HOW TO: Control MovieRecorder with GPICommander

GPICommander is a device that you connect in USB to your computer and that has 8 outputs and 24 inputs.

With the direct integration or AppleScripts?

To control MovieRecorder with GPICommander, you have 2 options:

• with the direct integration: you just have to connect the GPICommander box to the computer and go to the preferences of MovieRecorder to set it up. This is the easiest way. 
• with AppleScripts. This requires you to know how AppleScript work, as well as installing the software GPICommander but offers a lot of possibility. For example, you could control multiple applications with just one GPI trigger. 

Connecting the GPICommander box

You will need to:

• Connect the GPICommander device to the computer where either MovieRecorder or GPICommander is running.
• Connect the GPICommander's inputs to your device (it can be a production switcher GPI/tally output or a simple push button box) using the DB25 connector. Check the User manual for instructions on how to connect it.

With MovieRecorder you will mainly use the inputs. These 24 inputs are available through a DB25 connector, where basically and very briefly, an action will be triggered in OnTheAir Video when any of the first 24 pins is connected to the "ground" (on pin 25).

Use the direct integration in MoveRecorder (Express)

Open the MovieRecorder Settings and select the GPI pane and select the GPICommander box that you want to use:

The inputs will always work as follows:

• Inputs 1-16 will control the selection of each Viewer (input 1 selects/deselects Viewer at the top left)
• Input 22 will trigger a gang record
• Input 23 will trigger a pause record
• Input 24 will trigger a stop record

As for the outputs, there is a preference to select how you want it to behave:

• Selection
  • Outputs 1-6 will be on when Viewer 1-6 are selected
  • Output 7 will be be on when a recording is in progress on at least one Viewer
  • Output 8 will be on when there is an issue with any recording
• Recording
  • Outputs 1-8 will be on when Viewer 1-8 are recording

Trigger AppleScripts when Inputs state change

With GPICommander, you can trigger an AppleScript when the state of any of the 24 input changes. You can trigger an AppleScript when the state changes from closed to opened or from opened to closed. These AppleScripts can control any application on the Mac that is AppleScriptable (and MovieRecorder is AppleScriptable).

For this you will need to download the GPICommander application from our website. This is the application that will trigger the AppleScripts. It is best to learn about the basics of GPI commander and apple scripting with this article: Link

The GPI Commander application will have an applescript per input. Here is the path to input 1's AppleScript:

/Applications/GPICommander/Actions/Input 1.scpt.

We have four sample scripts attached below to control a MovieRecorder on the same machine as GPI Commander. We can trigger a specific source, or all sources to start or stop. Each script can be opened in script editor where it has comments to follow along.