simontl

Would it be worth trying a dbx Driverack PA2 with the dbx mic. If you manage it from a tablet it looks very flexible and easy to use.

Thanks all. It looks as if projectors with SDI input are several leagues above ours. We now have fibre HDMI cables to reach our domestic-level projectors. Using SDI adapters would be an alternative but adds more cost and complexity. If we invest in the Mac Studio with simple Thunderbolt to HDMI adapters we can see how that goes - and then add the FX4 or similar at a later date.

Thanks for the comments. Figure 53/QLab have confirmed that Jon's recommendation of a Mac Studio would do the job. The Hyperdeck option is intriguing but keystoning or shifting the video is often needed and QLab (and to an extent SCS) can do this. I can now go to my Board with a proposals. Thanks all.

3 hours ago, J Pearce said:

You might find it more cost efficient to use something like a Datapath FX4 to split the M1 mac's single 4K output into 4 1080p outputs.

I'd consider the 16GB RAM models too.

 

Also - triggering external QLab instances from a master instance (as your plan seems to propose) isn't always straightforwards (though is totally possible). The usual setup is a machine with multiple outputs, this is where the new mac minis are limited as they have only the single 4K output. A mac studio would be more suited to multiple video outputs, but comes with a price premium.

So the Mac Studio could "Connect up to 5 displays in total"; so  very close to the bleeding edge. So this one would be on the right lines? Apple Mac Studio, Apple M1 Max Chip, 10C CPU, 24C GPU, 32GB UM, 512GB SSD - Silver. Thanks for help.

Thanks Jon... I will dig around on those options.

Alister... My team are always on the end of the Director's sharp sticks - which can mean 5 different videos worst case. But Jon's Datapath splitter would mean we could stretch the Mac Studio to clone one output to more projectors if they could find somewhere to hang them. Thanks

My amateur theatre is considering moving from Windows PCs and SCS to Macs and Qlab. The main objective is to get better support for video projectors. We have found this to be a frustrating challenge with Windows PCs.

My thinking is to use three Mac Mini M1 8 GB / Storage: 512 GB SSD  with Thunderbolt 3 to HDMI adapters so we can drive one control screen and five projectors. Does this make sense? I do not envisage we will go much beyond HD standard as the costs per projector spiral upwards rapidly when you factor in say 6000 lumens.

Are we crazy (I know the cost is going to be £4500 when we add in a macbook to loan out to designers)? Are we just going to hit different gotchas on Macs? Thanks 

For our theatre the plus with SCS and PCs is that old laptops (donated!) are easy to loan out to the designers who need one. We then load the shows into our fixed PCs.

A tip for SCS users... If you build the show on a laptop with just one pair of outputs but your theatre PC has sound card with four pairs, say, duplicate the laptop devices in SCS - upstage, downstage, front auditorium and rear auditorium in our case. Then when you copy the show in, all the settings match.