If you are synchronizing 2 or more Reproducer cards
When doing 4K playback or wanting to have 2 or more channels in frame accurate sync, it will take the AV Binloop Uncompressed exactly 2 seconds to start playback from the time the AVUC receives the command. This behavior is constant and deterministic, so it will always happen at exactly 2 seconds ( 120 frames when running the AVUC at 60 fps) after the command is received. Because the command is consistently 2 seconds long, you can then use that knowledge and trigger new videos to start exactly 2 seconds before your currently playing video ends if you need seamless transitions to occur. The command we use to do this is called "S-Play" (The "S" in S-Play stands for "search").
The SPlay command works the same, whether you are syncing multiple channels in a single cage, or multiple channels across multiple cages. If the later is the case, make sure your system is setup with a VSync source and a show controller to properly trigger all binloops, as described here: https://alcornmcbride.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/207442286-How-do-I-synchronize-multiple-Binloops-
The Search portion of the SPlay command happens in the background, even while a currently playing video is being displayed. This means that you can use SPlay in a number of different scenarios:
1) a gap of time larger than the 2 second sync delay.
2) a gap of time smaller than the 2 second sync delay.
3) the next cue triggering with no gap.
4) the next cue triggering prematurely.
All are pictured below:
T3 denotes the time the currently playing video ends.
T1 denotes when the SPlay event is triggered for the new video.
T2 denotes when the SPlay is done searching (60 frame delay) and the content actually starts being displayed.
What some attractions do when they don't want to have black displayed on their displays (in the case of a gap) is in the content have the last frame of your first video be the first frame of your second video. This, in the info graphic, is noted as the grey "Hold (Last Frame)" section. When the Uncompressed Binloop finishes playing a video and nothing is cued to happen next, the Uncompressed Binloop automatically holds the last frame of currently playing video on the display.
If you are not synchronizing multiple cards
If you don't require sync playback between cads, then the "Play" command would start playback between 3 - 5 frames after the AVUC receives the command.