-
Playing back video files as a presentation
Hi all,
I have produced a series of .movs which are motion graphics featuring animation and voice over. In order they form a presentation for a live event – having given them over to an AV company who have no live event presentation software they are asking me what program they should use!
I have suggested that they use something like pro presenter or mediashout; which as far as i can see are mainly used in churches, but have the ability to cue up a series of media files and play them out on a different screen (to the audience) on cue?
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Thanks!
-
12 Replies
-
Playback Pro from DT Video Labs has very quickly become an industry standard for computer-based playback.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
Qlab is the golden standard for cue by cue audio and video playback at events. Run around to some Broadway shows and you are bound to find it quite often.
I believe it tops out at 8 simultaneous video steams (you need a serious machine or multiples) and 48 tracks of audio.
Another cool feature is that you can rent licenses instead of buying. for $3/day you can use the video part. Pretty nifty idea. Of course, it’s pretty cheap at only $250 also.
-
QLab and PBP work on completely different models. QLab is indeed very broad, powerful, and great for integration with lighting or show control. Playback Pro is focused on video only; it’s meant to replace a video deck or DDR, and be run by a tape op.
I’d suggest QLab if you’re looking for media server-like functionality, but I’d stick with Playback Pro if you only need a software DDR.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
2x on PlaybackPro.
We have multiple machines running the software and it works great.
The ability to change the geometry and crop movies on the fly has saved the day so many times.
Plus, for you Greg, it’s very simple to link clips so that they play in a sequence.
joel
joel
Corporate and Special Event Staging Services
http://www.pacificstaging.com -
This seems to me like a VERY good example of that saying:
“When the tool you have is a hammer – every problem starts to look like a nail.”Just author a SIMPLE DVD with the clips on it linked to a click here to play grid of titles or pictures and BINGO – you have a cue-able system that runs on virtually EVERY computer AND every DVD player on the planet – including the $49.00 ones you can get at the local drugstore in any town or city in the country.
Unless the program content goes beyond what the OP said, this kind of simple project should not need a fancy computer playout environment.
FCP since NAB 1999
creator: muti-track movies
http://www.starteditingnow.com -
Great point, Bill — what’s simplest is often best.
But in my experience, DVD playback has many big drawbacks:
- SD video only
- MPEG2 4:2:0 compression
- Cueing can be unpredictable (disc spin-up, seek time, etc.)
- Many DVD players don’t allow you to turn off on-screen display, and burn PLAY into your output for the first few seconds of the clip
- Media can be finicky
Perhaps PBP and QLab are both overbuilt solutions for the poster’s needs. Maybe Keynote with a movie clip on each slide will do, but there are big quality and flexibility advantages to computer-based playback versus DVD playback.
This discussion raises another interesting question — what kind of AV company doesn’t have any suggestions for a file-based playback solution in 2010?
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
Thanks all – really helpful!
DVD is a good idea, and I have made one as a back up. Im reluctant to use it, as Walter says its not 100% reliable . . . but good just in case.
Gone with playback pro, seems to provide the best balance of features. But its interesting that an AV company should need this amount of help, I would imagine they are used to just providing support of powerpoint presentations! I will certainly be suggesting other companies for next years event. Either that or I will do it myself!
Thanks again!
Greg
-
For an AV company to not even have a suggestion as to an appropriate file based playback solution is definitely strange.
Either way, I’m sure that PBP will fit the bill for your event very nicely.
Good Luck!
joel
Corporate and Special Event Staging Services
http://www.pacificstaging.com -
Hi All
A very interesting set of posts. I am an event producer and doing some awards for the volunarty sector at the moment. 1 screen show and have recently discovered qlab and want to use it. I would be interested to get views on whether it’s ok to run straight from decent spec MBP or whether a faster ext drive is worth considering. I will hot back up through a switcher but also wondered if any one had any low budget solutions (other than me manually queing the 2 machines :)) to keeping the machines in sync. Was thinking about the midi route but would be good to hear thoughts.
As a relevant aside AV co I am working with who are tied to the venue don’t have exp of qlab and haven’t suggested alternative playout – except DVD which I rejected for the reasons stated in this other posts in this thread. I have used on some shows with clocks at the front end of the chapter markers but the power of qlab seems worth embracing and to use it in it’s simplest form seems like a relatively easy learning curve.
Thanks to all in advance to any newbie tips
Craig
-
Hi Craig,
I’ve never worked with QLab, so maybe this is a biased opinion, but I still say playback pro is the easiest solution for live video playback. If this is something you’re going to be doing frequently (which it sounds like it is) then I think it’s easily worth the price of the software.
Included in the software suite is a little utility for syncing multiple machine rolls called SimpleSync. It requires networking the machines together using a router or switch and a separate machine to act as the controller. In my opinion, if you’re only rolling a back up, I don’t see the need for frame accurate syncing. If anything, you’d want to have a few seconds between the primary and backup, as if something were to happen, it would take a few seconds to switch to the backup anyhow.
Again, strange that an “A/V” company wouldn’t have a suggestion for tapeless playback.
joel
Corporate and Special Event Staging Services
http://www.pacificstaging.com
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up