Chapter 4 Basic operations
55
Lesson 6
Working with SMPTE
The
PSC allows you to create and run shows controlled automatically by SMPTE
time code. Shows consist of a series of lighting cues programmed to play back
at specified times. These times are expressed in SMPTE notation.
A SMPTE program consists of up to 500 individual SMPTE events and a Reset
time. A SMPTE event consists of as many as four cues loaded in up to four
faders (one cue per fader) and programmed to play back at a specified SMPTE
time. SMPTE times are expressed in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames.
Thirty frames equal one second. For example, 00:25:30:17 is twenty-five min-
utes, thirty seconds, and seventeen frames.
The Reset time allows you to tell the system when the SMPTE program loop
repeats. If you do not set a Reset time, and the system is running on its internal
clock, the SMPTE program runs once and does not repeat. Reset time can be
recorded from any screen, but you will most often record it when you are
creating or editing your SMPTE program. Instructions for creating a SMPTE
program on page 56, and editing a SMPTE program on page 59, contain instruc-
tions for recording Reset time.
The system runs recorded SMPTE events in response to SMPTE time code it
receives from an external source. If the flow of SMPTE data to the system is
interrupted, the internal clock takes over and begins to generate its own time
code. This allows the SMPTE program to continue to run even if the flow of
external SMPTE data is stopped.