<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  LTCReader: Chasing LTC > Use with Actor Media Server

For Actor media servers in Compere systems, use LTC Reader v.2.0.6. This should be installed on an Actor device in C:\7thSense\LTC.

Actor timeline ltc-loop markers

From v2.0.6, the default behaviour is for LTC Reader to request the markers on all Compere timelines controlled, and to check that they have an ltc-loop marker. If any of the controlled timelines is missing the marker, then LTCReader sends a command to add the marker to that particular timeline. The check is performed once each time the LTC timecode reaches 23:55:00:XX and again every time the timecode passes into this range. This is because LTC does not handle more than 24 hours, so it will loop back to 00:00:00:00 and Compere’s timeline will otherwise continue on past the 24 hour mark.

Additional Settings

LTCReader from 2.0.4 has an XML settings file which holds these and other parameters, which can be added using a text editor. It can be found at:

C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\LTC Reader\LTC Reader.settings

Example LTC Reader.settings file (additional Compere settings highlighted):

SoundManPort
the port number on which LTCReader will communicate with Delta (see http://portal.7thsense.one/user-guides/MC255-managing-servers/index.html?ports_ports-used.html).

freewheelUnlimited
set this to 1 if you want it to free wheel indefinitely, so it will continue counting upwards as if an LTC source was still present, even if it is not or a signal is temporarily lost, or if the LTC source does not have a true ‘pause/hold’ state.
Setting to 0 will disable this.

freeWheelTime
the number of frames to which LTCReader will freewheel for before it stops (default 100).

logLevel
this is entered manually in the settings file as required: Verbose, Note, Warning, Important, Error, Critical.

compereMode
1=Compere, 0= Delta

compereIPAddresses
IP(s) of the instance(s) of Compere to be controlled. Multiple IP addresses are comma-delimited.

comperePortNumber
ExternalControl port number of the Compere instance to be controlled.

frameTolerance
If the incoming LTC timecode is more than this many frames different from the previously received timecode, then send a message to Compere to go to the new time.

compereTimelinesControlled
A comma separated list of timeline names to be controlled by the LTC signal,
e.g. "Timeline 1,Timeline 2".

frameMultiplier
(integer) multiplies only the frame section of the timecode sent to Compere by this value, to account for differential drop frame timing on Compere timelines (e.g. 29.97 LTC signal and a 59.94 timeline in Compere).

usingFractionalFrameRate
(Boolean) specifies whether timecodes in Compere External Control messages are separated by : if this value is false or ; if this value is true.

Note that when interacting with LTC Reader v.2.0.2 for Actor/Compere systems, drop frame expression is punctuated with semi-colons 00;00;00;00.

The JSON external control execute-at-time allows for precision play/stop triggering of, for example, simultaneous main and failover parallel systems. This requires use of PTP (Precision Time Protocol) to avoid differential delays in receiving play/stop signals, due to network traffic. These two settings are then required:

preRollEnabled
Defaults to 0. When set to 1, this puts LTC Reader into PTP mode so that the execute-at-time parameter is added to commands sent to Compere.

preRollDurationSeconds
Defaults to 2. The number of seconds to add to the system time at the point of sending the command, before inserting it into the command.

Page edited [d/m/y]: 12/03/2024