Ian_P

Hi all, I've been systematically upgrading the lighting kit at my local stage, and now have a good mix of Selecon Fresnel, Source 4 profiles, and a good number of LED colour washes. So for drama and the types of production we do - I think we have a great set up - very flexible and easy to use. The old replaced kit is now languishing in the attic, using up space, and having offered some of it to other local groups at zero cost and been turned down, it seems it's worthless. On Ebay similar kit seems to stick and not get sold. Broadly I have a set of rainbow colour scrollers - not used for 20+ years, a dozen Strand profiles, Par cans, some old CCT Fresnels with the old lamp housing, some no-name locally made dimmers etc. Is the only option here to tip the lot? Cheers Ian

Just to complete this thread, I ran Cat6 cable, and purchased a Antiference 4 way splitter, but I coould not get it to work. It would flash the video up on the screnn for about a second then nothing. I tried local power to the baluns - same. Tried different displays, different inputs, different baluns (there were 4 in the box) - no joy. As the video does display for a moment I have to assume the splitter is at fault. Gave up and ran a direct 30m HDMI cable which works perfectly. Anyone want an Antiference Video spliter...?? ;0)

HI all, I have a dressing room monitor that comprises a SM58 in the stage pros arch, a 25m mic cable running through the attic to the dressing room, plugged in a powered speaker pair - a Behringer SM16 if I recall correctly. We use this for the cast to monitor the audio from the stage - usually plays so spoken word. All works fine until I turn on the stage betapack3 dimmers, when a mains buzz is heard - which persists until they are turned off. The stage PA doesn't have this issue, and I recently installed a battery powered DI box to the monitor to try lifting the earth - but this makes no difference. The building is single phase so everything is on the same dist board for power. Any ideas what to try next?

Many thanks - I’ve found strobe - under beam as you said - in plain view and I couldn’t see it!! thanks again!!

Thanks - I think I must be missing a step as when I select anything other than colour - I get a ‘ palette not created’ - so it looks like a palette must be built??

Hi all, just got myself a Zero88 FLX, and I have set it up to run my generics and a number of LEDs. I have assigned the Stairville xBrick correctly in the add fixtures, and I can successfully control their colour output, but I’m trying to get one set to strobe, as the units are all set as 6 channel, the strobe is there - but I can’t see how to jump the dials off from rgbw and onto the last two fields - strobe and intensity. what am I missing?? thanks

After a long piecemeal upgrade to the dimming equipment at my venue, I have alot of old analogue kit to dispose of. Qty 3 6channel dimmers - Brand PCD - 0-10v control and twin IEC outlets per channel. Made for me by Pete Dunsfold Electronics back in the dim & distant past. one channel triac blown. 3channel non-brand dimmer - analogue control S72 Strand DMX to analogue convertor 1 home build D25 plugs to Zero88 analogue plugs patch panel (DMX convertor is D25 plugs - dimmers are zero88 type) 2 Zero88 3channel dimmers - once analogue, one DMX but can't be addressed above channel 28. Siruis 24 Control desk - analogue only. Fat Frog Desk - all working - but about to be decommisioned. I got fed up with floppy disks! The thing is - all this kit seems unwanted when I watch similar auctions - so I am tempted to tip the lot - (except the Fat Frog) Is there an alternative to skipping all this stuff? I really need the space back.

Thanks all - the message I'm getting is to run CAT5 cables from the tech corner to all places I'll need video/audio. This I can do no problem. Once that is done - I'm looking at an Antiference hdmi0108scat unit or similar (Thanks Geoff), which means I don't need local power for the convertor dongles. One challenge I'm having is I've replaced the old compostite video camera with a new CCTV FHD camera - I was expecting this to work as the connectors are all the same - but it don't! Is CCTV not compostite video anymore..?

Hi all, I have an opportunity to set up a backstage monitoring system, to take over from the damp string and bean can set up I have now. Audio in the dressing rooom is fed from a 'Archer' battery intercom with the transmit button screwed down, feeding into the music on hold port of a Nortel PABX, so the dressing room phone can select this feed. It's not very loud, buzzes when the stage lamps dim and is a bit tinny. No video. The side of stage wings TV monitor is a 14inch portable CRT type TV fed from a old webcam. All works, but is very poor video quality. I would like the system to start with 2 screens but be able to expand to 4 or 5 in the future. Could the speakers in the TV screens be the recieved audio? I need audio in the dressing room only, but availability elsewhere would be nice. I would imagine HDMI cables would be the way to connect all this up, but as we don't have this yet, happy to consider better alternatives. Given a clean sheet of paper, and being aware of the low cost of quality HDMI type screens available these days, can anyone suggest what would be the best approach? What equipment might I need? Video splitter, mic audio souce, input, pa etc? We have just purchased a 42 inch screen for the dressing room, and a 32 for the side of stage monitor. Everything else is up for grabs. Thanks Ian

Thanks all - I knew there would be some solid ideas and suggestions to solve this. We carried on with VLC for the final performance on Saturday, as it worked reliably on all tests. However, I have taken your suggestions on board, I'll be bringing the theatre laptop back home to load Office on, and then prepare powerpoint as the method for the next show that needs it. Thanks again. Ian

Hi - sorry - I was not clear, screenmonkey won't run on my home laptop under testing, so it never made it to the theatre laptop. VLC worked great on the theatre laptop for a while - but crashed during the performance and as the crew couldn't see the dialog boxes - we're not clear what the issue is. Screenmonkey not working on the home laptop and VLC crashing on the theatre laptop are not pointing to a hardware issue.

