Is there a Server 2.1.x with updated CEF and Framerate producer?

So far I’ve been working with Server 2.1.0 Beta 2 and Server 2.1.3 NRK just fine, but there are some major issues between these versions that prevent me for sticking to a particular version.

Mainly I need to:

  1. Work with footage at 29.97 and 59.94, interlaced and progressive.
  2. A CEF version compatible with NodeCG requirements (Chrome 49 or newer).

So far I need a Server version that supports Framerate Consumer and Chrome 49 or newer, but:

  • Server 2.1.0 Beta 2 has Framerate Producer, but has Chrome 33.
  • Server 2.1.3 NRK has Chrome 65, but no Framerate Producer.
  • Server 2.2.0 has both, but it has other bugs that prevent me from using it.

So I would like to know:

  • How to update Chrome version in Server 2.1.0?
  • How to activate Framerate Producer in Server 2.1.3 NRK?

I know that any of these options might require to compile my own version of Server, and I’m willing to do so if necessary. But before any of that, I’d like to know if there are any chance to have both requirements fulfilled without resorting to recompile.

Thanks in advance.

hint:
https://github.com/CasparCG/server/blob/master/src/CMakeModules/FindCEF.cmake

http://opensource.spotify.com/cefbuilds/index.html

I assume you mean the producer which enables slow or fast motion. I think server 2.2 doesn’t have framerate producer.

Does this file have any influence in which version of CEF is available for the HTML Producer? Does this file mean that a package manager (nuget?) will download the version provided in there?

I’m asking because the file you pointed has only partial references as of where should I place any CEF related files, and I can’t get much of a grasp about what should I really do. I mean, if I ever get to build a custom Server release, this might be my first time doing such a thing.

I can’t recall where did I read it, maybe a changelog or a GitHub issue, but the Framerate Producer is useful for those cases where a video is in a different framerate than the server is configured to work on.

That means if you have a 1080p2997 server and you need to play a 1080p2398 file. Usually the server would play the file a bit faster, because it’s focused on being frame-accurate, but audio would be incrementally out of sync. So the what the Framerate Producer does is adjust the play-rate of the file so it’s played at its actual rate and in sync with the audio.

As far as I can remember, the limitations of this producer is that it only allows doubling and halving framerates, because it was a work in progress. That means if your server was set as 1080p2997 you could play without issues a 1080p5994 file, and viceversa.

I hope I explained myself properly.

FrameRate or similar might come to .NRK in reasonable time.

1 Like

The work to re-add framerate producer to 2.1NRK has already been done, but a release hasn’t been made and I don’t expect will for a couple of weeks.

I think this build includes it https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KWh5xMk2_NgVlVeINd1egvKjUBm3MDA8 I would verify myself, but am not at a windows machine currently (The hash in the version number should be something like 38d4e6478b9)

3 Likes

Excellent. I’ll be testing it in the following days to see if it works well in my environment.

@Jesper, I’m thrilled to know that it’s been already on the works. Thanks a lot.

I ran some tests today and it’s working pretty well so far. No problems running 25p and 59.94p videos on 29.97p channel, and now I can have color emojis on my CG templates. :wink:

Thanks for the help @Julusian, and I’m looking forward for the release. :smiley:

1 Like

hey guys. I use this topic to ask something I wondered since months (I use 2.1.3 NRK right now, mainly for updated CEF), what is the difference between official and NRK, why is this version more often up to date than the official ?

The 2.1 NRK was made because at the time we started the Sofie project, 2.2 was just beginning and it was changing too much to build a system against. We also had quite a tight development cycle (building and deploying in 6 months), so decided to play it safe with a version of Caspar we knew and trusted.
Its purpose was to satifsy the requirements of the Sofie project, but has had a few other small fixes as it is being used by others in the community. Everything that can be has been upstreamed (or is a PR waiting for review), and we do intend to look at switching to 2.2 when we have the time to do so.

Thanks a lot :slight_smile:

Probably this thread might end up being NRK’s fork issue tracker, but I found a bug in 2.1.4pre2 that audio is choppy when generated by framerate producer using decklink sources.

Steps to reproduce:

  • Set channel as 1080p2997
  • Set a decklink consumer as 1080i5994

My workaround so far is to change channel settings to 1080i5994 and let framerate producer do its job with 1080p2997 recorded material. Live situations using a decklink should work well.

After a couple of weeks of testing, most things are working fine, obviously not counting the previous post I made about decklink sources.

However, I experienced a lot of crashes. Server just stops working and I have to kill the process manually and restart it. The log says nothing about what caused the crash, so I can’t properly triage the problem.

Is there anything I can do to try to address this issue?