SuiteCG’s NDI graphics are not immediately available to hardware switchers that do not support NDI sources. However, hardware switchers, sometimes called vision mixers, can still receive SuiteCG’s NDI graphics by means of an HDMI connection between a computer or laptop and the hardware switcher itself.
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The NDI Preview/Confidence Monitor in the User Interface is not displaying anything
There are a few reasons the NDI confidence monitor may stop working.
1. The computer machine name exceeds 15 characters. If you gave your computer a name like “LAPTOP-SUITECG-1” (16 characters) instead of “LAPTOP-SUITECG1” (15 characters). Windows will only identify the machine as the first 15 characters, where SuiteCG will still search for the machine name based on the 16 character count.
2. Rapid moving of the application window, especially across multiple screens, can cause the viewer to fail.
3. An extended monitor was plugged in or unplugged, causing the operating system to reconfigure the display settings for the new configuration.
When in doubt, Click the “CG Settings” tab, then click back on the “Graphics Control” tab and wait 5-10 seconds to see if the viewer re-appears, should it fail in the middle of a session.
In rare cases, the application may need to be restarted.
Configuring Clock Cameras
Clock Cameras are a simple, safe, and reliable way of adding a real-time clock to your scorebug and other graphics in MultiSport Scoreboard graphics packages. The following tutorial video explains how to configure and use this feature. Additional resources can be found below the video.
Using Newtek Connect
Newtek Connect is a program useful for converting camera sources to NDI via capture cards and dongles. The free version will convert two capture sources, and in some cases even USB webcams, in to NDI feeds. Newtek Connect Pro is a for-purchase product that allows the conversion of more sources to NDI, but more importantly allows for some processing of the signal such as brightness, contrast, color correction, and saturation.
Clock Latency
The amount of latency between the real-world, physical scoreboard clock and the clock seen in the scorebug will vary. At minimum, users should expect at least .2 seconds of latency from the NDI processing that occurs within SuiteCG. Latency may increase due to other factors such as the capture device being used, resolution conversion occurring within the camera itself, and any signal converters being used such as analog-to-SDI, HDMI-to-SDI, etc…
Network Bandwidth
All NDI clocks in the SuiteCG graphics packages are forced to a “low-bandwidth” NDI mode. This forces the NDI source to be transmitted at a lower resolution. This is done to greatly reduce network bandwidth as well as CPU and memory usage on the SuiteCG computer, especially since each instance of the clock inside a graphics package is unique and will establish it’s own connection to the NDI source. When you factor in the number of locations an individual clock may appear inside the graphics package (scorebug, halftime/final, lower third, etc…, as well as the configuration monitors in the user interface, this could rapidly consume system resources and hinder performance. In testing, given the small physical size of the clocks in the graphics, there was negligible difference in the visual quality of the clock when comparing normal bandwidth to low bandwidth, and the system resource usage fell drastically when using low bandwidth mode.
The Session Editor- Macros
The Session Editor- The Game Clock
The Session Editor- Toggles
The Session Editor- Introduction, Counters, and Context Values
Known Issues with Livestream Studio CSV Data
When exporting a CSV file for Livestream Studio, be advised of an important issue. As of the writing of this article, Livestream Studio is unable to read the CSV data at a sufficient rate to reliably use the SuiteCG MultiSport Scoreboard clock at 1/10 intervals. Furthermore, the Livestream Studio Auto-Push feature for updating GFX to a downstream key will update at a minimum of 1-second. These two limitations will result in a clock that appears to be stuttering. It is advised to disable the 1/10 second clock feature when working with Livestream Studio.
Alternatively, use the SuiteCG MultiSport Scoreboard graphics packages and ingest the NDI feed in to Livestream Studio, which will provide a smooth-running clock in real time.
Where do I save the XML Output File for use with NewTek LiveText?
On 64-bit systems you will want to save the output XML file here: C:\Program Files (x86)\NewTek\LiveText\Stats Plugins\Text Input
On 32-bit systems, you will want to save the output XML file here: C:\Program Files\NewTek\LiveText\Stats Plugins\Text Input
To write the XML file to this folder you will likely need to give Full Permission to the “Everyone” Group for the text Input folder (recommended). Or you can start SuiteCG by right-clicking the icon and selecting “Run as Administrator.”
If you are running on Windows 8 or higher, you may encounter an issue where LiveText will see the XML data when it first loads, but it will not see any updates to the XML key-value pairs. To solve this, you will need to launch LiveText by right-clicking the icon and selecting “Run as Administrator.”
Why is the clock not updating in my third-party CG?
SuiteCG MultiSport Scoreboard has a lot of data to export for third-party CGs. The process of writing the XML and/or CSV file is fast, but not fast enough when the clock is updating at 1/10 intervals under one minute.
To accommodate faster output of the clock, SuiteCG MultiSport Scoreboard exports TWO files: suitecg.xml/.csv, and suitecgclock.xml/.csv. The primary (first) file exports all data. The secondary (second) file exports just the game clock.
If you are running the clock with 1/10 seconds UNCHECKED, all data including the clock is exported to the primary file. The secondary file is unused.
If the 1/10 second setting is CHECKED, then the primary file will not include the clock data. The secondary file is used exclusively for the clock.
If you are not seeing the clock update in your third-party CG, check to make sure you are linking to the appropriate data file based on your clock needs.