I agree with Mike, I used Kalypso last week with new software, and the panel response I think is not really acceptable. If I hit a button displays and such should should pretty quickly not what seems like a good second or so later. Also I had some problems with the Transform engine menu being unavailable. The menu was all greyed out. The only way to get it back was to send some keyers to the TE's in that menu, and then it was good, then I had to go unenable them.

After using v15 for a couple of shows I'll say the ESS is much improved, and much different. The only thing that bothers me, like mentioned before, is the control panel seems to lag when updating the status of buttons, like master emem selection, and source selection. When recalling an master emem, like for one of those quick "PROMO 41" out of nowhere, the emem seems to recall, but doesn't indicate it's recalled, making me think I hit a wrong button or something. I went to recall the emem again and the display updated suddenly in the middle of my second recall. And for example, when running a DDR transition, the cut will happen properly under the DDR , but the update to the source selection on the panel sometimes happens after effect completion. I'll notice it out of the corner of my eye and it makes me think "what changed" since I'm not expecting a source change at that moment. Nothing major, but it takes my focus away from the show for a second.

[quote="Big O"]When you say you can't covert a file and save it to your PC, you mean you can't make .gva files at home from tiffs or jpegs and save them to your PC? You have to have a still store present? And if you do have a still store present, can you save them then or do you have to send them to the still store?[/quote] You can make gva files at home from TIFs, JPEGs etc by using the Image Converter software that I mentioned in an earlier thread. The disadvantage to this is you need to download the entire Kayak (yes Kayak, not Kalypso) software then install sidepanel on your PC just to get the Image Converter. Rick Paulson at GV is looking into changing this. When using the SS loader the only way to save the converted images is to push them to a folder (while converting). The converted stills will be placed in whatever folder (local - not on your PC) you select (you?ll see this when you select Export). At this time they won?t have a thumbnail (.bmp). If you select that folder on the SS menu (just so it displays your images in the SS menu ? no need to cache) Kalypso will create thumbnails for each image in the folder. This could take a few seconds if you have a lot of images. If your current working directory on the Kalypso SS is the same folder where you are pushing the images then you need to refresh your working directory or change to another WD then change back in order to see the new images. Again, the images are there, just not the thumbnails. Once these thumbnails (BMPs) are created they are in the current folder ? no need to save them.

I have used v15.0 on all of my CBS shows since it was released back in December. Yes there are a few bugs, but I have not had any big issues. The new SS is sooo much better than the old one. The main advantage is being able to grab stills and animations without saving them. Seth is right there is a big gotcha' that several TDs have been bitten by: The ?Keep? vs the ?Save? button. Keep only places the image/clip in cache it does not save it ? that?s what Save is for. The idea behind this is we can grab several images and/or clips without waiting for them to save. When we?re done we can go to the Image Manager, highlite the ones we want to keep then tell the system to save them (Save Selected). I usually save this for my lunch break or when I leave the truck at the end of the day. I?ve had a few TDs call very frustrated with the new software and they all have one thing in common: They haven?t read the Release Notes. I hope this doesn?t sound mean-spirited because I?m only trying to help. We really put a lot of effort into these notes and I hope they are helpful. As I mentioned before, we?d love any feedback (good and bad) about the release notes. Sometimes poking around is all you need, but that may result in a lot of frustration until you get familiar with the new system. I think if you take a ?-hour or so to go through the release notes then it should save you a lot of time in the long run. Just my thoughts.

When you say you can't covert a file and save it to your PC, you mean you can't make .gva files at home from tiffs or jpegs and save them to your PC? You have to have a still store present? And if you do have a still store present, can you save them then or do you have to send them to the still store?

[quote="jwillis"]Yes, the still store loader works fine with any still store i have tried it with. The target formats haven't changed - though I think there is a name placed in the .GVA file which wasn't there before. The difference that I found is that the new version only saves to the Kalypso not to local disk. Rick Paulson said this is in hand. John[/quote] So this means you can use it to send files to the still store, you just can't retrieve from the still store and save to your laptop?

Does the version 15 still store loader work with a version 14 frame/still store software?

I have used 15.0 three times, on two (single-suite) trucks, two very different shows (network NBA, network studio-remote). In general, the results were positive. I did notice an occasional lag with the cross-point button indication, but there wasn?t any lag in actual source switching. Near the end of my most recent show, however, I wasn?t able to modify or add any keyframes. A reset corrected the problem. As for the new Still Store menu, for the most part I had positive results. There are some ?gotchas? to be aware of: - Just because you see a thumbnail, the still might not actually be available. When you ?Keep? a still, it is in volatile memory and won?t be available after a reset. You must ?Save? it if you want it permanently. The thumbnail, however, will still exist for stills that were not saved. I discovered this the hard way, when my first show was on a truck that had previously done the same show I was going to do. Since I saw the thumbnails, I didn?t attempt to load some of the stills that I needed. - When you first load the Image Server Software into your laptop, you are prompted for a location for the actual still files. If you subsequently want to change/add locations, you won?t find the software listed as an available program. Instead, you will find it in the Control Panel. - My firewall prevented the Image Server from connecting to my laptop. I ultimately discovered that if I disabled the firewall to initiate the connection, I could enable it again and everything would work fine. - I had some difficulty with the new SS Loader program. It recognized my .tif files as a ?supported format? and opened them, but didn?t show their image. I ended up using the old SS Loader to convert the .tif to .gva. One problem that I see: you can no longer send an image to the still store as a key. Overall, the work done for V15 appears to be a major improvement. I reiterate what Ed Collins stated previously in this thread, and recommend reading the Release Notes.

