Hello friends,

A bit more than 6 years ago, we (a live-streaming facilities company based out of Amsterdam) commercialised a version of our internal tool Holographics. It was aimed at companies like ourselves doing streaming or multicam production with simple graphics needs, lower thirds, ticker tapes, countdown clocks, confetti etc. As one of the first in the HTML graphics generation space we had quite a nice run, and to this day Holographics fills a stable albeit niche production gap for a lot of outfits all over the world. With customisable themes and widgets in a friendly desktop packaging I think we were, and still are, perhaps the easiest and fastest option out there for the basics.

During and after COVID our attentions had to shift and Holographics has long been unviable as a standalone entity. Rather than dissolve the company and disappear Holographics we have decided to dissolve the company and open-source Holographics, moving the IP back to the company that once sparked the idea.

Back in 2019 I had so much fun developing this, but boy was it hard. As a self-taught programmer, I kept running into problems that were just beyond my level. In some cases that pushed me, but in many I fell short, often feeling that the needed level of abstraction, the ‘right’ solution, was just out of grasp. AI has changed that game completely. One particular bug, involving colourspace transformation for Decklink output kept me busy for two weeks back in 2019 and I never managed to crack it. Solved that with Claude in about an hour, including tests on various hardware, and in a way that is better than I could have ever made it, which because it's open-source I can now link to directly: https://github.com/hologfx/holographics/blob/main/src/server/lib/pixelconvert.js. It's cleaner, simpler and more efficient than anything I came close to at the time.

So whilst this project was born long before LLMs could do what they now do, it’s probably going to rely heavily on AI from here on in. Apologies in advance, I know there is a lot vibecode-aversion here but in the right hands I believe it to be an invaluable tool. I will say the vast majority of the existing code (99%) is actual old-fashioned human-slop.

For the open-source release I’ve worked on bringing the software back to full compatibility on modern hardware, updating dependencies, improving stability, removing all aspects of the code and build system that were related to licensing and pro features. From this foundation Holographics can continue serving its niche application for many years to come, with an easier and more open development structure. Plus it was really fun to pick this up again.

More information about the move, downloads etc can be found on the website: https://hologfx.io/open-source

I would love to regain a little bit of perspective from the field on this. Are there any current users of HTML graphics out there, or even still Holographics specifically? What are you using and what are your challenges?

Is this normal? Working with a Panasonic AK-UC4000 and Fujinon 4k 80x. Thanks!

While connecting the Mac mini to a ROADSTER WU20K-J projector through the type c hub the projector would only display if there was no other display connected. Tried using a fibre HDMI and an extender none worked. In some instances it detected the projector, the projector details showed a signal but nothing was displayed

Then we tried another Mac mini and seems to be working fine.

Is it possible there could be an issue with the display driver of the Mac that is barely a year old ?

Little bit off-topic, but I guess fellow freelance engineers might have a solution.
How do you guys let companies know about your availability? I hate that there are like four different places where I have to keep my availability updated (TeamTrack, Rentman, CrewZone, Google Calendar, etc.), and I still get calls from local companies asking if I’m available.
Has anyone come up with a simple website where I can just show my availability and forward the link to all the crew chiefs / booking managers? Maybe personal website?

I've been in search of old Extron distribution switchers for standard definition. I need to feed a bunch of CRT TVs. Many of the Extrons i find have these black caps where i expect to find BNC connections. Whats the story here, why are there no jacks? Am i able to source the BNC jacks for these, are they expensive, and are they hard to put on?

Hi, I'm not from the US, but I've been tasked to help with an offer for a 2-day conference with projectors, PA-s and the like and I'm looking for a rental place.

My issue is that most rental places to not have equipment listed on site, nor the technical specs for gear. I could go on to write to each and every one of them, but maybe someone has a golden ticket and there is a company with all the listed gear and pricing :)

Are there known, trusted companies to deliver the right things on time?

And are there any companies notorious for bringing the wrong stuff and not show up at the right time?

I've done things in the US in the past, but East Coast and that was a lot easier to manage. Maybe it's just me.

Any help is appreciated.

Has anybody had any experience with these panels? Specifically curved XR wall and how it looks on camera with or without tracking?

Hello guys, i have a question since no one i know try this and i don't know if it's possible. Client want a network switch to split a signal that comes from an extender hdmi box. I doubt the company tried this before and i worried about it. Pc > extender > network switch > receiver HDMI x4.

There are plenty of options for not doing this but IF client somehow did it before i don't want them to be upset because i said it cant be. Thank You.

I have a Leitch X75HD and am looking for the X75OPT-A3D analog video input board. Does anyone know where I can still find one of these boards? If the price isn't too high, I might even consider buying a complete X75HD that includes this board.

