dosxuk

Those Pulsar dimmers can be wired as single or three phase, changed by moving some metal bars around internally where the supply wiring comes in. Without tracing the cabling it would be impossible to work out which they are currently wired for, as when set up for single phase usage, it just splits the single phase to the three separate phases internally (the dimmers are basically designed around three 2 channel single phase dimmer modules). When fed with a single phase supply, all three phase supply neons on the front panel will light.

The BLU-3 is a simple analogue controller with no digital design elements - it is connected to the logic ports on the back of the processor - and is fully compatible with both the London Architect and Audio Architect versions of the software. Connections are shown in the BLU-3 installation manual - https://bssaudio.com/en/product_documents/blu3_igpdf - showing it as having two logic outputs, one for level and one for source, and a ground reference. Audio Architect gives details on how to configure the "control port" connections in the help file (accessed from the question mark in the far top right of the window) in the Workflow > Soundweb London Mode > Control Inputs and following sections. There is an equivalent set of pages in the London Architect help files, starting at External Control Options > Soundweb London Control Options. Basically the BLU-3 will give you control over a slider and a source selector, I can't remember the exact details of how to link them in either version as the logic ports are just a bit weird in their configuration, but it is possible to do this on both versions. Finally, if you can see, but not connect to a BLU device, it normally means it's on a different network IP range. The NetSetter application which comes with Audio Architect is pretty good at finding devices on the physical network, even when the actual software (London / Audio) can't connect to the device. If NetSetter can find it, then you can get it's current IP and then set your computer to the same range, which should then allow the design software to talk to the box.

Probably just a combination of a desk deciding to only send out data for the channels that it is controlling, and very simple receive code in the fixtures, which only start to process a packet when it has received a full complement of channel data. In other words, not a fundamental issue with DMX, desks or fixtures, but something that can crop up if you're unlucky.

I believe the three holes for the stock ceiling mount are M3 and the tripod mount is a standard camera thread - 1/4 20 UNC. Both sizes are readily available in the UK.

I would be very wary of using 10mm (or thinner) threaded rod for suspension in this way - not because of any concerns over strength or it failing, but because the amount of flex when you move your camera, or anything else attached to the truss, will result in wobble. Will probably be fine for a locked off wide angle camera though. Sadly I've had to use a set up involving multiple cameras suspended like this and it was a nightmare to film with - we ended up using a load of steel wire with gripples to tension the whole drop and keep it steady, something that was far from pretty but was quick and easy to add on. Doing it from scratch again, we'd either have used proper drop bars from the likes of unicol or doughty, or gone with much thicker rod - probably M16+.

Unless you've got multiple networks into your building, supplied by different suppliers, running on geographically separate routes, there's a simple answer - you're not. Unless you're a vulnerable customer, or pay through the nose, even with copper lines Openreach won't prioritise a repair to your line if it gets cut, blown down, miswired or any other number of reasons for the line to go dead, and the other network providers aren't much better. We deal with sites who've had no broadband for weeks while Openreach deal with a tree that's taken their line down, even in central London. We've got another site who recently lost all access for nearly a week after their main fibre and backup vdsl lines were both cut by a digger near their building. Another site relies on 4G connectivity, but all-but-lost that when their local mast was taken out of service for a few days. And, as you've discovered Paul, even if you've got all that physical separation and redundancy, a failure or collapse at your ISP can still leave you disconnected with significant times to get reconnected. Loss of internet connectivity really should be a high priority item in business continuity / disaster recovery plans for most businesses these days, unfortunately it seems that the arrival of cheap, easy broadband access has removed the concern about what if it fails from many places, even though the reliance on a working connection has gone through the roof.

I'd be surprised if it isn't HDCP related. The big clue is a picture being visible for a few frames and then going black. Converters like the Decimators / Blackmagic don't support HDCP - it's not supposed to be available on anything that will give you a decrypted version of the source signal otherwise it would just give people a cheap and easy option to remove the copyright protection. Mac's are notorious for turning on HDCP for no reason, even when just displaying their desktop.

Mixing UV and haze / smoke is something that is done up and down the country every night of the week in nightclubs and bars - and they don't all look like walls of fluorescent blue clouds inside! As with most smoke effects, if you over-do it, then you'll have problems, but I suspect you'll be having bigger problems with the rest of your lighting if you get to the point where it will be causing issues with the UV.

The security arrangements will also be very very different for permanent BBC facilities versus their use of a corporate box for a studio on an outside broadcast of a football match.

OBS (with a plugin) and Caspar CG (natively) can both be used to keystone a captured video feed in real time (although both have a few frames of delay).

Does the venue know and have confirmed that you are part of a visiting production? I've heard of similar stories in the past where such documentation is only available to those directly associated with a production with a booking for that venue - especially when people have used a personal email addresses with no visible connection to a booking. Normally solved by a known contact for the production sending a "xxx - abc@xyz.tld - is our production manager, can you provide him with access to your documentation" type message to the venue.

We've been told a few times recently by suppliers that an item has been discontinued, but upon checking with the manufacturer, what they actually mean is "there are none available and nobody can tell us when (or if) they will become available". The items aren't actually discontinued, but with the chip shortage going on, the manufacturers aren't able to source the correct parts or get realistic timescales on when they might get some*, so aren't currently building the products. * one product we were using the manufacturer have been quoted a lead time of around six weeks per chip. Not per batch of a thousand - per individual chip. That product line is on hold until it can either be redesigned or the availability of the components changes.

