Hey everyone, and welcome! Ever wonder how you type in https://www.google.com/and your computer instantly knows where to find Google’s massive server? It’s not magic, it’s the DNS—the Domain Name System! Think of it as the internet’s phonebook. In this video we discuss how it works and how in might be useful in your show setup.
Category: Uncategorized
DHCP Reservations > Static IPs (Here’s Why)
If you’ve ever set a static IP on a device and later wondered why your network suddenly stopped working… this video is for you.
Today I’ll show you why using a DHCP reservation is almost always smarter than manually setting a static IP address.
What You’ll Learn:
The difference between static IPs and DHCP reservations.
Why static IPs can cause conflicts and connection issues
How DHCP reservations keep your network organized
Why troubleshooting is way easier with reservations
Re-Commissioning – Preparing your Controllers for the new Season.
In this weeks video we take a look at re-commissioning (preparing) your controllers for the new season. We run through what to check to ensure the controllers are safe, working and ready to go – before they go outside & get hooked up to their props.
Hardware: Updating Firmware on Kulp & Falcon Controllers
In this weeks video we take a look at how to upgrade the firmware on Kulp and Falcon boards.
We explain why it might be needed, how to get the files and then how to apply the updates using a Kulp K-16 and a Falcon F16 (with Srx1 v5) as examples.
Kulp Firmware from: https://kulplights.com/firmwares/
Falcon Firmware from https://github.com/Pixelcontroller/f16v5_issues/tree/main
From Workshop to Parade: Ramblers & Wick Carnival Clubs Build Their Bridgwater Carts
Go behind the scenes of Bridgwater Carnival like never before! 🎇
We follow Ramblers Carnival Club and Wick Carnival Club inside the workshop as they design, weld, build, paint and wire up their incredible carnival carts ready for the big night.
From giant set pieces and flashing lights to late-night fixes and final touches — this is the real craftsmanship, dedication and passion that makes Bridgwater Carnival the biggest illuminated carnival in Europe. 🔥
If you love creativity, engineering, music, community and pure spectacle… you’re in the right place.
📍 Filmed in Bridgwater & Glastonbury, Somerset
🎉 Featuring: Ramblers Carnival Club & Wick Carnival Club
✨ Event: Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival
Improving Wifi on Raspberry Pi running FPP.
In this weeks video we take a look at how the Raspberry Pi could be seen as having slightly limiting Wifi performance – especially when used in an enclosure with power supplies, controller etc.
We add an external USB wifi adapter, with a removable antenna which can then be mounted outside the case for optimal performance.
Finally, I demonstrate how to disable the internal (onboard) wifi in software so that it cannot inadvertantly come back into use.
Notes:
Look for a USB Ethernet adapter (preferably with removable antenna) based on the RTL8812BU Chipset.
Pi-Config change:
edit /boot/firmware/config.txt
and append:
dtoverlay=disable-wifi
Save & reboot.
Normalising your Audio Levels for FPP and xSchedule.
In this weeks video we take a look at how music from different sources can end up at different volume levels and what we need to do to fix it – so that we have a nice quality audio level across the whole show.
We demonstrate the use of MP3Gain within FPP v9.2 and for more advanced users, or those running xSchedule we look at using Audacity to normalise the files before uploading.
Audacity is a freeware music editing tool and is available from: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/
Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 – with FPP v9.2
In this weeks video we take a look at the Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 5″ Display with 5 finger touch capability.
We hook it up to a Pi4 running FPP 9.2 and setup the FPP Kiosk mode (GUI) and then test it with the big button plugin.
FPP 9.2 Proxy Update !
This week we revisit the setup of proxies within FPP v9.2
There have been a few updates in the way things are done since our last visit & it has led to confusion for both newbies & elders alike.
So we start from scratch & run through the setup on a Pi4, culminating in a demo of accessing a Baldrick DMX & lighting up a DMX flood via the proxy.
Which Ethernet Cable is best!
In todays video we take a look at the different Ethernet categories, explain what they are and then go on to look at the wiring formats and make our own cable & test that it works.