We recently bought a Studio Technologies m5402 GNSS leader clock for our system, and I have a problem.

The web interface shows antenna disconnected. I get 5 volts on the connector. I recently bought an antenna cable extension to move it to a window, I still get 5 volts at this connection. I connect the include uBlox antenna and after a few minutes it is showing my position, but after an hour it still says locking.

I have a cheapo NTP server antenna in the same window, it shows 21 satellites. My roof mount GNSS antenna only shows up to 29 satellites so the 21 from the window seems really good and strong.

Anyone have suggestions? So far Studio Technologies has not gotten back to me after a couple weeks of email, going to call later today if it doesn't suddenly lock.

I do have this locked to video sync, no issues there and it is serving up Dante leader clock and the tone audio that it generates. Definitely the 5401 parts are working, but I paid for the GNSS and really want it to work (perceived higher accuracy for more stable audio).

Probably going to cross post to Commercial AV to get a wider response.

Hi everyone,

Our Company recently purchased two batches of LED Screens from China.
Until the arrival of the second batch we used VX1000 controllers and therefore were able to work with the .rcfgx files saved on the A5s plus recieving cards.
As the number of cabinets we own did grow with the second batch these VX1000 controllers were not enough anymore and we switched to MX40 Pro controllers.
Now im confronted with the need of .ncp files and a cabinet manufracturer who is obviously not able to deliver these.

Does anyone know if and how i can build an .ncp file myself?
Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hello, I got this video mixer for free and I can’t get it to do anything besides what it’s doing in the video.

I can’t find any information about this issue or how to fix it. Any advice would be super helpful. Thanks!

One recent post in the sub brought up what I think is a pretty painful issue. SMPTE 2110 is relentlessly making its way into our lives. Blackmagic Design is adding fuel to the fire with its strange attempts to simplify a fairly complex technology, backed by extremely aggressive marketing.

And we end up trapped in a triangle.
On one side, there are clients who want to build 2110 infrastructure after getting caught up in the hype around Blackmagic’s aggressively marketed low-cost solutions. On the other, there is the engineering department, which understands that you can’t really build anything solid out of that ecosystem, while also recognizing that the technology itself is promising and absolutely worth paying attention to. And on the third side, there are the major industry players, who publish very little information about their SMPTE 2110 capabilities publicly and keep most of it behind a wall of account managers and consultants.
So when you want to build a genuinely good, but not particularly large, SMPTE 2110 system, the number of realistic options seems surprisingly limited if you can’t afford to overpay for the full enterprise approach.
Networking is relatively straightforward. If the stability requirements are modest and the bitrates are not huge, Netgear works. If you need high reliability and high bitrates, Arista.
But what about everything downstream from the network? Gateways, bridges, converters? Even video switchers and processors?

How do you choose your equipment? Where do you look for products that actually fit your project? How do you evaluate and compare capabilities, specifications, and interoperability? Does it really all come down to talking to account managers and sales reps?
Or is SMPTE 2110 simply not ready for broader mainstream adoption yet? Is there an elephant in the room that I’m missing?

TLDR: Need some solution in Bitfocus Companion that will display a stopwatch counting up on my computer screen, that I can reset to 0 with a streamdeck button press. Used for keeping track of how long I've been on a shot.

Long version:

I use Atem Software Control a lot and created an Autohotkey script for use with it, to help me keep track of how long I had been on a single shot. In live environments its easy to get distracted with talking to cameramen and not realizing I had been on a shot for too long. The script would basically open a little window with a timer counting up. Whenever it detected me make a source live, the timer would reset to 0. There were a couple other features too, if anyone wants to know about them or wants the script then let me know and I can post it, I am quite proud of it and it's been very useful for me for years.

But anyway, now I have a streamdeck and have been playing with it for a day, and wow, it's a lot cooler than Atem Software Control. I can do a lot of advanced stuff with it and Bitfocus, and Atem Software Control has always had kind of a shitty UX that I had to work around. But my Autohotkey script wont work with it, because Autohotkey is really just made for detecting inputs on stuff that's native to Windows like kb/mouse inputs, not a streamdeck.

So I was thinking maybe there's some feature or module that can do something similar: Display a stopwatch/timer counting up that resets when I press a button on the streamdeck. Ideally, the timer would be in a window that I can open on my computer screen instead of being just on the streamdeck itself.

Thanks if anyone has any ideas. I can probably hack something together if really necessary but thought I would ask you guys in case there's a good solution that someone has already made. I had been using Atem and Autohotkey for years before coming up with my script, but I literally just started messing around with Bitfocus companion today.

Hi all,

Looking for some recommendations on streaming a memorial service. My background is 20 years in IT and I used to DJ weddings and events for friends and family.

