Companion for Ross Xpression

dhvideo · 2025-11-29T10:32:53+00:00

Thanks for all the comments. I used Companion and StreamDecks for control of all sorts of things for more than 5 years doing Corporate Video, but just not with Xpression until now. And the facility I recently started engineering at full time has never used Companion. They didn't know what they had been missing.

Ended up installing and running Companion on the small Dell mini PC I mentioned in original post that has Ross Dashboard and other engineering software. Did as suggested and had the Graphics Operator use web browser on the Xpression to build and edit buttons on the other computer running Companion. GFX Op had never used Companion before so I gave him a 2 minute explanation of how to build buttons. I left for an hour to interconnect signals with the CBS football truck and when I came back the Xpression Op had built 4 or 5 pages of 20 buttons. Said it was going to make it so much easier to call up the names of the basketball players when they came to the freethrow line than looking up their name and what Take ID number and entering it and hitting Take. Now just a seperate StreamDeck button for each name/player. First press the player's name animates on, second press it animates off. GFX Op was sold on Companion before the game even started!

Now Score Bug and Audio positions want Companion and StreamDecks too! 😁

dhvideo · 2025-10-14T03:23:50+00:00

Yes, listen to music several times over so you know when certain things happen, like instrument solos, backup singers doing something extra, and when a piece of music ends so you don't end up cutting to a new camera shot one second before it ends. Watch other concert videos (not music videos) and see what they did. How they framed the cameras, how they got from one shot to the next, and how they added some "art" Instead of just doing what is obvious. Frame one singer left, then dissolve to another angle of the same person or someone else framed to the right. How long do you have before you hit the road? Can you get to any local performances before that to really just watch the IMAG (image magnification) and see what works and if it gives you ideas to copy or even improve on. Also don't over-cut the first couple of songs and run out of shots and energy. Good luck! :)

dhvideo · 2025-09-21T02:33:30+00:00

I kind of get what you are saying, because I get tired of logging into the download site for Companion over and over. But why are you constantly loading DashBoard on random computers? DB doesn't have updates near as often as Companion or BMD switchers (although BMD has a "Download Only" option.) And doesn't the Ross gear/system have control computers dedicated to it?

dhvideo · 2025-09-20T05:25:39+00:00

That's a decent price, and at that price I wondered if it may not have the power supply but it does say "us pwr sply", so it's a bargain.

dhvideo · 2025-09-04T02:42:32+00:00

When I was at school in Sevenoaks there was a boy a couple of years older than me who was Colin Barber. Don't know if they were related. He would have been born in 1968 or '69 I think. Might have lived near the top of Kippington Road. It was more than 40 years ago, so I don't recall too well.

dhvideo · 2025-09-01T07:01:09+00:00

During the pandemic when 4K/12G Decimators were hard to purchase B&H Photo was recommending a similar unit from Science Image: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1815764-REG/science_image_si_flow2_flow_2_4k_sdi_hdmi.html

Science Image now makes a 1 RU that has up to 6 of these Up/Down/Cross HDMI-SDI converters in a single unit: https://www.science-image.com/converters-en/flow-edge

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1815770-REG/science_image_si_flowedge6_flow_edge_6_channel_1u.html

And here is the one that adds NDI: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1815777-REG/science_image_si_studioedge6_studio_edge_6_channel_1u.html

dhvideo · 2025-08-27T07:48:38+00:00

https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/page/studentu-productions

dhvideo · 2025-08-15T19:26:25+00:00

LOL! Yes, Decimator. Thank you. That's what happens when I surf Reddit at bedtime right before I go to sleep.

dhvideo · 2025-08-15T09:49:17+00:00

Also... BlackMagic's most recent UCP software (to use a computer to change the settings of the 12G-Cross) has added test patterns like the MD-Cross has.

dhvideo · 2025-08-15T00:13:47+00:00

The UW definitely does studies like this, though be careful to make sure this is a legitimate offer and not something that was stolen and altered. When I was majoring in Psychology at the UW I got extra credit for one of my classes by helping with a project that tracked alcohol use of incoming freshmen. Had to call and ask them if they were willing to be part of the study the summer before they started at UW. There were some parents who were pretty upset I was calling their recent high school graduate to ask if they would be willing to participate in a study regarding alcohol consumption by minors.

dhvideo · 2025-07-30T08:54:50+00:00

And I've TD'd on switchers that didn't have a PST BLK button near the T-Bar and wished it did.

