[Noob] Unknown laser show box cannot run SD card .prg/.ild files

[xheavenlyx]

Hi Guys,

After working on this RGB laser show box for a week and searching all over the internet and this forum I have finally decided to post. I received this box from a company. They would like to use it but no one has figured it out yet. I have made some non-laser electronic projects and am a programmer by profession. Pictures included. Curiosity got me to accept this project.

The Problem:

I cannot play .prg or .ild files from a FAT32 formatted SD card. The test.prg file is written as per instructions, eg:
019.ild,5,3
021.ild,5,3

stored directly in the SD card with the two ild files (019.ild, 020.ild).

The Box:

Front: Safety & Warning - Opening for laser - TVS - VS-18SD
Back: ILDA DB 25 pin input/output, MIC, LCD with 4 buttons, Sound level knob, Zoom knob, SD Card slot, DMX IN & DMX OUT.

The Auto program works fine, beautiful laser display.
Audio input from the MIC works fine too, sensitivity is understandably low even at Sound level knob on MAX.
Alignment cross hair works fine. Green x,y + cross can be changed fine by moving the Zoom knob.

The software CD:

I received a shabby old CD-R loaded with 3 folders.

1. Laser Controller driver, FTClean, Pinout PDF, SD Card Instructions (followed it!), VS-18 Model program flow PDF (Instructions on different Modes)
2. iShowEn and iShow Chinese, from what I've read it's one of the worst software to create show/ild files. Installed it to try it out. Insanely confusing.
3. "ILDA Show Laser" Sofware which does not work. Installing in Windows give French errors!?

The Process:

I took the two .ild files from iShow folder to test the program system. The files can be played on iShow player. Moving dashes, around 50 frames. Some files are corrupt. I made sure not to place them in the SD card.

The exact test.prg file:
019.ild,5,3
021.ild,5,3

The Settings on my box:

Auto mode shows "Aurora" file playing normally! But on Prg Mode, no folder or .prg file is read from my SD card. On ILDA Mode if no SD card is inserted, it falls back on "Aurora".

Pictures:


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[james]

I wonder if you have a system with the same kind of internal controller as this one.....

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...from-Spencer-s

You're lucky to have an ILDA port! At least you can make a LaserBoy DAC without too much trouble!

James.

[colouredmirrorball]

These systems are known to only accept ILDA Version 0 (or maybe V1 as well). This is an old standard. Most programs use ILDA V4 or 5 now, which might not be compatible.
The difference is in how colours are handled. Ilda V0 and 1 use palettes, so each point in the file has a colour index corresponding to a colour in the palette. Ilda v4/5 have RGB values instead.

But what James said, go and buy/build a DAC.

I recommend:

Laserboy + soundcard if you have some electronics skills and not much money.
LSX light or basic with a Riya DAC if you have some money and time.
LSX basic with etherdream if you want lots of features.
Pangolin Quickshow if you have a lot of money and just want to mash buttons.
[EDIT] The new Lasershark DAC seems to be a good starting DAC. But it's quite new, and I don't think any software supports it at the moment. [/EDIT]

I've attached some random ilda files, one v0, one v1 and one v4/5. See which ones you can play.

v0.ild
v1.ild
v5.ild

(I hope these aren't copyrighted... lol)

[xheavenlyx]

@james Thanks for the link. I think mine is an RGB laser projector too. I will look into the Laser Boy DAC. Will be brushing up on the ILDA format from here http://laserboy.org/ilda_file_format.html and http://www.laserist.org/StandardsDoc...finaldraft.pdf. This project sounds interesting Btw are you THE James Lehman, the maker of LaserBoy?

@colouredmirrorball Nice! I will try out the files tonight and let you know. The above link will give me some idea on how different ILDA formats are read by different projectors.

The company just wants to project their logo in their office building. I will be designing the .ild file from scratch ... let's see how this goes.

[james]

Yes. Last time I checked I was THE James Lehman!

You won't find any official docs on the newer ILDA formats 4 & 5 and what you do find about 0, 1, 2, and 3 is dated. Format 3 was ruined and is no longer considered a part of the file spec.

For a $20 USB sound card and about $40 in parts you can build a very nice DAC. You can also do all your design work in LaserBoy.

James.

[xheavenlyx]

@colouredmirrorball The files didn't work. Same problem, Prg mode spits out rapid "parallel line"s for 100ms and repeats every 10 seconds.

@james Yup, the best solution would be to make a DAC and run custom design from LaserBoy. I had an old working ACER Extensa 500 with a parallel port but it's LCD screen is bust... I loved that PC got it in 1997. I might also buy the RIYA Light http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...te-Controllers

I would really appreciate if you can link some DAC tutorials that you recommend. I just downloaded the LaserBoy_2012_12_30 zip file. Wow, drawing is crazy here. Going through the tutorials on your forum.

I might also open the box and find out if it has an internal SD card like some other models.

[tribble]

xheavenlyx, try the skylinefireworks.ild posted here:

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...efireworks-ild

It's known to play on a showcard that takes the same commands as yours. It's format 0.

If it works, try the workflow I posted here:

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...228#post250228

[james]

Read this thread all the way through. Notice there is a revised schemo toward the end, also you only need 5 channels of correction amp, but since op-amps come in pairs you might as well make 6. You do not need all 8 channels. The audio channels can be left decoupled, as is.

http://laserboy.org/forum/index.php?topic=277.0

Google "USB-SND8". That's a nice 8 channel USB external sound card that I have used many times to make LaserBoy DACs.

http://laserboy.org/forum/index.php?...sg6336#msg6336

James.

[mixedgas]

If its for a corporate client also consider a Riya Lite with the SD card option or a FB3 from Pangolin.
My Riya will play on boot without a huge attached PC. The FB3 will also do so.

These files are known type 0 for beam shows, but some will look "ok" as test graphics

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...s-Thread/page3

You might also want to find ZILDA for a viewer.

USB sound card dacs tend to hiccup some times, so really test this before you stake your reputation on this.
The drivers can have some nice "issues".


Steve

[james]

The only time I've ever had a problem with that is when I'm reading data from a USB mounted hard drive on an old laptop that does not have USB 2.0 ports. It just drops out for a fraction of a second and comes right back. If I'm reading from the native drive or a network drive, it's fine. And I'm taking about reading 8 channel waves at 48K with stereo audio tracks!

If you are really concerned about a flaky USB connection you can use an internal PCI sound card. There are examples of Dolby 7.1 cards that have VIA and C-Media chips on them. These cards are usually very easy to tap. Sound Blaster cards are not. Another nice thing about using a PCI card is that you get your +12 and -12 volts to drive the correction amp right from the PCI slot, no DC/DC converter necessary.

I used PCI cards for several years before 6 and 8 channel USB devices were available.

James.