Video Server / player

[marc]

Hi all,

 

I work on a lot of conference gigs, and we increasingly have speakers turning up with power point files with embedded video. some of these files have got quite large as they need to be Hi res, until now I have been trying to build PC's that can cope with the video requirements, but as power point is not that well written I have struggled to stop PowerPoint crashing an burning in spectacular style!

 

We have now decided to run a dedicated video server, and take the mpeg or avi or quick time files off of a memory stick when delivered with a power point presentation and put them onto a dedicated server, when we need to play them back we will just vision mix them in.

 

All the pc systems run on P4 computers loaded with RAM, and generally a fibre back bone to a server where all the files are kept. we are running expensive and proper ATI cards and NVIDIA in some PC's too.

 

So im after some software that I can use as a player, now I have a few requirements!

 

1. dual screen, one as preview and one as full screen out put

2. an either auto re-size or manual if I must to stop a small res video being stretched to 1024*768!

3. I will not use media player or win amp its just not good enough

4. I have arkaos but this is not an option in this instance - I have tried and it wont play ball

5. needs to support multi format!

 

now I am happy to pay for proper software if it will do the job, im kinda thinking there must be something a bit like radio play out sting software for video for broadcast. But obviously it will come with a price tag! so any ideas / experience would be great.

 

we did think about a hardware solution, but we just don’t have time to copy / load video to a hard ware player and also as we have these meetings quite a bit it would be nice to keep them on file / update them last minute when a speaker is about to walk to the stage they will pass us a memory stick and we have say 30 seconds to get it all loaded and ready to roll.

 

Any bright ideas?

 

Thanks,

 

Mk

[dbuckley]

Two suggestions (none of which I have experience of), both based on the words "vision mix".

 

First is a digital video recorder with USB or networking, so you just transfer the video files to the DVR from a PC as files, and then the DVR acts like a umatic, to the point you can externally control it as such. Suggestions include nNovia range. It'll play the clip, and you can use your normal mixer's facilities for preview, cueing etc. Both will chase timecode, which may or not be handy for you, but was how I found these boxes.

 

Second was a TV studio in a box that was posted on a thread on the blue room a few days ago, the Tricaster, its a PC in a box with some clever software, so I guess you can transfer files to it. In the same vein (and this is guesswork) will a Sony Anycaster accept external files? Sounds like you've got anycaster money

[Tomo]

When I was doing conference gigs, the solution I used was much simpler:

 

A software DVD player - I used ULead, but most of the proper ones (ie NOT Windows Media Player) would be fine as well.

 

Pick one that includes separate windows for control and playback, put the playback window on the projector screen and the control window on the local monitor.

 

Most of these will play the majority of video formats.

- DVDs are actually MPEG 2, and you can copy the entire contents of unprotected DVDs (ie most burned ones) to the local hard disk and play from there.

This is much more reliable than either playing from DVD or within Powerpoint.

 

I don't see the point of a dedicated file server in this situation - better to copy the files to two completely seperate machines, and use one as a backup. That way you can't get bitten by a failing network.

 

I'd stay away from dedicated hardware solutions for general video playback at present - if you have a standard PC with good software, when it fails it won't cost a huge amount to repair or replace it.

 

(Hippotiser is another matter - lovely bit of hardware)

[Peter F]

Having argued all weekend with yet another dvd player I am now even more determined to take the dvd out of the loop...

 

I think using VLC Media Player might be heading in the right direction.

 

It's free which is nice!

http://www.videolan.org

 

Hurdle number 1 is getting it to run full screen on your secondary screen (i.e. the one that isn't an integral part of your laptop). Turns out this is easy peasy if you follow the instructions given at the following link:

 

http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=...ht=dual+monitor

 

In under 15 minutes I am now already halfway towards a solution. Next step is find out how to make it not open up windows on the secondary display when you start a new clip. All suggestions welcome, if I find out first I will add to this post.

 

It really is a rather good bit of software, you seem to be able to drag all sorts of different media files into it without it throwing a hissy fit, so far I've done straight off a dvd, dvd file copied onto hard drive, a couple of .avi, still jpg's and a .3gp mobile phone video thingy without any real problems. jpg is not as stable as you would need to use it but I'm sure that can be sorted in a menu somewhere.

 

Come on chaps and chapesses get it downloaded and lets all work out how to use it properly.

 

Death to DVD players for making me look a tw*t every other show. I have seen the future!

 

Peter

[dbuckley]

You could download PCStage and the MediaSync plug-in, its quite happy to play videos on the secondary screen, and helpfully the secondary screen goes black when no video playing, it was designed for exactly this sort of thing, so I'm really a bit of a dick for not mentioning it before. However, under the covers it is Windows Media Player, it just doesnt look or work like it.

 

Of course, if you're doing a scheduled show then you can create a cuelist of all the clips you'll need and run the thning like a show controller.

