Add an output
An output is somewhere this computer can send to: a display, an LED board, a network feed or speakers. You add it once, give it a name, and then connect canvases or buses to it. See Patch the show.
Open Configuration. Under Venue, select Patch.
Outputs are now a list that you manage. Connecting a display does not add it to the list. The outputs of an older configuration stay and keep working.
Add one
- Select + Add output.
- Under Found, not added yet, select + Add on a row to add a display or an audio device that the app found. Or, under New, select the kind: Screen, LED boards, Network feed (NDI) or Speakers.
- In the Output panel on the right, type a Name.
The app selects the new output and opens its panel. Pick a name you will still recognize months from now, usually the name of the thing the output drives.
LED boards and network feeds are not on all plans, and the menu shows the plan next to them. See Plans and limits.
The Output panel shows whether the output is present or missing, with its size and refresh rate when they are known. The last row, Connected, shows what is playing on the output now.
A new output has no cables. Connect it in the patch bay, or drag it into the Show column to make a canvas or a bus for it. See Patch the show.
Wire the output
What "wired" means depends on the kind:
- Screen: select the display under Screen. Select Identify to show the name of the output on that display. The app reads the size and refresh rate from the display. Under Show as, select Full screen or Window.
- LED boards: select the display that its sending card shows up as, then describe the cabinets and the fold. See Describe an LED surface.
- Network feed (NDI): the Name is the source name other software sees on the network. The output sends to every receiver that listens. See Publish a canvas over NDI.
- Speakers: select the interface and the stereo pair. This list shows only physical interfaces. A network feed is a separate destination that a bus can send to directly. See Set up a bus.
One output drives one display. A display and an LED board folded onto the same sending card cannot both use that display. If you pick a display that another output already uses, the app refuses it and shows the name of that output.
Set the delay
Delay is in the Output panel. It sets how far ahead of the room this destination gets its content. If a downstream device adds its own delay, set a positive number: an LED processor adds a frame or two, and a receiver at the far end of an NDI stream adds 50 to 150 ms. Measure the value once against the destination.
The value belongs to the output, so it stays when a different canvas or bus feeds that output later.
A negative number holds this destination back, for a destination that runs ahead of the room. Both directions cost the same, because the group has to keep frames either way: ahead of now for a positive trim, behind now for a negative one.
The maximum applies to either sign. A group keeps at most sixteen frames, which is
about 250 ms at 60 fps and about 500 ms at 30 fps. If the offsets in a group span more
than that, the app shortens them to the maximum. One destination at +1000, one at
-1000, or two set 400 ms apart are all too much. The output's panel shows how much of
the setting the app does not apply.
Usual trims are far smaller than this: a frame or two for an LED processor, 50 to 150 ms for an NDI receiver.
Sync groups
Sync group, next to Delay, sets which outputs show content together. Every output starts in one group named House, and all outputs in House show the same moment at the same time.
A group runs as far ahead as its slowest member asks, and that is what a trim costs. Put a network stream with a 95 ms trim into House, and every display in House responds about six frames after you push a button. The displays still show the correct picture, just later than your hand moved. For why you cannot have both, see How playback works.
To fix this, make a second group:
- Open the Sync group menu.
- Select New group…, then type a name.
The output moves into the new group, and House goes back to responding as fast as its own outputs ask. The stream is no longer aligned with the room, and the output's panel says so.
Disconnect the hardware
When an output's hardware is not available, the output shows an orange dot and orange details, its cables turn into orange dashed lines, and the panel says it is missing. The output, its settings and all its cables stay. When you connect the display again, it starts working again.
This is why you manage the list instead of it only showing connected hardware: you can describe on Tuesday a wall that you drive on Saturday.
Remove one
Select the output, then select Remove output…. The app lists the pictures and sounds that will no longer play anywhere. Select Remove to confirm. You cannot undo this.