My Seiki 4K

4K is on the way. You've seen 4K displays at trade shows, like the one on the Coolux stand at LDI showing their media server, and it's likely that you will start to see them in video production circles. I decided I would get one as a second monitor for my workstation for a couple of reasons. First of all, a large 4K monitor would provide plenty of real estate to display several different windows on one display. Secondly, I heard that Seiki 4K TVs are cheap. I did some research and read several reviews, almost all of which had good things to say about the Seikis (and it's the same brand Coolux had at LDI, so I had seen one in person).

I opted for the 39" (diagonal measure), which is 34" wide, and since I'm viewing it from about 42" away, I have a viewing angle of about 44 degrees. That's slightly larger than the 40 degrees or less viewing angle recommended by THX, but it's much less than the 60 degrees viewing angle recommended by some people. I think it works great as is. Or I should say, I think it is going to work great at that viewing distance.

I say that because, although I've had the TV connected to my computer for a couple of weeks now, I have not been able to get it to display anything higher than a resolution of 1920 x 1080. The problem is my graphics card, or so I thought. 

I have a GeForce GTX560 SC 2G graphics card in my computer that I bought about three years ago. I couldn't get it to output HDMI to the display, so I assumed that it was too old and that I needed a new graphics card. How do you find the right graphics card?

I started doing some research and I quickly confirmed what I had long suspected; that it's very difficult to find the right graphics card based on manufacturer's specs. The specs are filled with terms that might make sense to someone, but not to me. Seriously, does anyone really know how much better a graphics card with 4.3 TFLOPS will perform compared to one with 3.79 TFLOPS? Or one with 2048 stream processors versus one with 1792? Not me. So I just looked for a graphics card that is capable of 4K resolution (4096 x 2160) and had as much video RAM as I could afford. I narrowed my options and then started reading reviews. When I read a review that said the Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB is the "best bang for the buck," my interest was piqued. This is a graphic card built by Gigabyte based on the AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics processing unit (GPU), and out of 124 reviews, 84 people gave it five out of five stars. I had my chosen card. I thought I would save a few bucks and bought a used one for about $150, which is less than half of the price of a new one. Since Gibabyte warranties their graphics cards for three years, I figured it was a safe buy.

Maybe I should have paid the price for a new one because when I got it, there was a problem. I installed it fairly quickly and easily, but the HDMI output didn't work. I swapped the cable and tested the HDMI input to the monitor using another source, and I was convinced the problem was with the graphics card. I called tech support (which was not a bad experience at all) and they suggested that I flash the BIOS with the latest software. After a 24-hour glitch (their server was down for a whole day), I downloaded an app and the BIOS file, but it wouldn't install. I kept getting an error, so I had to send the card in for repair. 

In the interim, I was using the VGA output from the built-in graphics card on the motherboard to my second monitor (the Seiki 4K). When I ran a program with any graphics, like the grandMA2 onPC along with grandMA 3D visualizer, there was about a one or two second delay between the time I would click on a button and the action would occur. That kind of latency will drive you crazy and it makes the program almost completely unusable. But it's the perfect illustration of why we pay a lot of money for a good graphics card. 

Actually, we don't pay nearly as much as we used to for high performance graphics cards. About five to seven years ago, I researched a graphics card that was recommended by a software manufacturer, and it was $1500. I opted for a much cheaper one, which worked well enough. The last card I had before the HD 7950 was a GeForce GTX560 SC 2G, and it cost about $200 new. It actually still works well. In fact, after I removed the HD 7950 to send it for repair, I reinstalled the 560 and I decided to update the BIOS. In the process I learned that it actually supports 4K resolution, and for a brief moment I thought I would get to see 4K on my monitor for the first time. But it wasn't to be. It turns out that my CPU, which is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core processor, doesn't support the new BIOS, so no 4K for me, for now at least.

I thought about buying a new processor so I could update the firmware and output 4K. I did some research (there's always more research to do!) and I found that if I replaced the CPU, I would also have to replace the motherboard because the system requirements to support 4K output from the 560 calls for a chip with an AM3+ socket, and I have an AM2+ motherboard. But the prices are very reasonable—about $100 for a new CPU and only about $60 for another motherboard. Since I already have two graphics cards, both of which are 4K capable, maybe I'll build another workstation. They're getting more scarce since most people are migrating to tablets and smart phones.

