can auto-start Display. You can configure this in DisplaySetup; either directly on the computer via displaysetup.exe, or via Producer. Double-click on a Display to open the Edit Display popup, select the desired Display, go in the DisplaySetup tab, and click “Automatically start Display when Windows boots”.

Connecting to the Displays

From the OBJECTS tab, drag the PRODUCER item on a Command layer, and create a “Set All Online” cue :

Start the show at a fixed hour

There are two main ways to handle this. You can either use a Clock device, or the ActionGraph. The ActionGraph method is more flexible, and will be used in the rest of this document, but this section explains both.

Clock device

This way, when booting:

ActionGraph

Create an “On Time” node, and connect it to a “Timeline controls” node, in which you can start a timeline at a given timecode.

You can also have different hours for different days by adding a second On Time node.

Make the start time configurable from the WebPanel

In a UserScreen, add two Integer Value widgets

(don’t forget to re-lock the UserScreen afterwards)

In the ActionGraph, add 2 “Get Spinbox” nodes. Pick each widget : press on the small picker, then drag it over the desired widget in the userscreen

Connect “Value” to “Hour” and “Minute” respectively

Connect “Changed” to “Specified time changed”; this way, each click on the spinbox will update the timer.

If needed, you can make this interface accessible via the WebPanel.

Controlling external equipment

Onlyview can control, and be controlled by, many protocols. Please refer to the Devices section.

Standalone Displays

During a normal show, the Displays are controlled by Producer. However, for fixed installations, Onlyview can also operate in “standalone” mode, without a dedicated Producer.

One of the Displays operates as the Cluster Master – it acts as the Producer. The other Displays work as usual.

Initial setup

First, the show needs to be built normally, with Producer. Once it is ok, make sure to do an Online (Ctrl-O). This will save the show on each Display, in the cache folder, for later access (usually: D:/cacheV3/{ShowName}/show.xml)

Then, configure one of the Displays as the Producer replacement: In the Edit Display dialog, go in the DisplaySetup tab :

Select “Cluster Master Without Producer”.

The show name must be the name of your .olv file, but without the extension. For instance, if your show is “soissons.olv”, enter “soissons”. If you’re unsure, this is the folder name in the cache folder (D:/cacheV3/).

Display ID corresponds to which Display the cluster master is, in the Display List. It is usually 1.

During normal operations, you will probably want to check “Automatically start Display when Windows boots”.

These settings can also be configured directly on the Display, using Display Setup, in the Permanent Installation tab.

Running the show

Once these settings are applied, Producer can be closed. When starting, the Cluster Master will:

You can now configure an auto-boot in the computer’s BIOS, or use a third-party system to Wake On Lan. All the servers will boot, start Display, and the Cluster Master will put them Online.

Updating the show

If you need to update the show at some point, you can re-connect a Producer in the network.

You can keep the Cluster Master as-is – no need to reconfigure it in a Normal Display.

Once your changes are done, you need to do a last Ctrl-O, so that all the Displays have their own up-to-date show. Make sure that all Displays are shown in green, otherwise some Displays will not play the correct content.

Solo

If you have a simple show with just one Display and no Producer,

A Display can also be configured in Solo mode; in this case, the show should only contain one Display, and the Solo Display will run alone, without making any network communication.

Troubleshooting

The changes are not propagated from Producer

When the Cluster Master does an Online, it assumes that all the other Displays have an up-to-date copy of the show, and of all the media – it is Producer’s job to upload all these files. So at startup, the Cluster Master does NOT re-upload the show.

The consequence is that you absolutely need to do a Ctrl-O on all Displays before using the Cluster Master mode. Just doing a Ctrl-S in Producer as usual is not enough.

The Displays don’t play anything after a reboot

When the Cluster Master starts, it immediately does an Online. So at that point, all the other Displays must already be up-and-running (showing black).

The best way to handle this is to enable the “Auto-reconnect” feature in the show options (File -> Show options).

You can also make the Cluster Master boot one or two minutes later. This way, when it starts, all the normal Displays will be ready, and the Online will succeed.

