Device Configuration

Okay, so we’ve gotten a glimpse at how to use WinScript Live (which you’ll notice we often refer to as just Winscript). Now let’s take a look at how we configure our controller to make the most of it.

First of all, on the front of the device itself, let’s look at some of the menu options for configuration. This is taken from a V16X. The V4X menu is very similar but has fewer options. The V-Core doesn’t have a front menu and the RidePlayer and Binloops will all be shown in their respective product videos if you’re looking for guidance on those.

The scroll wheel has been around on the V16 for several generations of hardware and makes for a quick configuration tool. Scroll left and right to select from the available options and push the button in to make a selection or move on to the next step. Here we walk through configuring the IP address of this device to be 192.168.1.200 (this IP address is the one we use for the training racks in our training labs, so it’ll be familiar to those of you who’ve taken the class before!).

On the V16X, we can configure the following items:

• System, including System Information (including the critically useful Percent of Frame Used by Process), Reboot, Reset Settings to Factory
• Real-Time Clock, including RTC Config
• Network, including Ethernet Ports configuration (DHCP, static, DNS, etc. )
• Password, including Password protect front panel (for unsecured areas)
• Script, including Change Active script, view active script, reload the script file, Device info and watchlist(s)
• Sync, including Sync Status information, including very detailed info for PTP
• LTC/SMPTE, including current timecode and start/stop commands

From Winscript, we can configure many more items for the controller by going to the Configuration menu and selecting Sync/Timecode.

This first page shows the Clock Settings for framerate (which defaults to 30 frames per second), LTC and clock settings for controllers that support it (both subscribing to a master clock and distributing a clock signal via network or video sync output).

The next screen allows for generating or reading SMPTE linear timecode.

This clock status page is only visible in Live Mode, but it’s an immensely valuable screen when troubleshooting network time.

This screen is CRITICAL for configuring multiple devices working together synchronously. We aren’t going to go into sync just yet, so this screen will be reviewed later, but it’s important to know where it lives for when you get to design a synchronized system!

Now let’s look at Script configuration in the same menu. These configurations are applied to the controller whenever the script they are saved with is the active script on the controller. Putting in information about the project, author and description will be valuable in case the project ever needs to be updated and the original contacts who commissioned it have moved on to the next project or company. Versioning can also help you keep track of what code is running in the wild and making sure a customer or client is running the right version.

Adding a password to the script will prevent someone from downloading and modifying the script if they don’t have the password.

You can set a PIN to prevent people from making changes to the controller from the front screen!

This locale info is handy for a couple of things – making adjustments to NTP time for offsets for daylight savings time (or not), time zone, etc. Setting the latitude and longitude will also help to calculate the sunrise and sunset time for your location (useful for triggering events to occur say at dusk or dawn!).

This final page is only used on a few “special” occasions, as a part of compatibility mode with older hardware and newer versions of Winscript. One of the side effects of making gear that lasts so long is needing to provide support for it well beyond the originally intended life span! If you ever run into a situation where you’re working in compatibility mode and have questions, just reach out to our outstanding support team and we’ll help you out.