[spectre] The last Syncstarter by Montevideo/NIMk
Jaromil
Jaromil at dyne.org
Wed May 16 15:07:21 CEST 2012
dear Spectres,
Here below the announcement of the last version of the HDSync
software: http://syncstarter.org/2012/hdsync-ambarella
After 6 years of being a part-time employee in this historical art
institution best known by the name of Montevideo, it is time for me to
say goodbye: I'm asked to leave by the end of this month, while the
institute will close its doors by the end of the year.
I would like to thank all those that have supported my activity so far
and invite you to a presentation of the free and open source software
HDSync on Thursday 31 May, 17:00 in Montevideo/NIMk, Keizersgracht 264
Please forward this invitation to anyone interested.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
: From the tradition of Montevideo / Time Based Arts
: and for the very last time as Netherlands Media Art Institute
: we are proudly presenting you:
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: A network based sync-starter for multi-channel HD Video
: Written by Denis Roio aka Jaromil
: Website: http://syncstarter.org
The digital video syncstarter software was developed through the past
years by the Montevideo/NIMk Artlab to provide synced playback of
multiple high definition 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.
As a consequence of cultural funding cuts in the Netherlands, this
development program is being shut down and the whole institute will be
closing by the end of the year, after more than 30 years of activity.
Nevertheless we hope this development will survive as free and open
source software, hoping it can benefit the video art community at
large, keeping the Montevideo / Time Based Arts tradition alive.
More about HDSync: http://syncstarter.org/hdsync
Browse HDSync source code: http://code.dyne.org/hdsync
More syncstarter software: http://syncstarter.org/software
More info about the Dyne.org software foundry: http://dyne.org
Donations welcome (and much needed) on http://dyne.org/donate
** Usage and compatibility
HDSync only works on a specific hardware configuration: WD HD Live
players running B-Rad's WDLXTV firmware, something artists themselves
can afford for approx 100EUR on the consumer market.
Interesting portability horizons at the moment: AppleTV and Boxee
devices, as well new WDTV models. But we lack the hardware so if you
have extra please consider a donation!
Of course HDSync can be compiled for x86 and used to activate
computers running a UPNP-AV daemon that controls video playback.
Development could as well go into the direction of implementing a PC
based syncstarter, but this also depends from the support this project
will receive in future.
At the current stage of development hdsync is consisting only of
portable C/C++ code that can be easily cross-compiled to ARM, MIPS and
more embedded platforms. It is rather simple to port it to more
set-top boxes, but we miss the hardware and the time in order to do
it.
If you are interested to port this software on an hardware platform
you possess, please contact us! We can arrange a deal, borrow your
hardware and settle a development plan. This way you, your company or
your institution might be able to save significant amounts of money by
adapting the syncstarter software to an existing infrastructure rather
than buying new hardware.
** News for this release
Watch the video documentation of the Ambarella video wall, giving the
name to this new HDSync release: http://vimeo.com/36913296
This release can synchronise the playback of multiple channels,
virtually unlimited, Ambarella sets a new record: 37! :^)
This release consists of a full rewrite of the 0.6 version of HDSync
in C language, eliminating most of the shell scripted interaction and
condensing operations into a single process.
The result of this rewrite is more stability (the 4 hours freeze is
now solved!), visibly lower latency of operations, more control over
network handshake and synchronization - plus we've made the HDSync
software easy to port on more platforms.
Empirical tests show way better synchronization (close to frame
precision) and very low margin of error in re-syncing after loops
(still some de-sync occurs from time to time when using short clips).
Please note that now it is necessary to add 5 seconds of black in
front of the synced videos, in order to avoid an irregular blink at
the start of every loop.
** Documentation
A user manual is online at http://ftp.dyne.org/hdsync/hdsync_manual.pdf
More documentation is included inside the doc/ directory
** Building from source
In order to compile HDSync for WDTV you need to use a MIPSEL toolchain
(like the one provided by Emdebian) and use it to compile this
software: ./configure --host=mipsel-linux-gnu is the correct target
However, ready to use binaries (hdsync.app.bin) are provided on
http://files.dyne.org/hdsync
** Support and warranty
The purpose of this release is to make the project open source to
allow collaboration with developers interested: we release HDSync as
free and open source (GNU GPL v3) in the hope it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.
Voluntary support is provided by the community of users, please join
our free mailinglist and let us know your progress and projects
http://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/syncstarter
archived on http://lists.dyne.org/lurker/list/syncstarter.en.html
In case you need assistance to setup your own HD sync-starter, you can
contact us and ask a quote, details on http://syncstarter.org/service
** So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish!
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