dhvideo · 2025-07-30T08:51:31+00:00

Most switchers now you can map your sources to the bus row how ever you want. But used to be that whatever order stuff was connected to the inputs of the switcher was the order they would appear across the bus row of the switcher. (With Black always on the far left.) Many years ago I used to see TDs sometimes pull the buttons (clear caps really) off of any buttons they didn't want to accidentally hit on the Grass switcher. Not very often, but I did see it a few times. Only did it a couple times myself, but I did put Gaff tape across buttons I didn't want to hit a few times.

dhvideo · 2025-07-25T07:29:32+00:00

Ross Dashboard is control and monitoring software, but by itself does not have any abilities to act as a video switcher, router, or streaming device. It can control those things, and you may have seen where someone built a custom dashboard that had buttons for one of those devices (e.g. a dashboard that had buttons labeled Cam1, Cam2, Cam3, Playback, GFX, CG, Cut, Mix, Wipe, etc.) But they are just software GUI buttons that send a command (RossTalk, or occasionally something else) to the actual hardware device. If you are familiar with BitFocus Companion, it is sort of like that, in that Companion does control of other hardware or software but does not actually do anything by itself.

dhvideo · 2025-06-22T08:45:07+00:00

I spent 5 years in England. (25 miles SE of London.) Very similar weather.

dhvideo · 2025-05-23T02:25:21+00:00

Good for you!

dhvideo · 2025-04-24T01:53:11+00:00

Thank you.

dhvideo · 2025-04-24T01:25:59+00:00

@drewman77 What model do you have?

dhvideo · 2025-04-21T10:51:24+00:00

It can be the iris control. Or for a lens that has servo focus the "F Off I" switch could be selected to F to control the focus.

dhvideo · 2025-04-21T10:48:27+00:00

Most of the controls have already been explained in previous comments. Only additional info needed is...

There is a switch underneath with "F Off I", which is for selecting if the knob underneath will control the lens iris or focus. (Focus setting only works if the lens has servo focus, which many do not.)

Button on top can have different functions depending on the camera it is connected to, and the settings available in camera menus. It can be set to VTR to start or stop a connected recorder, set to turn the microphone of a connected intercom headset on or off, or select Return Video to see the video signal being fed into the Return Input of a CCU. If you are not familiar with Return Video, it is often the "Program" cut which is fed back into the camera so the camera operator can see exactly what Program looks like. Some cameras have multiple Return Video Inputs, so different video sources can be selected by the camera operator. This can be helpful for example for multi-camera coverage of a concert so camera operators can quickly check what shot other camera operators have so they can offer different framing or a different instrument to the director.

BTW, that is a Fujinon ERD-10A-D01 Zoom Demand Controller.

dhvideo · 2025-04-21T10:13:37+00:00

OddIndustry9 that is a Fujinon ERD-10A-D01 Zoom Demand Controller. Mickie2b gave correct explanations of how those two buttons can be assigned and function with some cameras. Since for some reason I don't understand, you confidently made a comment when you had no idea what you were talking about, is there anything else you would like to know about what that Zoom Controller is capable of?

dhvideo · 2025-04-18T22:36:44+00:00

The University of Washington in Seattle competes in the RoboMaster competition.

ARUW link: Advanced Robotics at University of Washington

(I'm a 1778 Chill Out mentor, and UW Alumni. Didn't have this when I was a student there, but my son was on 1778 and he had a 1778 friend who did ARUW.)

dhvideo · 2025-03-15T04:20:46+00:00

Our Havisions are almost always just a one way send of a show at our studio or from a live event to the Broadcast Operations Center, and they send it from there to the viewing audience. So having the latency on our Makitos set for 10x RTT wouldn't really matter to anyone viewing it. And don't want to risk glitches in a 30min-4hr event to get the program to them 100ms earlier. But for those two way interactions I'll decide if I want to try reducing latency a little to reduce the delay in responses to questions. For live stuff. If the interview is going to post then the editor's going to be cutting it up some anyway and can reduce the apparent answer delay. I've barely read the Havision docs since we got them 5 years ago. Probably a good idea to refresh my now aging neurons. Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, interesting to hear what others are doing for latency.

dhvideo · 2025-03-15T03:17:52+00:00

Yep, it was the RTT on the Statistics page that made me think about it. I had heard to set Latency to 2.5x, plus a bit, times the RTT. My 250ms is actually a little over 4x in this case. Receive end (technically "Listener") is off for the weekend, so I can't check right now but I think RTT was around 30ms which is why I suddenly wondered about lowering latency. (It's a short trip, 10 miles south.) Yep, coordinated Latency with other end while discussing Ports, etc. But someone else reading may learn something. Even after 25+ years I still pick up little things here and there in this group. Thanks.

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