Video and audio sync

[Cohiba]

Hi All

 

I've been scouring the site and can't find an answer to my problem so my apologies if this has been asked before.

 

The band I play in uses a video screen behind the stage which is currently linked to a laptop based at the sound desk (75metres away) The laptop is playing video and the audio as we need an audio backing track that MUST be syncd to the video. At the moment we are running this using windows media player on a Dell laptop running Vista. If we don't use video in a show (at some very small venues) we run the backing via mini disc which, up to now, runs faultlessly as we use pro quality rack minidisc players.

If possible we would like to find a better way of running the audio and video together as the laptop setup seems a little flimsy and we would rather run the audio from our mini disc players than out of the stereo mini jack on the laptop.

Is there a way we can sync the audio from the minidisc players to a video source (computer or other)? What would be the best way for us to run the video show?

At the moment the video signal is running the 75m via a composite connector but we would like to change that to VGA but are unsure as to what kind of amplification we would need to send the signal that far. Would a video mixer have that kind of amplification built in?

Obviously we have to work to a budget but as the equipment is being used all the time by a full time working band it does need to be decent stuff.

 

Any help you could give would be really appreciated!

 

Pete

[djw1981]

You could burn it to DVD, and thus have S-video and stereo phono output (for audio). It also means you can run it in any venue with a DVD player - In my experience it is advisable to author them on high quality discs and carry 2 or 3 copies in case of scratches etc, but YMMV.

[Cohiba]

You could burn it to DVD, and thus have S-video and stereo phono output (for audio). It also means you can run it in any venue with a DVD player - In my experience it is advisable to author them on high quality discs and carry 2 or 3 copies in case of scratches etc, but YMMV.

 

 

We tried the DVD route with a 'pro quality' system and it was too unstable. When you get a couple of thousand people in a theatre stomping away DVD players just won't handle it and we had skipping. Just one single skip would be VERY bad for the show.

[FullRange]

Have you considered using hard drive based video equipment? You could try consumer level stuff first to see if it suits. Datavideo do a more professional version. These wouldn't have VGA outputs though.

 

To drive a long VGA cable use a line driver / repeater from someone like Kramer or Extron, there are lots of options available. For a length of 75m you might want to consider using VGA to Cat5 (network cable) converters to save on costs, weight/size and hassle etc. A video mixer would not ususally be able to drive this length on its own.

 

Edit:

Another possibility: the Hippotizer. It's a media server with 4 DVI outputs as standard. Allows for live manipulation of live camera footage or pre recorded material. Too many features to list, but as you mentioned a mixer thought it might suit as it does everything a mixer can, everything a hard drive player can plus loads more.

Price is an issue though, does your budget stretch to £5k?

[djw1981]

You could burn it to DVD, and thus have S-video and stereo phono output (for audio). It also means you can run it in any venue with a DVD player - In my experience it is advisable to author them on high quality discs and carry 2 or 3 copies in case of scratches etc, but YMMV.

 

 

We tried the DVD route with a 'pro quality' system and it was too unstable. When you get a couple of thousand people in a theatre stomping away DVD players just won't handle it and we had skipping. Just one single skip would be VERY bad for the show.

Fair enough, as I said YMMV <_<. Out of interest do you have the laptop at FoH or on stage?

[Cohiba]

You could burn it to DVD, and thus have S-video and stereo phono output (for audio). It also means you can run it in any venue with a DVD player - In my experience it is advisable to author them on high quality discs and carry 2 or 3 copies in case of scratches etc, but YMMV.

 

 

We tried the DVD route with a 'pro quality' system and it was too unstable. When you get a couple of thousand people in a theatre stomping away DVD players just won't handle it and we had skipping. Just one single skip would be VERY bad for the show.

Fair enough, as I said YMMV <_< . Out of interest do you have the laptop at FoH or on stage?

 

The laptop is FOH as it needs to be operated by the sound and light crew, hence the 75m. By the way, what is YMMV?

 

 

I like the hard drive route, the hippotizer seems to be a bit of overkill as all we need to do is play video and audio together syncd up. Nothing needs to be done on the fly except selecting the next track. 5K may also be over budget for this year. Possibly up to 2k would be more realistic. I'm probably asking for the impossible though. I do really appreciate the suggestions though as it does give me more info to work on.

 

Pete

[djw1981]

In a different context, we have used a hard drive recorder on stage outputting Svid in our case, though there were other outputs on the machine (short cable route to projector) and then put the audio through DI's then down the audio snake as normal. As you say, cue-ing is the issue. In my case, the band were triggering it themselves so this was not an issue. By use of a video splitter, the band had local monitoring. The main issue was on screen menu's. We were doing a budget-less solution so I appreciate this suggestion is a bit amateur / bodged for your needs.

 

YMMV = Your Milage May Vary (TM Bruce)

[Cohiba]

I've just looked at the Datavideo DN-500 - rack mount hard drive video rec and it looks perfect. The audio output is XLR and not naff phono which is too flimsy. The video output is also good (no vga but there are other options). The problem now is finding somewhere in the UK that has one I can see. Also I can't find a price for it!

Knowing my luck it will be a USA only product!

[FullRange]

Libra Pro Broadcast supply all of the Datavideo range, try their website for what's available. Couldn't see the DN500 on their site, but there are other very similar options listed.

[Johnparrack]

Try Holdens site, retail prices listed...DN 300 is £749 ex vat http://www.holdan.co.uk/datavideo/dn300.htm

[dbuckley]

Have a look at the Rosendahl Bonsai

[Cohiba]

Have a look at the Rosendahl Bonsai

 

 

Lots of stuff here, thanks to you all for your help, it is really appreciated!

[stoneworld]

another alley you might want to explore would be to put the laptop by the projector and remote the keyboard or the play button back to the desk. Only disadvantage would be you can't see the laptop if it failed, however you could use a VGA DA out of the Laptop and run a link back to control via CAT5 and use the other VGA direct to the projector. Can also get Keyboard and Mouse back over the CAT5.

[Cohiba]

another alley you might want to explore would be to put the laptop by the projector and remote the keyboard or the play button back to the desk. Only disadvantage would be you can't see the laptop if it failed, however you could use a VGA DA out of the Laptop and run a link back to control via CAT5 and use the other VGA direct to the projector. Can also get Keyboard and Mouse back over the CAT5.

 

 

That's an interesting idea! How would I connect a mouse and keyboard up with cat5 over 75m? Would they work over that distance?

[FullRange]

You would need a CAT5 KVM extender (Keyboard Video Mouse). Lots of places stock them including these at Dabs.com. You might want to try somewhere like CPC for cheaper versions than the Belkin ones.