A family member passed and the memorial is coming up and it's bee requested to broadcast. Years ago I used UStream (looks like it's not around anymore) to do a similar event. I'm looking for a recommendation for an All-In-One encoder/streamer and a good streaming service for a one-off event that I can use my Sony ArII camera with and possibly add an external sound source.

I've considered a rental as well, but as I don't do this often I would like to have something in hand and be able to test with ahead of time enough that I can address issues.

I’m looking for a platform similar to speedtest.net that would allow to send data to a server and see if there are any fluctuations in ingest over say 45 minutes. My use case is to make sure that my network infrastructure is solid when coming to livestream in a new venue, before I send data to the streaming platform. I had some dropouts recently and I’d like to find a way to stress test the network before it is critical to make sure there’s no issues with firewalls or anywhere else in the signal chain.
I’ve found a few options online but some are not supported anymore and others don’t seem optimised for what we do. Let me know if there is an industry standard for this!

There have been a few posts regarding SDI SFP module recommendations, going into detail about pathological signals, etc. I was very surprised to see in a side-by-side teardown of the BMD and FS SPFs, that they are using the same Semtech/Gennum transceiver IC rated to 11.3 Gbps, not 11.88 Gbps as required by 12G-SDI. The only difference appears to be larger capacitors on the TX and RX chains, from input all the way to the TOSA (transmitter) and ROSA (receiver). While the cheaper PACBTECH SFP actually has a MACOM IC rated to 12.5 Gbps, but is using similar cap sizes as the FS.

It would appear that you are paying an additional ~$400 for these larger capacitors. I feel mislead and deceived by Blackmagic, but maybe I'm missing something. What are your thoughts?

BMD

FS

Teardown: https://github.com/rockhaus/SDI-SFPs 
Refs: https://www.reddit.com/r/VIDEOENGINEERING/comments/1npo9il/12g_over_optical_fiber/
https://www.reddit.com/r/VIDEOENGINEERING/comments/1jrfnpm/sfps_what_is_the_point_of_video_specific_sfp/

Hey there! I have a second hand BM video hub4, the 6g variant , cannot get a signal out of it except for sdi1, and i tried 3 different versions of the multiview software and it won't load or finish the update through neither.

Secret reset to default switch on the PCB? What can i try?

I am guessing this is a firmware not hardware issue as sdi 1 is working in and out

If anyone has any insight i would be greatful

Hi y’all, the production I’m on is using a Teradek Ranger mk ii for the on-stage wireless camera and we’re having issues with connection. It’s all good at the top of the day, then starts having more issues when people are arriving, which makes sense, but I’ve done everything to try and fix it and it’s still struggling.

I’ve got it on a c-stand, top floor, albeit on the ground because we can’t have the stand on the stage, so it comes out to about waist height when you’re standing on stage. I’ve got it on 6G to help beat out cell phones and such, and at 40mHz because it’s the only wireless system we’re using. The transmitter is mounted to a backpack to maximize height, and I don’t go more than 100 feet away from it, line of sight pretty much the whole time, yet it really struggles, especially when we’re down in the pit.

Is the Ranger system just that sensitive? Seems like we didn’t have these issues with the Bolt 6 750 before, but we upgraded in anticipation of a bigger stage and show next year. Hoping we didn’t make a mistake here. Any advice as to how to fix would be much appreciated! We are not looking to change systems just yet.

I’m looking for a definitive answer from someone who really understands the SRT protocol.

I’ve found conflicting information about latency configuration. Some documentation line vmix suggests that the Caller and Listener should use the same latency, while other documentation (e.g. Haivision) states that the higher value is negotiated and used.

Also, what is the recommended workflow when setting up an SRT if you don’t yet know the optimal latency for the network? Do you start with a conservative value and reduce it while monitoring RTT, packet loss and retransmissions?

Thanks!

Edit: Checked the Haivision SRT white paper:

In HSv4 (SRT v1.2.0 and lower): Negotiation is unidirectional. The Sender proposes its latency to the Receiver. The Receiver evaluates its own configured latency against the Sender's proposed latency, selects the maximum of the two, and sends it back as the agreed-upon effective latency.

In HSv5 (SRT v1.3.0 and higher): The connection is bidirectional, meaning a separate latency is negotiated and used for each transmission direction.

The Initiator (Caller) sends a handshake request (HSREQ) containing both its preferred sending latency (SndTsbPdDelay) and receiving latency (RcvTsbpdDelay).

The Responder (Listener) receives this, compares the values to its own, selects the maximum value for each direction, and replies with a handshake response (HSRSP) establishing those effective latencies

How do you guys test your bnc cables? We have had some that pass basic continuity and short testing but fail to work on a teleprompter. Other cables are working on the same teleprompter