Howto: Multimedia on displays...

BlueBoy

Old Alpha
Joined
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Avatar Name
Carloz BlueBoy DeFortisimo
Search words: display kbp video rate stream music movie multimedia sign

Hi ladies and gents!

I’m really not sure if this is the place to put this thread but I hope so. I have been searching the forum for some tips on the new “display” signs but never saw any so now when I have experimented some on my own I just put what I was learning here. Please feel free to correct or add experience. :)

The final result is too be watched at The House of Lords HQ at Billton Tower 3, 6B.

Screen of use: Reon-W Display (PC) (it is a 1:2 ratio)

Movie info
Size: 512x256 px
Fps: 12 fps
Sound: 22khz, 32bit
Filesize: 40MB
Format: AVI cinepak compression, keyfram every 3rd frame.

The journey
First thing I did was downloading the Bink software from RAD Game Tools. Although I have been working with video a long time a go it was not exactly clear too me what to do when I first opened the program. But I recommend opening the radvideo.exe file. From there you can find the file you wish to convert and then you press the Bink Video button with the label “Bink it””.

Since I already in the movie creating stage had the ratio and size adapted to my sign size I didn’t had to use that much settings here. So my tip is to make as much preparation as possible before entering the Bink program.

Settings I used was “Compress to a data rate” which made a nice quality when put to 80 000 bytes. Allong with the “Compress audio settings” 16-bit/Stereo it was still a little too big (14MB). But very nice quality though. The downside was the price for upload that was about 507 ped. Since it was my first try (and more of a test) I didn’t want to put that much ped into it. But if you want quality that was the settings.

Instead I used “Compress to a data rate” 30 000 bytes and the 8bit/Stereo settings. I make no secret of the lack of quality on the video but on a little sign it was not that bad. And the cost for the upload then went down to 217 ped. 43.32 ped from that price is the value of the video and will return to me if/when I delete it.

Now I repaired my sign to the 90% TT value (on my sign it was 316 ped TT) that is needed for making changes on it (note that the content still will play under the 90% TT value just that no changes can be made.)

I now putted my sign on the wall (it took 15 items places) and activated it. It works like any other sign or commercial add terminal. The movie will show under the backgrounds but this you will notice if you hit preview now and then during the making. And NOTE that I think you have to place sequences that match your movies length so the whole movie is shown! I put in three alike sequences (one was not able to reach over the whole movie length for some reason) with the soc internet address on it (in a very small font size tho). You can just leave the sequences blank if you like but be sure the "Duration" of the sequences all together is the length of your movie.

When done I pressed the ok button and was notified a 17,6 ped fee was charged.. but not from the ped card but from the TT value of the sign. So I got some money “back” on that one. :)

To sum up the hardest work was making the movie and then convert it too a nice format that was acceptable but not to expensive. Now when I know how to do I (and hopefully you too) can use a better compression in the Bink software.

Cost:
Sign: 120 ped
Repair of sign: 311 ped
Upload fee: 217 ped
Sign fee: -17.6 ped (since it was taken of the repair of the sign)
Total: 630,4 ped

The final result is too be watched at The House of Lords HQ at Billton Tower 3, 6B.

And again please feel free to correct me or post your own experiences from multimedia signs here!

Over and out!
/OZ
 
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Nice ! Thanks for sharing those infos... Seeing what the upload fees are, I don't think I'll use this system though :rolleyes:

I'll try to go take a look at your movie this evening when I'm back home ;)

Cheers
 
Many many thanks!!! I was actually contemplating on how to best use the Reon W, found no resources whatsoever.

Again, thanks for posting this :wtg:
 
Wow i was wondering how they worked. Nice work and +reps for sharing, Looks like ill be putting up my reon on auction. Those fees are crazy.

Im going to check out your video tonight when i get home from work.
 
+rep for the How-to!

And in the economic department, I can have a Planet Calypso TV that shows exactly one show for the price of an Earth TV that gets all my local channels. ;-)

Just for comparison, here's the specs for TV commercial renders on one of the two networks my station broadcasts:

1. Mpeg2 Program Stream, CBR of 7500kb. 30fps.
2. Iframe distance of 15.
3. Audio Encoding use- Mpeg Layer2, Bit Rate of 192kb/s, 48K
4. Resolution of 720x480

This works out to roughly 1MB/second of broadcast quality video.

AG
 
For comparison I uploaded a 512x512 picture and put it on my Reon-S sign. The fee was around 60 peds of which something like 8.50 is refundable when/if you delete the photo.

Having to repair the signs to full TT was a an unwelcome surprise. I guess these signs are a great money maker for MA since repairs go straight to profit.
 
Yeah... no doubt about that. Money for MA... we can only hope that some of it goes back to us in the form of loot. But I'm not so sure of that anymore. But it is maybe just me that have not done so well after last VU. :)

Thx for the comments people!

