Dear Customer, This Is a Small Introduction to Common Questions Regarding Video Replay and Mapping and the E:Cue Programmer Software

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Dear Customer, this is a small introduction to common questions regarding video replay and mapping and the e:cue programmer Software:

Basics:

Container Formats – These hold audio and video inside the file. Since the container can hold various formats within it, you may need to install a codec that will actually allow the audio and the video that is inside the Container to play (or be “decoded”). The most common and also recommended container format for e:cue is AVI (Audio Video Interleave). AVI – The e:cue media player supports playback of AVI files, if your video doesn’t play correctly please continue reading.

Video/Audio Codecs – Since the e:cue media player can “open” your files to see what is inside, the next step is to enable it to “decode” (or play) the audio and video. Dealing with codecs in Windows is one of the toughest things to understand for most people.

Warning: Codec Packs The use of random “Codec Packs” is not advised. While a very few of them are built nicely, the majority of built by pirates who know little to nothing about what they are doing. Installation of any “Codec Pack” will almost guarantee you hours of extra work trying to get things fixed. Unless you know what you are doing and are looking to take support into your own hands, don’t install them.

EXCEPT: The ffdshow codec pack which can be downloaded for free here: http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/ Install the codec pack and make sure to check that ALL formats mentioned inside the installation dialog are checked to be decoded with ffdshow. Otherwise it won`t work. Restart your Operating System after installation.

If you do want to use a different container than .avi, make sure to check out http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html#Dnload and download “super” freeware, which can convert ANY video into ANY other format for FREE. Check the support files on the erightsoft homepage for support and ”how-tos”.

If you would like to “look” inside a video file to find out which codec has been used inside, check out “gspot” a video and audio analyzing tool, which is also for free.

e:cue programmer video wizard related information: If you would like to map video to a matrix there are several things you have to think about:

- Real Matrix Size (REAL amount of pixels that are going to be used) - Video Size (obvious) - Aspect Ratio (Ratio between X and Y amount of Pixels)

The e:cue Programmer will ALWAYS resize the total amount of video information into the patched Dmx matrix size. Therefore it is always better to product video content in the real size of the matrix it will be used for. If that is not possible it is possible to choose the amount of X and Y amount inside the video wizards menu. This will CUT OUT the area to use of the video, e.g. if you choose Y Axis 30% min and 70% max., it will cut out the 29% bottom and 29% top amount of the total video. It works the same way with the X axis amount. The closer the video content is to the really used amount of pixels, the better.

1:1 pixel mapping is possible with the programmer although you have to adjust and test some settings due to the fact that the programmer interpolates the video pixels for better optical results. You need to readjust the internal renderer settings inside the show properties` ”video” settings and change the values to a X- multiple of the X and Y pixels in order to override the interpolation and therefore receive 1:1 pixel mapping.