Best Settings for "Update Interval" and "Latency"

Joe Paul

Joe Paul

Supporting Member
Hi Everyone,

I have been tinkering with the "Update Interval" and "Latency" settings. What are the best values for avoiding skipping and hiccups if using serial directly from an average (inexpensive) PC.

Thanks!
Take care, Joe.
 
A bit more information is needed. What are you controlling? It seems you are saying that you are using a serial interface. What speed is the interface? How much data is sent per frame? What Frame rate are you trying to achieve?

Martin
 
MartinMueller2003 said:
A bit more information is needed. What are you controlling? It seems you are saying that you are using a serial interface. What speed is the interface? How much data is sent per frame? What Frame rate are you trying to achieve?

Martin
Click to expand...

Thanks, Martin, for the reply!

So for serial speed, 115200, controlling one servo for the talking moose, but I have the other 9 channels empty. For the rest of your info, if this is what you need, interval and latency was 50 and 25. I bumped up the interval to 75 then 100, latency down to 10 then up to 15.

I noticed no big difference. Perhaps it's my PC; sometimes the playback of the audio has a brief hiccup. I turned off as many processes as possible on the PC, including WiFI.


Take care, Joe.
 
What program are you using that lets you set latency and update interval? You are using a servo of some sort. What controller is driving the server?
 
The defaults are optimal in most cases. The update interval is the update rate that Vixen samples the effect data. You can correlate that to getting an output packet from the serial port every 50ms when set to the default of 50. Smaller numbers are more often and require more resources to handle.

The latency is the audio buffering to the audio device. 20ms is the default setting and should work fine in most cases. Setting it faster reduces the buffer size and can lead to pops if the computer can?t keep up with near real time audio.


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MartinMueller2003 said:
What program are you using that lets you set latency and update interval? You are using a servo of some sort. What controller is driving the server?
Click to expand...

Hi Martin,

It's under "tools, "options," in VIXEN 3. I am using an ESP32 running the code I posted in the thread about servos and and Arduino.
It's a cheap, little servo.

Thanks, Take care, Joe.
 
jeffu231 said:
The defaults are optimal in most cases. The update interval is the update rate that Vixen samples the effect data. You can correlate that to getting an output packet from the serial port every 50ms when set to the default of 50. Smaller numbers are more often and require more resources to handle.

The latency is the audio buffering to the audio device. 20ms is the default setting and should work fine in most cases. Setting it faster reduces the buffer size and can lead to pops if the computer can?t keep up with near real time audio.


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Click to expand...

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the info!! I will put things back to what I gather are the default settings. I will go the e131 route.

Take care, Joe.
 
Try starting at 9600 baud and if that works try the next higher speed until you encounter the issues again. You mentioned you have multiple servos/channels not yet used in another thread.

A lower baud rate may address latency issues if you are using an Arduino to run the servos.
 
Hi Everyone,

So it seems setting the latency to "23" resolved the issue (of skipping, hiccups) with either the generic serial or e131 WiFi.

Thanks, Everyone, for all the support and tips!

Take care, Joe. (I might post a sort video of my singing moose head project, in progress, soon. Need to get the synching refined.)
 
Aurbo99 said:
Try starting at 9600 baud and if that works try the next higher speed until you encounter the issues again. You mentioned you have multiple servos/channels not yet used in another thread.

A lower baud rate may address latency issues if you are using an Arduino to run the servos.
Click to expand...

Hi Steve,


Thanks for the info! I will also play with the baud rate. I'm not quite sure what is actually making the difference when I change certain settings. Setting the latency to a lower value seems to have helped.

Take care, Joe.
 
Hi Everyone,

So my computer only has 4 gigs of RAM, so that probably is the reason for the lag. So you'll see an example of the lag at "a turkey" time mark 0:50. I haven't refined the sync, but the issues are random, seldom in the same place. I have pared down the code to only 2 channels, doesn't seen to make a difference.



I have another machine with 6 gigs; need to try that machine.

Thanks!

Take care, Joe
 
There is an instrumentation panel in Vixen under Tools on the main screen. You can reset the counters prior to playing the sequence and see if any area shows a jump in timing when you see the lag. That should give you an indication if it is in Vixen or something external.


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jeffu231 said:
There is an instrumentation panel in Vixen under Tools on the main screen. You can reset the counters prior to playing the sequence and see if any area shows a jump in timing when you see the lag. That should give you an indication if it is in Vixen or something external.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks, Jeff!!!! I'll give it a try!!!!!
 
Hi Everyone,

Well, I was trying to see what processes where running, so I opened the Windows' task manager while running a sequence, and that caused Vixen to glitch. So it must be my laptop. It was a bargain that isn't a bargain, LOL. I will try to export the folder I need to move what I've done to my other machine. I already have Vixen installed on it.

I'll keep everyone posted!

Take care, Joe.
 
Make sure the laptop is set to performance mode in windows over power saving. They get to throttling the cpus when they are in power saving.


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jeffu231 said:
Make sure the laptop is set to performance mode in windows over power saving. They get to throttling the cpus when they are in power saving.


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Click to expand...

Thanks, Jeff! It is set to performance mode. I exported the sequence to my other machine, and that was a 3 hour project for me!
The mapping on the second machine was my stumbling block. And then I couldn't change the serial port and Vixen was crashing.
Had to do a clean reinstall into a different folder. So, after all that, there is the same behavior on the second machine (with 2 gigs more of RAM). Beginning to think it's my code or something with Vixen. Vixen did the same hiccup when I opened task manager on the second machine.

I will tinker tomorrow!

Take care, Joe.
 
Hi Everyone,

So I tried different baud rates, 9600, 57600, 115200, wired (USB) and ESP32 classic Bluetooth, and a few days ago, e131 WiFi with the ESP32. Best way to describe it is "drop out" not "lag."

I think it's probably my cheap PCs. I don't know if the Falcon player would be a solution. I have a Pi 4 B.

Still tinkering!

Take care, Joe.
 
Can you post the same video with the drop out while the instrumentation screen showing? Reset the instrumentation on that screen before you play so I can see what the internals are doing in Vixen.


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jeffu231 said:
Can you post the same video with the drop out while the instrumentation screen showing? Reset the instrumentation on that screen before you play so I can see what the internals are doing in Vixen.


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Click to expand...

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I'll take another video but the drop out is seldom in the same place.

Take care, Joe
 
Ok, Jeff, but it's blurry. It glitches at "yuletide carols" at the 0:30 mark (and a couple other places).

I'll do another with a separate screen recording.

 
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