Vertical Displays

[Mark Suszko]

You mean, like a wide-screen plasma Tv set on one end to be in a vertical-oriented “portrait mode” versus normal “landscape mode”? I have seen articles in DV and other mags where a project was shot end-to-end with the cameras on their side, to capture as large a frame as possible which is then DVE’d and scaled to the portrait orientation.

If you were to shoot in High-res HD, you could shoot and compose your graphics “normally”, then rotate and scale everything in the composite to fit the destination “portrait” plasma and still look pretty sharp. I’m not any kind of expert on this but I imagine you’d want to shoot this in a non-interlaced format.

[Jerry]

My confusion on the whole thing is the plasma handling the rotation. If it rotates everything 90 degrees
then if I shoot vertically it will rotate that 90 degrees or can the display unit tell 16×9 from 9×16?
This is my dilema. I guess shooting in horizontal HD and then scaling it for vertical would be the
easiest. I still think there will be a test and try method.
Thanks for your reply.

Jerry Hatfield
Six Gill DV
Orlando, Florida

[Mark Suszko]

Yeah, as far as I know (which isn’t much) the plasma screen has no way to discern the orientation of the signal nor any way to automatically turn it on it’s side to fit. You have to choose the way that happens, either thru some real-time frame-bending technology like the kind they use for high-tech staging… or by gaming the system by pre-rotating the source and scaling it to fit during the shoot or post. I’m thinking the guys in the live-stage forum here on the cow would have some better ideas about this. They use some very advanced toys in their multiscreen work.

[Thomas Leong]

Just a word of caution re turning plasmas on its side (or facing upwards, downwards, etc) for a long period of time. The caution is HEAT!

Most, if not all, plasmas are designed to dissipate heat upwards when oriented horizontally. So the vents are at the horizontal top edges. Orienting the display sideways will likely redirect the heat back into the casing and may have adverse effects on the unit when operated over a period of time. When orienting the display in a position for which it is not designed, try to operate with the covers/casing off. That would be best.

Thomas Leong

[Mark Suszko]

Interesting point. I wonder what they do for the ones used in all-day 24/7 applications like digital signage? Maybe they don’t use a plasma for those but an LCD instead.

[Thomas Leong]

All the plasmas used for digital signages that I have seen in my locality have been horizontally mounted. Perhaps the vertical ones that you have seen are made for that orientation, or that there may be models from some manufacturers that do cater for that. For any user, it would be safer to check with the manufacturer as a caution.

Thomas Leong

[Thomas Leong]

I wonder what plasmas they use for these? Probably for short runs, and extremely tough and mounted really securely.

Thomas Leong

[Jerry]

The Vertical display itself, is not my responsibility. However, Sony has a vertical unit specifically designed for Vertical Use.

Jerry Hatfield
Six Gill DV
Orlando, Florida

[Tony]

I shot a multi screen vertical display recently and the best method I advised the client was to shoot in one camera on HDCAM so we could cut out the four segments in standard def during post later. The other option would have been to shoot four SD cameras vertically which would have been a major pain.

The camera shot the actors horizontal and I had the editor provide me a template for lining up the actors into the correct area. I was able to overlay the template over the live action in the field using a great feature in the Leader 5750 HDSDI waveform monitor which allows superimposing freeze frames over live action.

The concept and show worked great.

Tony Salgado

[Bryan Parris]

I did the vertical plasma display thing about a year ago, and while it was quite a pain, it was technically pretty straight forward. We shot video with the camera on its side. Because of the size of our camera and our tripod (most pro tripods cannot tilt to 90 degrees) we rented a special mounting rig from the local grip supply place. In the edit, I turned the production monitor on its side so I could see how it looked, and with graphics in After Effects I spent a lot of time cranking my head sideways. Other than shooting sideways and editing awkwardly, everything else was straight forward. They hooked a DVD player into the plasma as normal, and turned the plasma on it’s side with a mounting bracket designed for that. As far as the plasma is concerned, it’s receiving a standard signal. Hope this helps simplify things.

Bryan