Question About OTS Full Screen Logo Graphic

[Dub2Dat]

I have OTS 1.85 Broadcast running videos.  When the decks are in stop mode the program video output is the OTS full screen logo graphic.  Is there a way to turn off that graphic and have black as the output or better yet replace the OTS graphic with my own?

[Darryl]

Create a black image (you can do it in paint) and save that as blank.jpg and stick it in a folder on its own.  Now configure the slide show feature to show the contents of the folder with the black image in it.

[Jumpin' Jeff]

You need to have the slideshow functionallity enabled with a Black image or Logo image loaded in the configured Slideshow folder.

[Darryl]

Ooh snap!

[Jumpin' Jeff]

Darryl beat me to it. Twice!

[Darryl]

Sorry Jeff - I can delete my post if you want me to

[JAylmer]

I was hoping that new releases would provide a checkbox that says "Video on demand", where the video subsystem would be shut down when not required.
(Not related to the "On demand" option currently available). 
The slideshow approach is fine situations where you can use a static solution but what if you need to display another app's screen at that time, that would be very useful for me.

[Darryl]

I agree - it's a great idea which could be used for several purposes - ambient video in music only bits, singer introduction animations from a presentation app - all sorts.

[Jumpin' Jeff]

You can always disable the overlay to display the other apps. I have an ahk script that switches between the overlay and milkdrop, and I'm certain, another that just toggles the overlay itself. It's not automatic, but it should otherwise fill your needs.

[JAylmer]

I could do it with another playlist item, RAC and AHK.
I have my stuff in VB.net and use the RAC server.  Also I need it to be auto.
Two approaches I could use to send stuff to the Keyboard using VB.net:
1/ Direct to the keyboard buffer (AHK not required)  A quick google suggests that this could be done but it may be ugly.
or
2/ To AHK as an AHK script via VB.net - not sure how possible that would be, but it should be easier than writing code.

[Darryl]

The problem is - how do you know whether an item currently playing has video content?  That wasn't in the RAC the last time I looked.  Other than renaming all my video tracks to include video in the title (which would be painful), I can't see an easy way to do it.

[JAylmer]

The problem is - how do you know whether an item currently playing has video content?  That wasn't in the RAC the last time I looked.  Other than renaming all my video tracks to include video in the title (which would be painful), I can't see an easy way to do it.

I was thinking of having a playlist item specifically for VideoEnable or VideoDisable.
That is currently how I already control my DMX and also announce the next dance with a text-to-voice reader.

So I would enable/disable the video subsystem by inserting that playlist item at the right place.
My playlists are already getting quite heavy.  It already takes about 20 playlist items for every four songs I play.
There is a penalty: Each playlist item has to play for a second or two to ensure it is polled and detected via the RAC server.  (sample PL attached)
Also the PL item has to play for longer than the announce or DMX operation takes as it is single threaded, too tight and it skips the next operation.

I have been thinking that I may rewrite the VB.net so it looks at the playLog instead.  Its a ready made queue and any playlist item can be really short duration (eg .01 second) as it only has to appear in the play log.  It doesn't matter so much if the operations get a bit behind the PL items, so long as none are ignored.  The PL log will help with that.

The idea of renaming all video tracks has merit for me as then the video system can be toggled without playlist items. 
As all of my OTS files contain video, something like rename *.ots *VIDEO.ots  would do it.

[Jumpin' Jeff]

Yeah, I'd say that's heavy...

[Dub2Dat]

Thanks guys for the slide show solution.  It works very well.

[JAylmer]

The code to programatically write to the keyboard buffer is easily done in VB.net

SendKeys.Send("^+%(v)") 'Control/Shift/Alt/v

Works fine in a button, click and the video subsystem toggles.
Just another couple of hundred lines of code and it would do something useful.