 

You'll like the price, too.

[Peter F]

Ok, hurdle number 2 of getting videolan to do what we want has been jumped...

 

The problem is when you start a new clip you get a couple of frames of a window opening and not full screen output on your secondary monitor.

 

My solution is:

Go into VLC Preferences - video. Scroll down General Video Settings until you find a box entitled "Window Decorations".

Untick that box.

 

Now when you start a clip you will get a black rectangle of varying sizes on your secondary screen.

Change your windows backdrop to plain black, the black block is now magically invisible.

 

Jobs a good 'un!

 

Peter

PS. Tried PCStage, it wouldn't run at all on my laptop, reinstalled it, still crashed straight away, gave up on it.

[slim_mcslim]

I have to say that I would favour any hardware DVD player over a windows based software DVD player in a show environment anytime. A decent pro/semi pro player and a properly authored disc will give you a good playback anytime over a windows system.

 

But back to the original posters question, I would still recommend Arkaos as being perfectly capable of what he requires, and it is very good at playing back multiple formats, however that said I haven't used it in a show environment, however has performed very well on my desk.

 

P.

[Tomo]

Hardware DVD players are all well and good, but when you've no idea what format the media will actually arrive in...

 

More than half the time I got handed a "DVD video" that turned out to be WMV files.

 

The idea of a "Well-authored disc" is a joke in corporate gigs.

I never saw one that actually had a usable menu system.

And chapterpoints? We don't need no steeking chapterpoints!

 

Many of the discs failed after a few hours of use, due to the poor quality (unbranded) media.

[peternewman]

I always felt hardware players were more reliable, until one (admittedly cheap one) just wouldn't play the disk, despite having done so with no problems in rehearsals. Also frequently for the stuff we're doing we'd be spending ages authoring it to a disk, when we could just copy it as a data file to a DVD/hard drive and then play it from there, with more flexibility and control and less hassle.

[Hambone]

I've being using Arkaos and Ableton Live in a live AV setup for a year now, sequencing and controlling live surround audio, video, remote PTZ cameras, and 19 DMX lighting fixtures. I drop in text messaging, video clips, and digital pics live on the fly without a problem.

 

For me, Arkaos is rock-solid, very configurable, uses virtually zero CPU, and you'd be using about 2% of its capabilities with your basic conferencing needs.

[tonymaslen]

solution.....

 

...have a seperate laptop running only video files load, cue, switch source and play to screen.... easy! no brainer!

 

for instant play back look at Doremi hard disk player for those video that require instant play back. you do need time to capture the videos but instant play back can alway be worth the time taken

[Peter F]

solution.....

 

...have a seperate laptop running only video files load, cue, switch source and play to screen.... easy! no brainer!

 

How powerful a laptop are you using to do this and with what software?

 

Mine will run vlc (picture on secondary monitor, control on my laptop monitor) but I haven't yet got to the point where it doesn't glitch occasionally. I suspect it is a case of messing about with settings. Stopping all the other stuff that was running at the same time certainly made a difference to the load on the processor, etc but didn't appear to improve the glitches by much. I'm almost happy but not quite.

Any suggestions from other people's experience will be welcomed.

 

I now have a setup on my laptop that whilst not as instant as doremi it's pretty close, confident that with a bit of work I will get there.

 

I can definitely see a useable alternative to dvd players from now on, given that I seem to live in the real world of Tomo with it's multi coloured swap shop formats combined with my own added bonus of the dusty outdoors, this must be good.

 

Peter

[tonymaslen]

We are only running Sony vaio's and on the single core versions if it runs in media player it will play straight out to the dual screen function as a copy of the main screen using the 'FN + LCD' button,(a generic copy of the screen)

If you know the shortcut key for the media player/DVD software this will be quite simple to cue up pause and the play.

 

This will work so long as you have a vision switcher between your input sources and the projection device/plasma screen. allowing you to drop in the videos at the point required, the n return the Sucre to the main presentation laptop, live camera or holding slide.

 

For switchers look at the "Folsom" (presentation pro) web site.

As we use them on job and could not be with out them fantastic piece of equipment!

[Tomo]

When it comes to vision switchers/processors, also have a look at the Extron range - I've used their MGP series extensively and was very impressed.

 

I have heard good things about the Kramer brand as well, but I've only used their distribution amps and not the vision processing equipment.

[marc]

solution.....

 

...have a separate laptop running only video files load, cue, switch source and play to screen.... easy! no brainier!

 

This is what we are doing / want to do. the original question was about software that I can use, that is not windows media player / arkaos and so on.

 

I want some thing that is as basic as media player / real player. That works rather than crashing and complaining about not having the right set of Codec’s loaded and so on.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, im not really interested in media servers like arkaos - which I already have - as we have no prep time on a lot of the content to load it in, I want some thing as basic as double clicking the file and pressing play really!

 

Mk