HDSync 1.2

[jaromil]

Network based sync-starter for multi-channel HD Video

The digital video syncstarter software is developed to provide synced playback of multiple videos on multiple screens.

In the video art field there are many artworks requiring the real-time synced playback of audio/video: HDSync provides such a functionality for HD decoders, to sync HD video playback on multiple devices.

A stable version of HDSync sourcecode is out: 1.2 codename "Time Based Arts" comes complete with sourcecode and a ready to use app.bin.


NEWS

If you are wondering why the hell one would sync the playback of multiple WDTV boxes, have a look at this Video Wall Project by Jeff Campbell which succesfully used the WDLXTV firmware and this HDSync app to run his 37 channel (THIRTY-SEVEN!) video wall. Cheers Jeff!

This release consists in a full rewrite of HDSync in C/C++ that eliminates most of the shell scripts, making it more portable and condensing operations into a single process for a lower latency. The freeze occurring after 4 hours looping is now fixed, along with a better network handshake mechanism using TCP broadcast (PGM) via the ZeroMQ library. Sync precision is also improved, but for a smooth loop transition video files need to have added 5 seconds black at beginning.

This is the very last release that will get development support by NIMk.nl.

If you like the development of this software to be continued, please consider hiring our support or making a donation to dyne.org

DOCUMENTATION


For more informations visit the homepage of the HDSync software on Syncstarter.org/hdsync and be sure to read the user manual.

A mailinglist is up to stay in touch with the user community, mostly artists and galleries adopting the technology, is open for subscriptions and archived online.

GeekNet fever? new releases are announced on Freecode, code analysis on Ohloh.

The sourcecode of HDSync is revisioned using GIT and is browsable on code.dyne.org/hdsync

STABLE STATUS

This software has been developed and tested on firmware version 1.02.21_WDLXTV.COM_WDLXTV_LIVE-0.4.7.3 using WDTV Live HD boxes, new models or firmware haven't been tested yet (experienced testers welcome!).

THIS PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM
IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

Before posing any question on the forum or mailinglist please make sure you read all the documentation available and in particular the user manual (UPDATED!)


Here you can download the HDSync.app.bin (latest version)


Here a brief scheme of how it works:

[noodlepringle]

Hi there

I've tried the binaries with almost every single version of WDLXTV and it appears that the key sequences it uses to move around the menus (IR Injection I believe?) are incorrect and don't end up successfully navigating to the correct area to start playback - which version of WDLXTV-Live have you been using to make this run?

I can see in the source code the key sequences which would be easy to change and recompile except I can't seem to figure out how to get the WD toolchain (doesn't seem to be offered on their site anymore?) - how have you normally gone about this?

Many thanks in advance

[jaromil]

A new release is out since a while
works way better than the one before, thanks to AVRemote.... but still not perfect.
feedback welcome esp. experienced testing, this thing still needs some serious bugsquashing.

ciao

[jaromil]

here we go with a new release, a new homepage for the project and even a mailinglist to stay in touch about it (still using this forum is also fine, long live WDLXTV!)

[nlue]

Someone suggested using this script to to check the status of the player ever so many seconds so that the videos don't freeze after 4-6hours.
It says the script is to be used 'inside the crontab'. How do I do this??

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

. $APPROOT/bin/utils-sync.sh

watchdogtimer=1641    #timeout in seconds, movielength + some
timer=0

# loop continuously
while [ true ]; do

    sleep 5
    timer=`expr $timer + 5`

    # check the state of the video
    state=`upnp-cmd GetTransportInfo | awk '/CurrentTransportState/ {print $3}'`

    if [ "$state" != $laststate ]; then
   echo "`date +%T` watchdog timer reset after state change to $state"
   timer=0     # reset timer
    fi

    if [ $timer -gt $watchdogtimer ]; then
   echo "`date +%T` watchdog timer exceeded, trying to resolve"
   upnp-cmd stop
   sleep 5
   upnp-cmd stop
   timer=watchdogtime-60
    fi
    laststate="$state"
done

[recliq]

1. Please use code tags!
2. Read the Wiki: http://wiki.wdlxtv.com/Crontab

[nlue]

I read it already. Does the quoted code get pasted into the /conf/S99user-script file or does the cron file call the script using the syntax:

Code: Select all

# min   hour    mday    month   wday    command
*/1     *       *       *       *   /conf/root/myscript

[mad_ady]

To configure tasks to be executed, you should execute the following commands through telnet/ssh:

crontab -e

Run the command above and paste the code you want (with the timing you want) and save the crontab. It will create a file called /conf/root with the text you input. The crontab command validates your input and installs the tasks.

[recliq]

Let me google this for you...
http://adminschoice.com/crontab-quick-reference

[Zirok]

Edit:

Disregard my stupidity. I made the hdsync.conf file on notepad on a windows machine, and it still made some changes to the format of the file.
After I made the conf file on nano on the box itself, it worked fine. Now if I could just fix that 4h 30min freeze on em.

I tried the watchdog script , but it didn't help.