There have been some bugs that are trying to be worked out. Control panel might freeze for brief second when going between pushing buttons quickly and doing a dissolve but will end up doing a cut instead, SS issues (new learning curve as well), TE not delegating proper and able to be acquired across suites (Multi Suite) w/ 1 TE card, Remote Aux bus mapping. Couple of issues specific to individual trucks and exchange of frame proc board has remedied some of the problems. Have heard that it is not just specific to MTVG trucks but others in the industry as well that might be running in Multi-Suite mode. - Travis

[quote="colbyb"]Lou- Nobody seems to be complaining about version 15.0. I think it is ready for prime time and I plan to switch over to it between NFL and NASCAR. -Colby[/quote] I heard second hand of an issue when run in multi suite mode, where the SS was acquired in both suites and it'd lock up the system. But it's good to hear single suite users aren't having many big issues.

Lou- Nobody seems to be complaining about version 15.0. I think it is ready for prime time and I plan to switch over to it between NFL and NASCAR. -Colby

I guess the big question is when are the 15.0 faults going to be worked out, and when can we expect a usable 15.0.1 or 15.1? (I say that not based on using the software, but simply expecting the .0 version not ready for primetime, as evidence by previous Grass .0 version premature releases)

The SS loader is intended for transfers from a PC to the Kalypso. You can, of course, save the transferred images once they are loaded into the Kalypso, but that doesn't really answer your question does it? There is another program from Grass Valley called Image Converter. It comes bundled with the Kayak software. If you download the Kayak software you will get the Image Converter. This will allow you to convert files from multiple formats to the Kalypso format then save them to whatever storage device that is hooked up (or networked) to your PC ? all ?offline?. Image converter is also valuable for conversions from SD to HD, HD to SD, 720 to 1080 etc. as well as importing multiple graphic formats.

The new still store loader pgm (V15) does not allow you to save converted files to disk or USB stick. This is a problem. It would be great to be able to work offline and prepare stills for later uploading. The SS loader seems to only be functional when it is networked into the Kalypso frame. Or am I missing something. Richard

[quote="Yiper"]as long as it happens... the SS has been an issue from day one with the Classic.[/quote] I agree, it stinks!

[quote="Steve Meyer"]QT support! Fantastic! Will the SS loader also convert video clips the other way? Kalypso format to QT?[/quote] I don't know if this helps you or not, but the "Pro" version of the Quicktime player has the ability to play image sequences. You could then export that out to a Quicktime movie.

[quote="Rick Paulson"]Correct, version 15.0 is only for HD/DUO systems, not Classic. The Classic is a different hardware platform than the HD or DUO (SD only, same hardware just not licensed for HD).[/quote] Nice.

as long as it happens... the SS has been an issue from day one with the Classic.

Correct, version 15.0 is only for HD/DUO systems, not Classic. The Classic is a different hardware platform than the HD or DUO (SD only, same hardware just not licensed for HD). Engineering is evaluating the effort to port the new features to the Classic frame, so I can't provide a completion date just yet. I hope to have a schedule before the end of the year.

Crap I didn't read close enough, 15.0 is the HD version ... what about us using Clasic. when does the SS redesign come online?

The new SS loader is very nice but it will not convert Kalypso animations to avi, QT etc. It only goes one way. This has been talked about, just not yet implemented. After testing the new Still Store this past year I can say that it is infinitely better than the old one. The ability to grab stills and capture animations without the requirement of saving them before doing another grab is a huge help. The Image Server function is also great. Now you can load images into cache directly from a laptop without first copying them to the Still Store?s hard drive. You can also have a PC set up as a server and have 2 (or more) Kalypsos accessing the same files. This feature is great for big shows such as NASCAR, Golf etc. where more than one production trucks are involved. We spent quite a bit of time on the release notes in hopes that they will help TDs understand the features and functionality of the new Still Store. I highly recommend reading them. Let us know if they were a help. Any feedback (good and bad) is always welcome. Ed

QT support! Fantastic! Will the SS loader also convert video clips the other way? Kalypso format to QT?

There is a new Still Store loader program available with Version 15...this one converts AVI and QT to Kalypso format clips! Supported File Formats The new Still Store Loader works with the following file formats: ? GIF (.gif) ? JPG (.jpg/.jpeg) ? JPEG 2000 (.jp2/.j2k) ? TIF (.tif/.tiff) ? Windows Bitmap (.bmp/.wbmp) ? PNG (.png) ? Kalypso Native Image (.gva/.gvi) ? TARGA (.tga) ? PICT (.pict) Video Files The following video formats are supported by Still Store Loader: ? AVI ? QuickTime

Thank you Jesus.... a strobe AND trails on this version.... the DPM 700 hos now been replaced!!! anyway. I couldn't find what types of files that the still store will recognize. Can my graphics artist now just drop a photoshop file in a folder and everything will be awsome?