[Mike Golding]

this really would be a good use for watchout as it would allow for the spanning across the screens and also for discrete screens on cues depending on the cue. Plus you would be able to stay PC based as you are currently running.

However, with some prethought you could pretty much setup a powerpoint presentation with the required elements and deliver out of a single pc using one of the matrox triple head 2 go cards. this would be a cheaper way but would require preplanning each look where as the watchout production would be easier to create random looks quickly.

of course if you had multiple sources and the correct switcher, you could easily switch the proper source to each screen on as needed basis.

guess it comes down to how much you want to spend and how creative you want to be.

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[Mike Golding]

don’t laugh but there are a number of easy solutions to this…just off the top of my head-

mac mini- dvi out to hdmi in…looping video no problem and update over network

apple tv- looping QT video clip and controllable over wifi or network

any netbook running flash/quicktime/windows media..etc…vga to hdmi connection

small form pc/windows box

zune hd- does 720p playback with external dock connection

xbox360/playstation consoles- being used as media pc

ce labs- compact flash card based hd player
roku- same concept as ce labs

there are many ways to do this all under 500

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[Mike Golding]

curious to see what happens if you lower the detail to 10% and make sure you set the refresh rate to 60hz (or whatever refresh you have the graphics card set to) and see if that helps. If that does help, start rolling in more detail until you start to see the return of the shakes.

If lowering the detail doesn’t work, and changing the port does- then it is that input module.

if changing the port doesn’t work but using a different source( another computer) then you have something in the G5.

this should start you down the path until you get a bit more information. Personally I think you will find the detail is causing the issues but do the due diligence and try to eliminate issues and see what happens from there.

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[Mike Golding]

what kind of budget are you playing with?
what resolution are you looking for- 720p/1080i/1080p
what input on the 55″ are you using- hdmi/dvi/component/vga/hdsdi?

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[Mike Golding]

a handful of questions first:

does this only occur at 1080p from the G5?
what refresh rate are you running the output of the G5 at?
how much detail do you have set in the cameras? Normally we tend to roll a bit of detail off of the cameras when we shoot the screen in the shot to get rid of some of the noise.
assuming that this unit is not the 120hz set, what happens from another source, like either a blu-ray or even the G5 coming in at a different res or through the vga port?
what f stop are you at with your cameras?

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[Mike Golding]

I agree that you would want to have the operator to run the Turbos or any other DDR for a live event, I wouldn’t do a show without the tape operator unless the poor guy fell over during the show. That being said, Spyder in conjunction with the Vista Sourcemaster, can actually cue the Turbos or DDRs. I wouldn’t try to do a live show this way if there was tons of cues but if it was a scripted show, this works. Turbos aren’t the greatest devices for this though, DDRs with 3rd party control (Doremi/Fast Forward/Watchout) work better. I know that pretty much the play and pause commands work with the Turbos, but nothing else that I would depend on.

Just a FYI

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[Mike Golding]

The main concern to me would be the screen aspect of 3.33:1. Cinemascope or 2.35:1 is about the widest setting that most of the units will handle without needing overshoot or cropping. Plus the cinema projectors themselves are a bit more finicky than tried and true staging style projectors. Myself, indoors on a cheaper budget- I would try using a 2 projector soft blend (built into the projector) to each do a 26.5′ wide image by 15′ tall. or doing an overshoot with a single projector in 2.35 mode knowing that I would have 3 feet of spill top and bottom and use the shutter to black it out. ON a budget…look at using Panasonic DT-PZ12000U or Christie HD12K Roadsters. If you are game for the soft edge blending take a look at the Christie HD10K M Series. Then do your Video playback at 1080 and let the ScreenPRO-II HD do pip for you.

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[Mike Golding]

Walter brings up a good point as well on the brightness of the projector. A few things when blending to really make it a nice image:

use a neutral gain screen (1.0 gain factor)
Front projection works better than rear
use DLP 3 chip projectors rather than single chip or LCDs. DLP 3 chip maintain a much higher level of consistency in the colors and brightness from side to side of the DMD chip than LCDs can do. This results in better matching from center points to edges-big issues when doing blends.
using any type of manual dowser to remove the halo from the projected ouptput? This helps as well.

Just some thoughts. I have done many blends and each one is its own unique project. It can be done very well with fore planning and paying attention rather than cutting corners.

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[Mike Golding]

the ScreenPro II is still a single output device and won’t accomplish the flow it sounds like you are expecting. To do the 3 screen blend with a single background source and two separate layers with different sources is doable a number of ways…but not with a single ScreenPro II.

using the Spyder option, you are looking at a Spyder 344 at a minimum to get the number of layers and outputs you are looking for.

using a Barco Encore system- you are still looking at needing more than the baseline system to get the proper number of inputs and outputs. You would need to add a 2nd processor to the base system.

using Watchout- you are looking at needing a 4 key system to do the three screen blend..however you need to run all the content from the Watchout to avoid any lag. You can bring in external video but you would need to use a distribution amplifier when the signals are overlapping from one unit to another.

and there are still other ways to do this. Guess need more information

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[Mike Golding]

I have to vote for the BarcoFolsom ImagePro HD unit as well. It’s definitely one of the best on the market but not cheap. Analog Way makes some decent units as well and they are a bit cheaper.

The black magic unit in the link will do what you want but the tech specs don’t list very many resolutions and if you output a high resolution image (like 1280 x 768/800) or greater it appears that the SDI output will be 720p or 1080 depending on the incoming DVI signal.

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