@mr_j

Unfortunately, I do not think you will be able to dynamically sort and search for media in such a complex way (using text parsing to build a database) without any code at all.

If you have a set amount of media with tags and nothing is changing about that, you can manually import media into bins based on what tags a file has (any file with more than one tag would be imported into multiple bins, which is fine). You could do this manually, by hand, without code, but not dynamically without code. When you get additional media you'd just import it into each bin that it has a tag for.

@mr_j wrote:

1. add tags to 500+ video file names e.g. "Cyborgs in the Year 2050 #square #red #robot.mov"

You'd need to add the tags manually anyway, but once you did you'd be able to use the Get Media File Name actor to find which media has which tags. In order to store and recall the resulting lists, you'd need Javascript or Python to make a database. I have a patch that does something similar, but it was a paid commission so I'm not at liberty to share it. This is the basics of how to cycle through your media searching for tags though:

Anytime you get a true trigger for a specific file name with a specific tag, you'd trigger a Trigger Text and a Trigger Value to push that media's name and index into a database containing a list of media for that specific tag. You need this to cycle through all your media once per tag so you record the media matches for that tag in a database. Either way, that "Text Comparator Expanded" User Actor of mine that relies on Javascript to search the incoming text for a set string of characters relies on code, so there's already code involved in this solution (though not code you have to write yourself).

parsing-media-files-for-tags-2025-02-14-4.0.9.izz

@mr_j wrote:

2. import 500+ video files into video bin

Importing media to specific video bins programmatically can be done on macOS using AppleScript: https://support.troikatronix.com/support/solutions/articles/13000093597-isadora-and-applescript

Python can be used to run AppleScript, so that's how you'd made the AppleScript dynamically target specific video bins.

@mr_j wrote:

3. type/enter or toggle select required tags within control interface

This is searching a database using the Edit Text control, for which you need to have first done dynamic text-parsing and database building. You want to search for tags in the file names of all your media and get media index numbers back. This relationship between the contents of a file name and the media index of that file requires a database of some sort. You could build such a database in a Data Array actor (by storing everything in a Data Array actor as JSON and searching every entry, parsing the JSON, and then making a smaller temporary database of the matches), but it would be very complex and still require at least JavaScript code for various parts of the logic.

@mr_j wrote:

4. auto load relevant video files matching selected tags into "bin picker"
5. retype or toggle tags to automatically re-sort video files displayed in "bin picker"

The only way I can think to do this would be to make a bin for each tag and dynamically or manually import media with that tag into that bin, then the Bin Picker can let you pick which bin to select. Then any bin selected would only contain videos with that tag. So it's not doing the sorting for you, but it's a way to navigate media that you've sorted yourself. It would only be possible to display one tag's worth of media at a time per control though; you couldn't display multiple tags worth of media unless you had multiple Bin Picker controls going and manually selected which bin each one was focused on. (So if you had 4 Bin Picker controls and 100 tags, you could pick any four tags to show at a time, one tag per control.)

@tifftiff

 If you still have an issue with the black background showing up when projecting at full size, the EB-G5600 has Eco Mode, which drops the output down to 3600 Lumens, which may help.

@tifftiff said:

How can I reduce the leaking light?

 If the issue comes from the residual light as it is very likely, you probably can't. It is a construction related hardware issue. On modern laser projectors you can stepless adjust the light source intensity. Therefor you could balance between picture brightness and backlight (residual light) intensity.
Conventional light bulbs in old projectors always have the full light power level. You can't lower this with the standard brightness level setting, as this only relates to the video input signals (source) brightness, not the 'backlight' power (Which is kind of the same like the backlight level in some LCD TVs). Though some bigger projectors does have a physical iris for the dynamic brightness feature. On some you can adjust the general light intensity with it.

As I wrote, if you move to the bigger projection, this issue will be less intense there.

Ah yes - if you are very close then things change such as the brightness, focus and general quality, you can find out more here: https://www.projectorcentral.c... 

@tifftiff
I didn't realise this was so small and close. that's going to concentrate your light source on a small area, so it will be too bright at this distance. check it a few metres from a wall - i bet the grey square disappears, unless you are in a completely dark room, where you may be able to see the edges of the projection a bit.

@skulpture it did not help unfortunately...

@skulpture thanks! will try that, hopefully it helps

@dillthekraut thank you for the reply! I am using a piece of paper just to test, later I will move everything and project the image on a wall 6m away from the beamer. How can I reduce the leaking light? The beamer is already on the lowest brightness...

@dbini thank you for the reply! I actually turned the brightness to the lowest setting

@tifftiff said:

EB-G5600

 This is a very old projector and if I interpret it right, you are projecting 4500 Ansi Lumens onto a small peace of paper. Right?
Therefor this is (probably) the physical limits of the projector. No projector is doing a perfect black. There always is a residual light leaking. Depending on the projectors tech and the general quality of it, it might be more or less. Another factor is the amount of light (lumens) coming out of it. The more powerful, the more 'leaking' light.

Usually on a bigger projection, this isn't an issue. But if you are very close/ zoom the picture very small, all the light coming through the lens is focused on a very small area, getting intensified. This is true for the whole picture, as well as the residual light.