I've attached thousands of D-type connectors using a nut driver and I'm yet to find a connector type where there isn't space. Using a nut driver and electric screwdriver takes me literally seconds to put them together. Probably spend more time picking the bits than the assembly.

If it's not the whole image with the weird colouring, then that generally rules out the lamp. In my experience those symptoms would immediately suggest the LCD panel is on its way out.

When you get to work with a good, knowledgeable and correct-subject consultant, I've rarely had any actual issues (and the ones who have been problems are probably better described as cowboys rather than consultants - the sort of people who's entire work ethic is cheapest price and lowest cost). But it's when you get forced to use the IT consultant because you want to buy something with a network port; the facilities consultant because it has a power plug; or worse, the architect who's decided that they know more than all those money wasters and can sort it all out themselves (for a price, naturally) it can all go very wrong very quickly.

I think from your message you're talking about two different technologies - correct me if I'm wrong (I blame consumer marketing for this nonsense) - but you have an LED wall at the back - individual LED pixels on panels that form a wall; and four "LED" monitors - LCD TV's with LED backlights - mounted to the tracks? On the "LED" monitors you'll pretty much always get this - the LED backlight will be on all the time, even when the screen is being sent a black image. There are some screens which will dynamically adjust the backlight brightness down to zero with a black screen, but it can take a while to find the correct combinations of options to do this. On the other hand, with an LED wall, the only time I've ever seen this is either when an analogue signal is being sent to the screen and it's not set up right; and/or someone has been playing with the screen settings, boosting brightness/contrast settings and raising the black level so that black is actually displayed as a dark gray. How are you actually distributing the video feeds? HDMI / SDI / Displayport / VGA / analogue video?

Braided sleeving for permanent looms - you can reduce the fraying issue by folding it back in on itself so the loose end is tucked inside the braid by several inches (this also gives you the advantage you can pull the braid back a bit if you need a bit more separation of cables on the odd occasion. Always use the size above what you think would be best to increase flexibility. For temporary (even long term temporary), I'd always tape it. As others have said, make sure you're using decent tape and cutting it, otherwise it will peel off at the slightest provocation. I've known taped looms that have had over 10 years of regular use to still be in good condition. The only times stickiness has been an issue is where people have used the 50p rolls of tape that don't stick, or made such a bad job of cutting it that it's sliding around from day one. Cable ties are an absolute no go, I've been known to cut them up on sight, not only do they slice your hands open, the sort of people who think they're a good idea often do them up so tight that the cable is crushed.

HDMI to HD-SDI converters are pretty cheap and will then happily do 40m on semi-decent coax. Only real constraint is video resolutions - you need to be using a broadcast resolution (rather than a computer one) - e.g. 1280x720 or 1920x1080 rather than 1024x768.

Give up worrying about latency - your staff at home don't (shouldn't!) care if the video they are seeing is delayed by 30s from real life. Once you enable low-latency mode on streaming stuff you're telling everything that you're less worried about a stable/reliable stream than you are about getting it to your audience as quickly as possible. Use OBS rather than the web browser streaming options - they're designed for quickly throwing something together and for mobile phone pop-up streams - not 24/hour continuous feeds.

There is a world of difference between just doing that and posting on a professional forum asking questions about doing so. If anyone came on here asking about issues with using hacked versions of WYSIWYG, or ways to get around the feature limitations of chamsys when run on cheap hardware, I'd expect a similar reaction and very likely a mod closing the thread in short notice. Add me to the list of people surprised by a member of forum staff advocating the use of knock off hardware on here (that said, it in no way affects my opinion of Paul's ability to moderate and he should reconsider leaving).

There's a definite art to reading through the blackmagic marketing nonsense and finding out exactly what combination of features each product contains. Wouldn't be half as bad of they had sensible names but that would make things too easy.

No, it's only the TV Studio Pro 4K that has the built in scalers. The TV Studio HD (rack mount) and TV Studio Pro HD (desktop) don't have that feature. The only rack mount version with that feature is the Constellation - the 8K mixer.

Worth pointing out this isn't some sort of amatuer cheat, it's done in live broadcast all the time. Any complicated sequence that can be pre-recorded will be. The news at ten on BBC is pre-recorded every night through to the end of the titles. Loads of live sports will have opening sequences recorded just before on-air. If you think back to Saturday night lottery gameshows, almost all of them were recorded months in advance, even though the actual draw was live, with the same presenter in the same clothes or references between the live and recorded parts. Basically, don't think of it as a cop-out, think of it as a tool for making a better show for your audience, which is what everyone really wants.

They've said they're actively looking into this, but that the short notice between what-is-going-to-happen and this-is-happening meant they're having to treat the UK as they do the majority of the rest of the world are the moment (they do have similar arrangements in place for a handful of countries). Judging by the speed that UPS deal with our issues, I'd guess it's a minimum of six months before they'll be able to offer an all-in-one price, and of course, by then, all the rules over inspection and enforcement are changing, so the costs to the courier could well go up significantly.

Quoted for emphasis - I can't agree more. And it's missing the key question - would you use/buy/install this product. I couldn't care less about the colour palette or logo since I don't think it's a practical product in the real world.