Any stabe video presentation software for secondary monitor projection ?

[Thomas Leong]

Two I know of, one Window, one Mac.

Windows
Avstumpfl’s Wings platinum 3 Pro version (only the Pro and Mutidisplay versions have secondry monitor output in Presentation mode). Demo available.

Mac
PlaybackPro. I don’t have a Mac so have not used this software myself.

In both cases, suggest you create a Black bitmap and use it as your desktop so that when the OS extends to the secondary monitor, it will be black.

[Viki Kumar]

Hi,

Any other suggestions please ? I visited the site which you gave Avstumpfl’s Wings platinum 3 Pro version and found that theor programs are quite complex and expensive. I just need a play a video at a time software without the live mixing etc etc. Id end up paying for all the bells and whistles i wouldnt need at all. In fact there is a free program out there that does what i want, but unfortunately it will only play wmv files. I need to play mpeg2 or something like that.

If anyone else also has any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks

[Thomas Leong]

if you do not want to use a proven professional product, then use the freeware vlc from vlc.org. It does not auto default to the sec monitor. You have to drag it there.

[Julian Williamson]

Umm… I’ve used Apple’s Keynote with good results for simple playback on “mission-critical” presentations. Plays back HD video without choking either in H.264 or Apple Intermediate Codec. Just set the secondary monitor to the native resolution of your display, drag it into Keynote, and away you go.

Good luck,
Julian Williamson

[Walter Soyka]

Keynote does a great job playing video in presentations, but there are some important limitations that may be show stoppers for some applications. In this case, the poster wouldn’t get transport controls on the main monitor.

A couple other Keynote video gotchas: there is no visible timecode to the operator, so you can’t count out of the video. The first frame of video sometimes holds while the computer loads the video file, so you may want to start in black. Slide transitions only work before a video starts and after it ends (essentially a single-channel switcher). You do have access to a slide sorter in presentation mode, but it’s not a proper playlist; you’ll see the first frame of the video, but the clip name or any other information about it.

As Thomas mentioned, Playback Pro is an outstanding software DDR. It’s purpose-built for this sort of work.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Viki Kumar]

I am running on win xp pro. So i doubt apple’s software would work for me would it.

[Walter Soyka]

Have you considered recompressing your MPEG2 and AVI files as WMV so you can use the software that you’ve already found?

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Viki Kumar]

Hi Walter,

I have no problems rendering out to actual wmv9hd from the project footage on my NLE. But my only gripe is that wmv is considerably softer in output compared to edge sharpness of mpeg2. Its the basic nature of the wmv9 hd encoding uiversally. Wmvs will look softer. Which is good when u need that but not for a large screen projection like mine.

This seems to be my only problem 🙁

[Walter Soyka]

What about renting a DDR for the event? Grass Valley’s Turbo uses 25 Mb/s MPEG2 natively for HD material, and can import a wide variety of digital video formats.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[James Henley]

Depending on what type(s) of files you want to play, you might be able to do it all directly from the timeline of your NLE. I’ve done this before using Premiere – output through the firewire then used a canopus advc-110 to convert the signal to analogue and sent this to the video input on the projector. Not the most flexible solution in the world but for what I wanted it worked brilliantly (and was free!)

James