Video Issues on FPP Virtual Matrix

[rjcunningham01]

I switched this year to a TV in the front window versus the p5 panels (couldn't ever get the color right) to clean up the house a bit.  As I've loaded on more sequences at 12 right now, I've started getting "glitching" or video issues that I can't figure out.  It did happen a bit last year on the p5s, but figured it was because it was over wifi.

I've hard wired the entire network this year to see that would help.

I have a Pi4 FPP running the show, another Pi4 FPP instance for the virtual matrix.  Both have 128 GB micro sd cards with about 20 GB used for fseq files, etc.  The virtual matrix is 252 strings by 448 nodes.  Not sure if this matters for compiling, but it's on a 75 inch TV so wanted to make it dense without taking forever to compile.

I also have two F16V3 and two F16v4 hooked into the network.  Also, the network is separate from my home network.

Anyway, any suggestions on how to clean up the video would be much appreciated!

[JonD]

252x448x3=338,688 channels

Is the Pi running the virtual matrix running in player mode or multisync mode? 

[rjcunningham01]

The main FPP shows "Player with Multisync" and the FPP running the virtural matrix shows "Remote"  I've attached screenshots of the multisync screen from both FPPs.

If memory servers me, this is how xlights configures them when I do the controller upload.

[JonD]

Multisync should copy all the files needed to the local SD card, and the FPP Player should just be telling the FPP Color remote when to play the local files.  Assuming the video is playing in sync with the rest of the show, it is not likely to be a network issue.

The lines on the screen in both pictures are in similar places.  Make sure you do not have any channels overlapping.  It seems like you can manually play files on a remote pi, but if not you should be able to put it back in player mode short term.  Might try playing the video locally without the rest of the display running to see if you get the same issue.

I have played around with virtual matrix, but not enough to give anyone much feedback.  Not all SD cards are made equal.  Seems like dkulp recommends https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-microSDXC-Memory-Adapter/dp/B09X7C7LL1/ref=sr_1_1?th=1  Possibly a slow SD card, or bad HDMI cable could be causing this and might be something to rule out. 

[rjcunningham01]

JonD.. thank you.  Based on your comments for numbers I decided to cut the size of the virtual matrix by half.

So, I cut the size of the virtual matrix in half and it appears to have solved the problem on two of the sequences I've watched.  I'm not sure if this is actually a fix, or just coincidence, but I'll take it for now.

[blantrip]

JonD.. thank you.  Based on your comments for numbers I decided to cut the size of the virtual matrix by half.

So, I cut the size of the virtual matrix in half and it appears to have solved the problem on two of the sequences I've watched.  I'm not sure if this is actually a fix, or just coincidence, but I'll take it for now.

I've been trying a virtual matrix this year and found this video.  A lot of it discusses how to customize video, but it also discusses how to increase the resolution and other tips that might help.

https://youtu.be/F3FPHN_uzto?feature=shared