The Displays are not in sync with the Cluster Master

When starting the Cluster Master, the Displays may show content, but not at the correct timecode. The system can take up to 10 seconds to synchronize.

Remote control

Producer itself can be controlled by an external software. The current show can thus be changed remotely, different sequences can be triggered…

“Accept remote commands” must be checked in Producer options (File -> Producer options).

In the content tab, the status icon will turn green when the control software connects, and red when the connection is lost.

It is also possible to directly control a Display, if it acts as a Producer (Cluster Master or Solo; see the “Standalone Displays” section). In this case, only the following actions are executed: Pause, Loop, Timeline Actions (except lock / unlock timecode), Screen Action. Other actions are ignored.

Network protocol

Producer listens for TCP/IP connections on port 3055.

loadshow*path_to_olv [M]

Loads a show.

Ex: loadshow*c:\\test.olv

Does not automatically put all the Displays online.

play*timelineID*timecode [M][S][C]

Plays a specific timeline at the given timecode. If the timecode is omitted, the timeline continues from its current position. The timecode is either expressed in milliseconds, or in HH:MM:SS:mmm format, with mmm in milliseconds.

Ex: play*1*1000 plays timeline 1 at 1 second.

locate*timelineID*timecode [M][S][C]

Locates a timeline at the given timecode, and pauses it.

setgrandmaster*timelineID*position*fadetime [M][S][C]

Executes a fading of a timeline’s GrandMaster.

position: Between 0 (black) and 100 (full).

fadetime: transition time in milliseconds.

Ex: setgrandmaster*3*100*4000 : timeline 3 fades in, in 4 seconds.

settimelineon*timelineID*on [M][S][C]

Turns a timeline on or off.

on: 0 for off, 1 for on.

resetblind*timelineID [M][S][C]

Resets all the layers’ blinds on a timeline

setlayerblind*timelineID*type*layerID*state [M][S][C]

Blinds or unblinds a layer.

type: 0 for command layers, 2 for media layers.

state: 1 for blind, 0 for normal

resetsolo*timelineID [M][S][C]

Removes all the solo flags on the layers of a timeline

setlayersolo*timelineID*type*layerID*state [M][S][C]

Sets a layer in solo mode.

type: 0 for command layers, 2 for media layers.

state: 1 for solo, 0 for normal

launchquickkey*quickkeyID [M]

Executes a quickkey

online [M]

Producer only. Puts all the Displays Online.

offline [M]

Producer only. Disconnects from all the Displays

shutdownmaster [M]

Producer only. Turns off the computer.

rebootmaster [M]

Producer only. Reboots the computer.

statetimeline*timelineID [M][S][C]

Returns the state of a timeline.

Ex: statetimeline*4 will send back statetimeline*4*[on]*[timecode]*[gm]

on: 0 for off, 1 for on

timecode: the timecode in milliseconds

gm: the grandmaster between 0 and 100.

positiontimeline*timelineID [M][S][C]

Returns the timecode of a timeline.

Ex: positiontimeline*4 will send back positiontimeline*4*[timecode]

timecode: the timecode in milliseconds

screenstatus*displayID [M][S][C]

Returns the status of a Display

Ex: screenstatus*4 will send back the state of Display #4 : screenstatus*4*[state]

state: 0 if never connected yet; 1 if disconnected; 2 if connection in progress; 3 if connected; 4 if error.

shutdownscreen*displayID [M][S][C]

Turns off a computer.

rebootscreen*displayID [M][S][C]

Reboots a computer.

wolscreen*displayID [M][S][C]

Sends a Wake On LAN to a computer.

The WOL feature must be enabled in the BIOS, and the master must know the MAC address of the target Display. The normal way for this, is to make a normal Ctrl-O once during the installation.

displaytestpattern*num [M][S][C]

Shows a test pattern

Id=0 : None

Id=1 : Small Test Pattern

Id=2 : Horizontal Black Level

Id=3 : Vertical Black Level

Id=4 : Chessboard

Id=5 : Onlyview Logo

Id=6 : SMPTE SD ColorBar

Id=7 : SMPTE HD ColorBar

Id=8 : OSD