/OZ
 
Good job! I have tried out the static images and that took me at least 3 hours to figure everything out. One thing that I took a while to figure was that you need to upload things by going to the action library and look for the participant content thing to click on it and upload. ( I was trying to find a button on the item itself for the longest time! lol) And also you need to place the sign on a wall somewhere before you can operate it to set its background ( your video/image) so you need an apartment or shop for that.

my 32 mb 512x256 images were about 39 peds to upload inclusive of fee if delete


Do you think whether there is a length limit to the video? What is the length of your video?
 
Thx for sharing your experience about the signs! =)

After experimenting some more with different signs I think there is no timelimit for video backgrounds... I found out the time I got to do my add on was the length my video had. =)

But that is the longest video I made so far so I'm not realy sure if there is a upper limit jet. I was ment to try to upload a long but hard compressed movie some day and test the limit to minimum cost, but never got around to it.
 
Well I have one complain about the signs.

It would be nice if they put in the info screen how much item points it takes.
I bought a Xlite-S screen, to spice up my litle booth.

Had to repair it roughly 200 PED just to discover that it takes 1 item point to much if you put it in a booth with a shopkeeper.

If the item points where shown in the info, I didnt buy the sign.

Booth, 10 item points.
Shopkeeper, 6 item points
Xlite-S screen, 5 item points.
 
Sure agree to that! Can not be a secret about that... right?

The info over all could be more specified I think. The price/MB for upload and so on. In the beginning they didn't even gave a hint of the prices... just that there was lots of fees to pay for.

/OZ
 
I think the PC signs take up only 1 slot :) at least all the Reon ones do in my gallery...

about price per mb i think MA has a curved out function for this ... starts somwhere around 30 ped ... when i was playing with my screens i first uploaded one of my drawings in low res and it took around 37 ped ... with the high resolution images now available in my gallery (Billton T3, 5G) the cost was approximatly 60 ped even tho the files were 10x the size of the low res one :)

Im not sure on how many pont do the screens and displays take tho... i do know that if u plan to post a static image or simple text its better to get a sign since fees on placing the add on it are lower :)

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]
 
I think the PC signs take up only 1 slot :) at least all the Reon ones do in my gallery...

about price per mb i think MA has a curved out function for this ... starts somwhere around 30 ped ... when i was playing with my screens i first uploaded one of my drawings in low res and it took around 37 ped ... with the high resolution images now available in my gallery (Billton T3, 5G) the cost was approximatly 60 ped even tho the files were 10x the size of the low res one :)

Im not sure on how many pont do the screens and displays take tho... i do know that if u plan to post a static image or simple text its better to get a sign since fees on placing the add on it are lower :)

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Ido, plz take a look at my post!
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57920

the content is not crypted!:(
 
I will chime in and say that I too was completely surprised after getting a few signs at auction for a reasonable price only to find out that they can't be dropped until brought to 90% or full condition. The description of these signs upon right-click isn't too clear either, not to mention no instruction on how to upload personal content. :(
 
I will chime in and say that I too was completely surprised after getting a few signs at auction for a reasonable price only to find out that they can't be dropped until brought to 90% or full condition. The description of these signs upon right-click isn't too clear either, not to mention no instruction on how to upload personal content. :(

Seems the whole personal content system was made fast and bad than anything else... like if MA had to finish it to say they got it ready for a special time...
 
I will chime in and say that I too was completely surprised after getting a few signs at auction for a reasonable price only to find out that they can't be dropped until brought to 90% or full condition. The description of these signs upon right-click isn't too clear either, not to mention no instruction on how to upload personal content. :(

I think the 90% repair is mentioned in the info screen.
Once you have it repaired, i found the personal content upload and use quit good explained though.
No problems there.

I only miss the item points info in the infoscreen.
Bought a Xlite-S Screen, just to discover after 200 ped repair that it takes 1 item point to much together with a shop keeper in a booth.
 
I think the 90% repair is mentioned in the info screen.
Once you have it repaired, i found the personal content upload and use quit good explained though.
No problems there.

I only miss the item points info in the infoscreen.
Bought a Xlite-S Screen, just to discover after 200 ped repair that it takes 1 item point to much together with a shop keeper in a booth.

Yes , but it is useless to have it full repair...
Imho or its a bug and should be 9% , wich looks logic when you see decay ... or MA whant us to stuck more ped , wich seems stupid on that item.
And as they are at it , MA could write it in ped and not % ... what is the point to make me use my calc in EU ?
Remember me EU is economic game where designer are not abel to provide a simple calc ?
 
Yes , but it is useless to have it full repair...
Imho or its a bug and should be 9% , wich looks logic when you see decay ... or MA whant us to stuck more ped , wich seems stupid on that item.
And as they are at it , MA could write it in ped and not % ... what is the point to make me use my calc in EU ?
Remember me EU is economic game where designer are not abel to provide a simple calc ?

I agree that the repair to 90% is useles, repair to 9% works just as well.
As long as the upload fee is on the screen, no problem.
On the other hand, the ped is not lost, you only use the upload fee of the add/message.
Selling the screen returns the used ped on repair.

Regards.
Ion
 
I agree that the repair to 90% is useles, repair to 9% works just as well.
As long as the upload fee is on the screen, no problem.
On the other hand, the ped is not lost, you only use the upload fee of the add/message.
Selling the screen returns the used ped on repair.

