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: ver. 1.3 "Still in Amsterdam"
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: A network based sync-starter for multi-channel HD Video
: Written by Denis Roio aka Jaromil
: http://www.syncstarter.org


Many artworks and diverse video setups require real-time synced
playback of different audio/video materials on multiple screens.

HDSync is a software that can do that with HD video playback on
multiple devices, free and open source.

Free download from http://www.syncstarter.org/hdsync

A user manual (PDF) is included in the source distribution (doc/) and
available online at http://files.dyne.org/hdsync

In case you need assistance to setup your own HD sync-starter, you can
contact us and ask a quote, details on: http://syncstarter.org/service

More syncstarter software on http://www.syncstarter.org

Donations welcome on http://www.dyne.org/donate


** Usage and compatibility

HDSync only works on a specific hardware configuration: WD HD Live
players are consumer grade devices that most people can afford for
approx 100EUR on the consumer market.

To be used with HDSync the WD HD Live boxes need to be running B-Rad's
WDLXTV firmware, found on http://www.wdlxtv.com (see the HDSync user's
manual for details on which version works best).

Tips and ideas are shared on our mailinglist,
let us know your progress and projects!
https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/syncstarter


** Interesting facts

The record number of synced audio/video channels using HDSync is up to
37 different channels: the Ambarella video wall
http://vimeo.com/ambarella/video-wall-redux

HDSync is portable and can be compiled and used on different hardware:
its code is written C/C++ that compiles for targets as ARM, MIPS and
x86 platforms.

The digital video syncstarter software was developed between 2006 and
2012 in the Montevideo/NIMk Artlab. In 2013, as a consequence of
cultural funding cuts in the Netherlands, the Artlab has been shut
down and the whole institute has been closed after 35 years of
activity. Since then, the development of HDSync is not funded anymore.
For further development, the Syncstarter project needs your support.

HDSync makes heavy use of PGM multicast (RFC 3208), which is basically
UDP traffic, to synchronise multiple units on the same local
network. In order for it to work, make sure your LAN switch does not
block UDP multicast: old hubs work best.

HDSync reaches a fairly precise frame synchronization, down to a
randomly occurring error rate of 3 frames out of sync, which is hardly
noticeable in most footage. 1 to 1 frame synchronisation is impossible
to achieve with our software.

It is necessary to add 5 seconds of black in front of any synced
audio/video footage in order to avoid an irregular blink at the start
of every loop.


** Building from source

In order to compile HDSync for a WDTV you need to use a MIPSEL
toolchain (for instance the one provided by Emdebian works great) and
use it to compile this software: ./configure --host=mipsel-linux-gnu

However, ready to use binaries (hdsync.app.bin) are provided on
http://files.dyne.org/hdsync

** Support and warranty

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU Affero General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>