Thanks - I used to use screenmonkey successfully when I was in Hong Kong, but downloading a few days ago - I just can't get it to work now. When I load a video on a tile - and try to play it - I get a 'exception thrown by invocation' error - and it won't play. The Live Monitor on the laptop also will not work. Tried looking at the support and forums - no response from a FB message. Gave up on it after a few hours trying to get it to work. I've looked at ProPresenter. (I don't have a Mac) - but it's high cost will sadly preclude this choice. Thanks for the suggestions.

Hi all, this partly a request for help, and chance to vent about a subject that seems to be easy to the man on the street (or me before I was forced into getting it working) but in experience is a minefield of complexity, things that don't work as advertised and differing standards. All I need is a laptop in a control booth, with an hdmi cable running to a TV screen in the auditorium, with the video controls on the laptop, and the output video to play to the TV, with a black screen on the TV when it is not playing. Simple eh? Issues I've had: Choice of software to play the video, tried SCS, Windows media player, settled on VLC. Tried 2 projectors before hitting the credit card and buying a TV and mount. Projector issues - not bright enough, vga can't run the distance, projector lamps availability - loss of remote makes projector unusable (!), etc, etc. Two more items to the landfill. After much googling, I selected VLC as there is a blog explaining how to set up VLC to have the controls on the laptop, and the output on the TV. Great! Only it doesnt' work! Select screen 2, extend desktop, switch off all sleep functions (but it still goes to sleep - !!), and video still plays on the laptop. Found a comment from someone else about this, suggesting to make the TV the main screen and success! Only have to drag all the icons from the TV to the laptop, (tricky to grab a window or click a dialog when the TV is 15 metres away). And this worked great. For the opening night. In the second night - all tested ok before house open, during act one VLC crashed, and all the dialog boxes opened on the TV, too far away for the crew to see what to do, and so we had an awkward moment on stage with the cast reacting to video that no-one could see. Luckily the audio still worked. Reset everything at the interval, all working fine. Tonight's performance is still out there in a game of chance. So what to do? Am I missing something here? Why doesn't VLC work as advertised? Is there an alternative program that just works as required - controls on the laptop, laptop as main screen, TV as the source of video? Shirley I'm missing something here, as everyone else doesn't seem to have this issue. Awaiting everyones' thoughts or suggestions. Thanks! Ian

Thanks Bryson, I contacted Halls, they confirmed it is an early version of their T60, with round bottom rails rather than square. Due to this, wheeled runners can work, but could jam, so they recommend cleaning and lubricating with PTFE spray, and rotating the bobbins to an area with no worn grooves. All which we have already done. So we are looking at continued careful maintainance, or a complete replacement of the track. Cheers Ian

Hi all, Hopefully someone will recognise this very old tab track - we use this for our main FOH tabs, I reckon it was fitted in the 60s, and the track would benefit from changing to wheeled runners/bobbins if possible. Anyone know what track this is so I can see if wheeled bobbins are available? Thanks IAn

All, I don't post here often, but do view, and I thought I'd ask the collective thoughts of the Blue Room. We are converting a room in our local village hall theatre from a general 'corridor' and storage area into a multiple purpose room, and a coffee / tea bar. Lighting will be upgraded from LED battens to add a number of hanging shades for more mood lighting. I'd also like to reuse a number of Furse JFR and Patt lanterns to provide a bit of highlighting. I'd like to convert these to LED, no need to dim, is there a good option out there for a new base arrangement to support an LED source? Has anyone done anything similar? Thanks in advance Ian

Many thanks to all who have posted - perhaps 'de-bobbining' and wheeling this track is not the answer. I know the track was cleaned about 15 years ago - and I'm pretty sure hasn't been touched since then - so as is suggested a damn good clean is a good interim answer. So if not grease - what should be used? Just dry? I will be calling Hallstage as well to see if there are wheeled bobbins available. Looking at technical diagrams from their website it appears that the hauling rope would need to move up from running through the bobbins to above the wheeled runners. At this stage I'm not sure if the end plates for the lead and return pulleys support this change, swapping all of these as well may make it too expensive to consider.

David - thanks - but that's exactly what I'm doing with iCloud, imgur, imgbb etc - I keep getting "You are not allowed to use that image extension on this board".... it has to be the IMG code as David has pointed out - thanks!