In the meanwhile, I'm still waiting for my 7950 graphics card to come back from being repaired. More to come...

Arduino Anyone?

I had forgotten the smell of burning solder until today. My soldering iron used to be within arms reach most of the time, and I knew the resistor color code by heart. But the last time I needed those things, I think I was wearing a leisure suit, or maybe bell bottoms and Beatle boots. Soldering is like riding a bike except the pedals (terminals) are much smaller and harder to reach (see). I dug out the old soldering iron and dusted it off for a new project. What is the project?


I've been curious about Arduino and Raspberry Pi since they came out a few years ago, and when Simon Newton created Open Source Lighting Control Software that runs on Raspberry Pi, I had to check it out. Little by little I've been piecing together the hardware and software, and eventually I want to be able to control anything with DMX and get feedback via RDM using Arduino and Raspberry Pi. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea how ambitious of a project this is, and I won't know exactly where I'm going until I get there. The only requirement is that it's fun, and I hope you will come along for the ride.


I've already assembled an Arduino, flashed some LEDs on and off with it, and I just got some parts in from Adafruit, including an Arduino stepper motor shield (in Arduinoland, a "shield" is a daughter board or a PC board that attaches to the motherboard) and a stepper motor. The reason for the soldering iron is that I had to solder the headers onto the stepper motor shield to attach it to the Arduino. It was quick and easy, and I had my stepper motor running in just a few minutes. I haven't done much with it yet, but little by little I will take over control of the entire earth via DMX, RDM, and Arduino. Won't you help? What shall we take control of first? Please add your comments.

Tools of the Trade

by Richard Cadena
Last week, like many times before, an eager, young lighting professional asked me for advice about how to reach his goals as a lighting designer. And just like all those times before, I searched deep in my lexicon looking for the magic words that would inspire him and propel him down his path to the top of the industry.

In his eyes I saw the same vortex of hopes, dreams, and desires that I had when I was in his shoes. And much like the way I felt back then, I sensed an eagerness in him to dispense with the inconvenience of a long and arduous grind up the ladder of success. Where is the magic bullet, I imagined he was thinking, that will pierce the armor of time and difficulty, and to make all things great happen post haste? Why can’t I be knighted into a posh gig with a huge salary and all the respect and admiration it affords?

I wish that I could shield every person like him from the harsh glare of the real world and excuse him or her from all of the hard work and long hours that it usually accompanies. Failing that, the next best thing is to offer a set of tools that will give him/her the best shot at finding what they’re looking for. The kit of tools I’m thinking of would include some magic beans, some elixir, potions, salve, and other remedies. Read on.

1. The magic beans will shade you against the heat of the real world by sprouting a deep love for and a fascination with your chosen field, because work you love is no work at all. When it’s in full bloom, you’ll be in full stride and you won’t break a sweat. "Let the beauty of what you love be what you do." - Rumi

2. The elixir will heal the blemishes of your failures and give you the courage to stretch your wings and try to fly, knowing good and well that you could crash and burn. Whether you fail or succeed, the elixir will help you to emerge at every turn as enthusiastic as ever. "I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge." - Igor Stravinsky

3. The potion will make you immune to the sting of your errors by erasing your memory of the mistakes you make without erasing the lessons you learn from them. It will give you the courage to take reasonable risks without preventing you from making mistakes so that you will have the benefit of knowing what does and doesn’t work. As Pablo Picasso once said, “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how not to do it.”

4. The salve will sooth the ache of following a crooked path. The unknowing seek the shortest distance between two points—where they are now and where they want to be—and the knowing know the shortest possible distance between those two particular points is a crooked line along an impossibly unpredictable precipice of a precarious career. "Rightly conceived, time is the friend of all who are in any way in adversity, for its mazy road winds in and out of the shadows sooner or later into sunshine, and when one is at its darkest point one can be certain that presently it will grow brighter." - Arthur Bryant

5. The remedy is a capsule full of determination. When you take a full dose, you’ll know that failure is just a milestone on the road to success. Everybody experiences failure from time to time, but successful people don’t let it stop them. http://bit.ly/create-persist

6. The infusion of mentoring is the best inoculation against an anemic career. You are unique and there is no one answer to all the questions you’ll have on your journey. Find a mentor who has been down the road you travel and seek advice when you need it.

What has worked for you in your career?