Regards.
Ion
upload fee is taken from ped card , not from screen , wich make the 90% useless.
Also , if an artist whant to sell screen , he dont need to have a 200 ped TT screen to sell ...wish reduce a lot is margin and dont bring anything good neither to MA or artist...
It seems to be one of those MA usual coma error...(remember brown cans? )
 
upload fee is taken from ped card , not from screen , wich make the 90% useless.
Also , if an artist whant to sell screen , he dont need to have a 200 ped TT screen to sell ...wish reduce a lot is margin and dont bring anything good neither to MA or artist...
It seems to be one of those MA usual coma error...(remember brown cans? )

I dont mean the upload of personal content to the screen, that from the card indeed.
Placing the add/art on the screen is taken in the form of decay.
Well at least on the Xlite-S screen.
Placing the add cost 12.50 (if i'm corect) and is taken from the screen in the form of decay.
But the comma error wouldnt surprice me, not the first time indeed.

Regards.
Ion
 
90% is the way MA intended it to be ... i wrote support to ask them about it :) and they replied its not a mistake and that they will include the info on the screens (i told them it was missleading so i think they added it)

Ido
 
Ido good to know it was no "misstake" at least.

And Atlan... to be correct around 15%-29% of the peds are not lost since you use it to place the pic in ther frame. BUT you can never use the 85% that will be stuck in your sign forever after first repair... or do I think wrong here?

Hard to know what MA intend with this 90% limit... since me my self think that 30% (even 40%) would be ok to keep people from fill it with "shit". And that in my opinion (as far as I can see) is the only reason why MA have this high fees for signs and PC. To prevent people to upload "mickey mouse" logos and such... that could give them trouble. :)

Well... maybe we will never know...

/OZ
 
I dont mean the upload of personal content to the screen, that from the card indeed.
Placing the add/art on the screen is taken in the form of decay.
Well at least on the Xlite-S screen.
Placing the add cost 12.50 (if i'm corect) and is taken from the screen in the form of decay.
But the comma error wouldnt surprice me, not the first time indeed.

Regards.
Ion

But with the 90% , its alow you to create 2 ads then go reapair since creating ads is 12 ped , and item is like 110 ped TT wich is full total dumb.

90% is the way MA intended it to be ... i wrote support to ask them about it :) and they replied its not a mistake and that they will include the info on the screens (i told them it was missleading so i think they added it)

Ido
Yeah , MA told me same about half bugged stuff in the game...If you think MA will one day say they did a mistake , you are very very naive.
The axe 1x0 was not a mistake
the opalo amp was not a mistake
the brown cans 70 pec is not a mistake
enginering for tailoring is not mistake and so on....

The whole (PC) system is cleary not finished , and i still see only incoveniant to the 90% limit on it... just dumb.

Give me 1 valid point to make it 90% ?
 
because MA wante me money :D
 
because MA wante me money :D
Its way better for them you sell 20 screen at 100 ped total
than only 2 at 300 ped because of insane TT :)
 
Give me 1 valid point to make it 90% ?

Think of all those who bought screens, only to find out later that they can't drop them on the walls unless they repair them almost fully. Was an instant money-maker for MA, with all those repair PEDs going straight to MA and not in the lootpool if I'm not mistaken.

Oh but you asked for a 'valid' point! Nop, I'm afraid I have none of these, unless you count lining MA's pockets as valid. Guess not. Meh... :censored:

For MA to make even more money, I suggest they take an axe1x0, paint it brown, then go on a screen-breaking spree with it. What's left of them can be finished with the opalo... then all screen owners would have to pay full repair for them once again. :rolleyes:
 
Thx for all the info. Been repairing my screen for 150 PEDs, now I will stop and put it on auction. It was a sign I wanted, not a screen.
Horrible costs to use these things
 
I did find this in the Participant guides at official EU site. www.entrpiauniverse.com. Under the advertising part. Maybe we just should have checked there first?

Fees
A standard upload fee.
A dynamic upload fee based on the size of the uploaded content.
An content value deposit which is paid when uploading files to your content files. This deposit is refunded when the content is removed.
Deterioration of Signs, Screens and Displays when content is applied.

Upload Fees are only paid once, regardless of how many Signs, Screens or Displays are showing the content. Content can only be removed when no Signs, Screens or Displays are showing the content.

Condition Limit
Please note that Signs, Screens and Displays cannot be administered, placed on walls etc. or dropped if their condition is below 90%. They need to be repaired to above 90% in order for these tasks to be carried out.

Participant Content is regulated by the Entropia Universe EULA (§9 Participant Content).
 
I think the 90% thing was added after some people complained ... i was one of them ... i belive it was not there or it was not realy visible :D

Ido
 
Oh yes, Ido is right! The text have been re-writen. I sure looked there at first. =)

Still no info about the cost though... so to leave that out was no "misstake". It was ment to be a little surprise for us settlers after hours of work at a nice piece of art to publish.

/Oz
 
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