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designing for multiple plasma screens
Hello,
I’m working on a video that will run on a set of 4 vertical plasma screens that butt up against each other, thus simulating 1 large screen. The screens are Panasonic TH-PH9UK with each one having a resolution of 768×1366. (they will be rotated counter-clockwise)
Each screen will be running from 1 dvd, so there will be 4 dvd players that plug into a synchronizer, which makes sure all the screens are running in unison.I’d like to have the content span across the screens at certain points in the video, but since each screen runs off of its own dvd, that’s proving to be a challenge. With previous projects running on 1 horizontal plasma, I’ve set up my work area in After Effects to 852×480, square pixels and exported the file anamorphic to ensure it displays with minimal distortion after being burned to a dvd.
Based on those dimensions, I was thinking of creating a file that is 1920×852. (the 1920 comes from a width of 480×4 since there are 4 screens)
I would then output a quicktime file and bring it into Final Cut pro, which will have a work area of 480×852. From there I would slide that quicktime file back and forth as needed so that each of the 4 sections are visible in the work area. Four separate files would be exported at 480×852 that match with each screen. At some point the files would be rotated clockwise before burning to dvd since the screens will be rotated counter-clockwise.
I’ve uploaded a diagram that illustrates what I’m talking about:
https://www.bb73design.com/4screens/4screens_concept.pdf
Essentially I’d be chopping the source video into 4 files, burning each file onto a disc, then playing each disc on it’s specific screen to create one image. The synchronizer that controls the dvd players should keep everything matched up. In talking to the technician that runs the hardware, he said there might be some lag between screens, but that’s ok with me.hope all this makes sense.
Does this sound like the right approach?thanks!
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8 Replies
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You could render your 4 quicktimes direcly from AE by putting the big comp (rotated) in small (dvd) comps. I did a similar thing with 3 screens horizontaly projected, the dificulty in that case was the safety area since it had to look like one screen. DVD-sync wasn’t a problem, they work good. calculate well and do some tests, good luck!
vanderzee.tv
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I have a question –
Are you sure you are able to create a DVD video file (i.e. DVD compliant MPEG-2 file) with a resolution of 852×480? As I understand it, NTSC’s DVD specs is 720×480 to ensure a desktop player will play the file.
Though I’m in PAL-land, I’ve tried to create a 852×480 test file with DVD specs, and my program which uses Mainconcept’s encoder rejects the creation of such a file since it is a non-compliant MPEG-2 (i.e. not divisible by 16).
Thomas Leong
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Hello.
Actually I did the exact same thing back in May this year, and it took me four days to realize that in order to get maximum image quality, I needed to create my comp with a custom pixel aspect ratio. This is the biggest technical difficulty when creating content for rotated plasmas, since pixels in a plasma have an aspect ratio of 1,33:1, but when you rotate the screen, the ratio gets inversed and becomes 1:1,33 or .75 aspect pixel ratio. In order to do this, you need to modify a file called “interpretation rules.txt” that can be found in your AE directory. At the bottom you will see a line that is commented out that reads:
0, 0, 0, “0000”, * = 1/1/”Custom Pixel Aspect Ratio”, *, *, *, *, *
Or something like this.
You need to enable this line, simply removing the # symbol at the beggining and then you leave everything as is except that the first 1 must be changed to 1,33 and where it says Custom Pixel Aspect Ratio you name your aspect ratio as you want.
Notice that you will need to compensate your comps X value, as it being downscaled 75%, so your 1920 px will turn into 2400 px, So your comp size should be 2400×852 px with a custom pixel aspect ratio of 0.75. You can work on this comp normally and do whatever you want, and then you should create an 852×600 px comp (one for each screen) with an 1,33 pixel aspect ratio, and effectively bring your original comp and change its position to crop the area that is required for each screen. (Be sure to rotate and scale your original comp)You can the create a proxy of your original comp, so you don’t render 4 times the same thing… Then you’re ready to export video for each screen.
Hope this helps…
L
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thanks everyone for the help, it’s GREATLY appreciated!
van der zee, you mentioned the safety area – I thought with plasmas and LCDs you don’t have to worry about image and title safe areas. Am I missing something?
thanks! -
Great info, thanks!
I’ve been told to factor in the space that will break up the screens (mullions). did you have to do that? I didn’t think that was necessary since I’m designing for the viewable screen areas only and the exported files should fit in those areas accordingly and still retain a seamless look between screens. The are certainly to be considered from a design perspective, but I don’t why it’s needed to account for that space.Also, what are your thoughts on Thomas Leong’s post about going to 720×480 when making the mpeg-2 for the dvds. I figured that when exporting to mpeg-2 that the dimensions would work themselves out during compression….
thanks!
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No, I didn’t account the space between the screens, but i don’t think it would feel natural anyway: somehow the brains just ignores these areas… Since there’s no motion=no movement.
As for final screen size: if your delivery medium is DVD, you could simply create a new comp for each screen with whatever DVD settings you want to use, and stretch the comps you’ve created to crop the large one.Glad to be helpful,
L
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Did you ever figure out how to export onto DVD with those dimensions? I’m running into the same problem of needing to create a comp larger than 720×480 and can’t get it on dvd.
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I wasn’t able to get that far. The client pulled the project during the design phase before I was able start testing on dvd. Sorry I’m not much help!
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