Text Display

Text Display is a text view where you can output any text and use some predefined TAGs. For example you can display the signal settings, current frame or audio parameters:

Text Display has two source modes, selectable in the scope settings under Source:

• Template (default) — you type the text yourself and can embed the predefined TAGs described below.

• External feed — the scope shows live text published by an external tool or script through the omniscope-text command-line helper. See External feed below.

Genlock placeholders

Available in version 1.11.50+ for supported DeltaCast inputs.

Tag	Description
%GENLOCK_STATUS%	Overall genlock state (locked, unlocked, no reference, or not available)
%GENLOCK_LOCKED%	Simple lock state (Yes, No, or N/A)
%GENLOCK_SOURCE%	Active genlock source
%GENLOCK_REFERENCE%	Detected reference format
%GENLOCK_OFFSET_PX%	Genlock offset in pixels

SDI RX placeholders

Available in version 1.11.50+ for supported DeltaCast inputs.

Tag	Description
%SDI_RX_STATUS%	Overall SDI RX health (OK, errors, unlocked, no carrier, or N/A)
%SDI_RX_STATUS_HEX%	Raw SDI RX status flags in hexadecimal
%SDI_RX_LOCKED%	Receiver lock state
%SDI_RX_CARRIER%	Carrier presence
%SDI_RX_BAD_VIDEO_STANDARD%	Bad video-standard flag
%SDI_RX_BAD_DATA%	Bad data flag
%SDI_RX_OUT_OF_RANGE%	Out-of-range error flag
%SDI_RX_CORRUPTED_SYNC%	Corrupted sync flag
%SDI_RX_MISSING_SYNC%	Missing sync flag
%SDI_RX_PARASITE_SYNC%	Parasite sync flag
%SDI_RX_INVALID_LINE_NUMBER%	Invalid line-number flag
%SDI_RX_CRC_EDH_ERROR%	CRC / EDH error flag
%SDI_RX_CORRUPTED_ANC%	Corrupted ANC flag
%SDI_RX_ANC_INTO_SWITCHING_LINE%	ANC-in-switching-line flag
%SDI_RX_CRC_LINE_ERRORS%	CRC line error count

External feed (omniscope-text)

Available from version 1.11.45.

The External feed mode lets any command-line tool or script push text into a Text Display scope — for example the currently selected node in DaVinci Resolve, a render queue status, or the output of a monitoring script. OmniScope never runs commands itself; instead, you pipe your tool's output into the small omniscope-text helper, and the scope picks up the text live.

python -u resolve_current_node.py | omniscope-text --channel resolve-node

Setting it up

1. In the Text Display scope settings, set Source to External feed.

2. Enter a Channel name (default: default). The settings panel shows the file path the scope is watching for that channel.

3. In a terminal, pipe your tool's output into omniscope-text with the same --channel name.

The scope updates as new text arrives, polling the channel at up to 60 Hz, so even rapid updates are visible immediately.

Getting the omniscope-text command

• macOS — choose Help → Install 'omniscope-text' command in PATH... in OmniScope. This installs the helper to /usr/local/bin/omniscope-text so it works from any terminal. You can remove it later from the same menu. (The binary itself ships inside the app bundle at NobeOmniScope.app/Contents/Resources/tools/omniscope-text.)

• Windows — omniscope-text.exe is installed next to NobeOmniScope.exe. Run it from that folder, or add the folder to your PATH to use the short form from any terminal.

Modes

• Replace (default) — the latest line replaces the previous text. Ideal for frequently updated single-line status, such as a Resolve node name.

• Append (--append) — keeps a rolling text buffer, trimmed to --max-bytes, for command output where history matters.

Command reference

omniscope-text [--channel name] [--replace|--append] [--max-bytes n] [--rate hz] [--print-path]

Option	Default	Description
--channel, -c	default	Channel name the Text Display scope subscribes to
--replace	on	Latest line replaces the previous text
--append	off	Append lines to a rolling buffer instead of replacing
--max-bytes	65536	Maximum buffer size in append mode
--rate	60	Maximum publish rate in Hz (0 = unlimited)
--print-path	—	Print the channel file path and exit

Examples

# Show the current Resolve node name (single-line status)
python -u resolve_current_node.py | omniscope-text --channel resolve-node

# Show command output with history
ls *.txt | omniscope-text --channel txt-files --append

PowerShell (Windows):

python -u .\resolve_current_node.py | .\omniscope-text.exe --channel resolve-node

Channel text is exchanged through snapshot files in the system temp directory ($TMPDIR/NobeOmniScope/text-feeds/ on macOS, %TEMP%\NobeOmniScope\text-feeds\ on Windows). Writes are atomic, so the scope always shows complete snapshots. Use omniscope-text --print-path --channel <name> to see the exact file for a channel.