Hi all, This is the stage curtain track we have at our local am-dram hall. Very old, probably 40s-50s era. At present it runs on wooden bobbins which the hauling rope runs through. I would like to see if I can upgrade the lead bobbins and bobbins to wheeled ones. Does anyone recognize the type of track and are there wheeled bobbins available for this type of track? I can't seem to post images here.... Ah - got it - thanks David

Is there a grid from which you could hang tab tracks? Then you could swipe hired cloths in, and hire both these tracks and the cloths in. As MFL needs multiple scenes, most hired sets will need some cloth hanging ability. For a custom set of trucks - you'd probably be looking at designing and building yourself.

Thanks all for your offers of assistance. I think I'll try to work with the FF for now, and I'll reach out to Zero88 to take advantage of the 121 sessions. As for LightFactory - I would like to speak to you James - that's a very generous offer of help. I had a TriLED plugged into LF, and although I was sure I was only outputting channel 1 - the light was shining white all the time regardless of what I did. I changed the LF to not track, to be HTP, but nothing changed this behavior. When I took the light to the theatre and plugged it into the FF, it worked correctly. So the issue was with LF. Then trying to create a Submaster with the TriLED info was so complex - SM page did not have a 'create' or 'assign' option, I think I figured out the Sub needed to be linked to a group, but in either SM page or group page there was no option to do this. Seriously - why does this have to be so complex - reading the manual does not cover how to set up SM, only that can be 'assigned'. But nothing on how to do it!!! At this point I gave up as I needed to get the rig focussed, so it was ladder time!

Kevin, Yes - I've given up trying to assign the XBlock and TriLED as fixtures - I just assign them channels in the 1-48 range - using up channels. I know I need some fixture files - but where from and how to get them on the FF is the issue. Also the up down, plus minus buttons foxes me every time I use this desk. And there's no cancel button.....Oh, and if you save scenes as a SubMaster, you can't move them to memories, but you can the other way round. Why? So those are some of the reasons, its a head scratching exercise every time I use it. I tend to just build pages of Submasters for the operator to fade up and down as needed. Though I'd rather use the FF than the LightFactory - that really is a head scratcher!

Our Fat Frog is very old (2002), and although still working, the way it works often trips up operators new to the venue. Even I have to reach for the manual very time I use it, I don't find it intuitive in the way it works. Working abroad has made me realize I would like something with channel groups, and perhaps keyboard entry. To that end, I'm looking for a replacement. I would like the following features: Keyboard and a number of physical sliders Prefer smaller size to allow use at the side of the stage on focus sessions External Display Ability to create channel groups 48 - 60 conventional channels, with some space for fixtures (mainly Xbrick and TriLED lanterns) Amdram pricing - 1 to 1.5k is absolute max. I've already looked around the market, and everything I've seen has some, but not all of the desired features: FLXS 24 - perfect size, sadly touch screen keyboard, but no monitor (crazy) FLXS 48 - too expensive and large FLX - Very, very expensive, but almost ideal in every other way ETC Colorsource, no hardware keyboard, no monitor ETC Everything else - too expensive Martin 20GO - seems to be discontinued So I'm stumped. I realize the budget will make this seem impossible - but do desks have to be so expensive? I think the Zero88 Jester TLXtra would fit the bill, but this is definitely discontinued. I also dabbled with a Lightfactory 125 from my PC, but after 1.5 hours trying and failing to even set up a submaster I binned this as well, placing it in the far too complicated for AmDram users category. IS there a desk out there that would work for me? Thanks Ian

We recently cut down our stock of 12 foot high flats (which we always painted the top 3 foot black!) to 10 foot high and used a deeper cloth border. Since doing this, we found we did not need to brace the flats to the grid, and just some bracing to the walls was more than sufficient. I suspect your 8 foot flats will be similar. Our new flats are also 3x1 edge on flats, built as Hollywood with ply faces. I too would recommend that you ban MDF and hardboard from scenery, as ply is much easier to work, stronger and lighter. Previously we have holes in the frames so bolts could be used to bolt the flats together, but in practice this was too fiddly to build, so we have moved completely to Hollywood flats, but lashed together as per Broadway. 4 eyescrews per side are screwed in on the inside of the frames at consistent heights, top, top middle, lower middle and bottom, and a length of black sash cord tied to the SR of each flat. It's now a doddle to set up the flats, lashing as you go, and adding any bracing that may be needed for door flats etc. We then joint the flats with 12 inch wide old wallpaper on the front, before wallpapering or painting the flats as required. It's very strong and light.

Thanks all - good points there - yes I had tried many years ago to wire a telecoms headset and found out first hand that those tinsel cables are almost impossible to resolder, so in this attempt I had made an adaptor patch cord. After looking at how to power the mic, as a rough prototype attempt with wagos to see how bad it would be I use wired the mic to pins 1 and 2 and headset to 3 and 4, and it works! So I'm looking at making a neater job now in version 2 - but thanks to everyone for the guidance - I'll certain be looking at those ebay ones as well as they are already wired. Tim I was saying Clearcom, but you're right I was using it as a generic type, these are a RTS version here in HK Cheers Ian