[Ken Geary]

Very informative!
An eSATA “cradle” for the KiStor drives with cable to laptop would be perfect. We dont usually have a desktop on site (keep portable).

[Ken Geary]

Thank you. This brings me to my Part II post which I may as well do here. Part II, THE BAD
We had issues firstly getting Internet in ballroom, without paying $1500/day. Th hotel comped us 2 switched internet lines. But wireless would cost. We needed to take Internet feed and put on a router with hard line to Apple TV (and Google TV) and wireless from same router to iPad. Well after going back and forth, we found the cheapie switch i brought in didnt do what we needed so the hotel supplied one (and we lost 4 hrs setup time at this point).
Apple TV would not send HDMI to switcher, however the DVI Detective actually worked and tricked the ATV into thinking it was connected to a LCD monitor. All was good and fine until nite before show I see a “Apple TV Update Available” popup…I left it, did not select it, yet the next AM I couldnt get any network connection to the ATV, somehow, I think, it may of done a 1/2 update and stopped. So no iPad mirror mode for show.ugh. went to plan B (VGA out of iPad).
The Google TV was worse, blank screen when connected to switcher (from HDNI to DVI cable). I had a 2nd DVI Detective, NO GO. ugh. My AV Techs tried scalers, other switchers, DVI to fiber to projector direct, NOTHING. The Google TV will blank out on you unless you are connected to a TV or monitor, had nothing to do with content, we couldnt get past the boot screen, as soon as it went to menu it would blank out. So BEWARE of trying to use Google TV .

[Ken Geary]

Check out the viewsonic VOT 133 or media players.
We have been using 22+ units for 24/7 video loops of HD quicktime for trade shows.
The trick i found was to download the Media Player Classic, which will play QT .mov encoded H264 and will seamlessly loop.
Good luck

Ken

[Ken Geary]

Thanks Bruce,

Finally getting cost feedback from my AV sepecialist, way too much $$ for large silver screen rental. I also understand the projector stack has to be perpendicular to screen, bringing our front projection flown from ceiling way down too close to audience’s heads. Not good. Rear projection would require DaLite black , cannot find rental house for that, seems you have to buy material from DaLite ata max 16′ high roll, width is as big as you want , not sure of $$$ and we wouldnt buy this anyway for a one off show.
So, I’m on to other options, I feel I will be delving into 3D stereo on a trade show project in the future using Vizio 60″ passive 3d LCD or similar. Much more cost effective and easy setup.

[Ken Geary]

Take a look at this
https://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=edid101v&search=edid

They have a D model for DVI also.

This little device saved us from an embarrasing Exec conf room issue with new Dell laptops not being able to output to large LCD monitor on wall.

By the way, not to slam Dell, but their laptops are notorious in syncing up with live event hardware. HP, Macbooks, etc all plug an play.

Good luck

Ken

[Ken Geary]

This is what I found and CreativeCow may want to put this in their FAQ’s

I have a crate of old VHS-C tapes, kids growing up, etc. I’ve been putting off duibbing them to DVD or another digital format waiting for the perfect low-cost small storage solution. DONT WAIT, some of my tapes are close to 20yrs old and lost a lot of image quality and there’s a lot of video noise on older ones.
I tried to capture into a brand new Decklink Extreme 3D on a HPZ800
and the video would keep cutting off to black frames with audio loss. After extensive search on the web, I found out the Decklink (and maybe a lot of newer capture cards) only responds to CLEAN video. A standard VHS or even most commercial VHS players did not work. Turns out a Panasonic AG-1830 with S-VHS out did the trick because it has a built in TBC.
I am capturing Mjepeg to keep file storage realistic, and from there can edit, export to iPad/Touch/etc and go to DVD as needed.
Long story short, I can cleanly capture now so anyone doing the same needs a similar VHS deck or has to get their hands on a Time Base Corrector to stabilize the signal.
If you have no access to this, dub to a digital video camera, most if not all have an analog input cable, you will have to invest in a bunch of MiniDV tapes but you will at least add many years to protecting your videos.
Hope this helps
Ken

[Ken Geary]

To all who helped on this thread.

The meeting went very well aside from last minute mic and sequence changes…
The 16K rear-projection on 10x 7.5 screen worked very well.
It was so much better having all in the tent (we ended up with a 80′ x 40 ‘ white tent with white side walls). The weather was in our favor, 72 and partly cloudy, but even when the sun came out the screen brightness/contrast was still vary good.
We had over 150 people in tent, visibility good from anywhere.
One word of warning, there was a support cable at the 20’ point right in front of screen! I did not expect this, so we basically just disconnected it. If we needed the cable, we would of added extra cables to box out the screen frame.
So word of warning, there can be several obstacles when doing A/V in a tent and the more you know about the tent you are renting the better.

Thanks again to all…this is an awesome forum, special thanks to CreativeCow!

Ken

[Ken Geary]

To all who replied.

Thank you very much, very informative.
Our budget would not allow a video wall or LED or even plasmas larger than 50″

I am awaiting more deatils today on tent options. If we can get a larger tent we can bring the whole rear projection inside.
I appreciate the wind vs drape advice especailly after yesterdays tornado watch (lots of wind/no storms though).
Ideally, I’d like to go with blacked out rear projection for the front and if we have room (there will be a bunch of fans inside tent) add two 42″ plasmas for the back rows.
This way I can also see for myself what works best in these conditions for future reference.
I have forewarned management any display will most likely be a bit washed out for this event and we’re doing the best we can given the short time frame.

Ken

[Ken Geary]

Next Friday, NY area. 11AM – 1PM
Powerpoint and video rolls from DVD
No budget no local avail LED wall option (good option though)
and I understand LED walls poor on Powerpoint/text, good for video

leaning heavily towards one 7.5 x 10 rear projected screen, 16 K or stacked 8K projectors, pipe and drape surrounding entire projection area.

Thank you.

[Ken Geary]

Thanks to all who replied…
The DDR’s may be replaced by 3 Mac laptops with PresenterPro software.
No cues on this part, just being used for the opening video.
the visual is basically a 3 monitor “videowall” style.