drissa Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Hi all I've been asked to prepare video content for a show using three screens (images here - embedding in thread doesn't seem to work...?). Width of stage is around 30 feet. Video footage needs to be projected onto one, two or all three screens. Playback is QLab on Mac Mini. One option seems to be hiring three projectors and a TripleHead. This might be beyond budget. My other idea is to hit all three screens with a single projector (using some trial-error to create 'virtual' screens within a single video file). I'm hoping we could live with the 'black but still visible' spill this would create everywhere, but I'd welcome advice. With the single projector, I'm concerned about getting wide enough. The space is pretty much a box, so I can probably rig 30 ft away, max. This seems like it will then give way too much spill on actors. What sort of height (key-stoning) and distance limitations am I dealing with to create this width of image, but high enough to clear downstage? In short, how would you deal with this challenge?! Many thanksBen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I was asked about doing something similar, a few years back, this was for a header, and legs of the arch, for brightness it was always going to be 3 projectors, in your case it would perhaps be even better if it was rear projection on to the screens. I did an experiment with a company a few months ago who wanted to play about with some ideas, we covered about 4m wide from 6m high and 4m away, but it did mean the tallet had to be about 2m away from the screen to not get hit, it did also mean lots of clever lighting to avoid the screen, even with an 8k projector its going to disappear under medium light at that distance. Lastly people all the big names have calculators on their site of lenses an screen size etc, have a play and see what works best. Looking at the pic again, what are the screens and what is being shown ? could you go down the road of flat panel tv's rigged behind them ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 There's no way a single projector will be bright enough, unless you hire something very expensive, and then you could hire 3 smaller projectors for much less money. Looks like you might have space for rear projection which would give you better brightness and no issues with actors getting in the way of the projection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Lee Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 You are speeding what pixels you have over three screens and the dead are between and above/ below. Seems a waste. Get the budget for three projectors if at all possible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I'd suggest the triple projector route too. As others have said you'd be throwing away an awful lot of the light, and I know from our inventory, three XGA res machines at 3500 - 5000 lumens is going to work out cheaper than a single 7k widescreen machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Fernand Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 'In short, how would you deal with this challenge?!' – three projectors,short throw if possible mounted at the rear of the stage/screens to avoid the problemof spill on the actors http://www.epson.co..../overview/11230 Agree with others that a single projector is going to be too limited for this application. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drissa Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 Thanks folks. What a great forum. The screens may already have been build from wood, so rear projection seems out. But I can check. Most of the footage comes from archive or low-res broadcast, so resolution and clarity less important than a robust solution and reasonable brightness. There is some flexibility in actor blocking and lighting design to accommodate the scenes with video.My main concern with three projectors would be dowsers, which I doubt we can source three of. Can QLab maintain a 'blank' output to projectors when not in use? Lighting states would probably mask projector output when video isn't needed, but any default projector display appearing would obviously be especially embarrassing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 As far as dowsers go, I have two DMX shutters that could be available to hire...We don't use them often as our newer projectors have an integral shutter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 We have a couple (that we made ourselves) too - depending on when you need them at least one might be available to hire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Qlab will keep the outputs blank though, if "projector black" is good enough for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 As far as dowsers go, I have two DMX shutters that could be available to hire...We don't use them often as our newer projectors have an integral shutter. We had that, it worked great, my only issue was controlling it mid show. We gave up using the cat5 link and a window logged in to the projector, what / how do you do it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marineboy63 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Q lab just projects the desktop of the Mac when there's no image so just find a good black desktop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Or just make a "black" slide & stick it in the Q list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drissa Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 Thanks all. Just learned that the screens will actually be made of muslim, so back-projection possible. I guess this makes dowsers even more important, to avoid three glowing orbs throughout the show...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revbobuk Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 ...suspect it is much more likely they will be made of muslin. Otherwise you'd have problems with Ramadan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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