Dataton Watchout or Matrox Triple Head?

[Graphics_Guy]

Hi All,

I need help as I have been asked to advise on a 7m x 4m front projection. As a Dataton Watchout freelancer this 7m x 4m screen is not that big. The difficulty is the location. A 1930's Cinema is being converted into a Church. A 3 projector rig has been specced above the large stage area and Watchout is being considered.

 

However the budget is so tight that my experience is using Dataton Watchout with Datapath Capture cards allowing PowerPoint import however the Church staff have not included the cost of 3 x £800+VAT capture cards into the budget. Yet expect PowerPoint to be de facto standard - always a problem with multiscreen systems.

 

My problem is this... Is their a cheaper alternative? Can you get 3 semi pro projectors which will edge blend? AND can the MATROX TRIPLE HEAD TO GO CARD be used as a viable alternative to Dataton Watchout?

 

Another alternative is the Quad Vision Display System but their PC multiple graphics card setup is not the most logical - In that each time you restart you must have all the monitors connected otherwise if it doesn't see the monitor then no output to that card. Fine on a fixed install but not when out and about. Hence my reluctance to specify this alternative.

 

Thanks all,

David

[Johnparrack]

Some of the Panasonic's have built in blending...Most top range projectors like Barco (Synergix) and Christie also have it..beware that using the on board can give you some delay..only a problem if you've got lip synced material. I've only really used Synergix and found it to be very good and a piece of cake to set up. I would also look at other systems rather than the projection option..I'm experienced with most systems on the market (including Watchout...which is rather long in the tooth now).. Barco do Blendpros, as well as Encore and Screen pro, Vista Spyder and Montage. I think Matrox do some cards which also blend.

 

Also as the screens only 7m x 4m couldn't the content be formatted to fit, using a single high powered projector (7m is a doddle these days) fill the width and pull the blanking in top and bottom, maintaining aspect.

[boatman]

7m x 4m is very close to the standard widescreen aspect ration of 16x9. I would have thought that Johnparrack's suggeston of a single high power widescreen projector is the route to take.

[Graphics_Guy]

7m x 4m is very close to the standard widescreen aspect ration of 16x9. I would have thought that Johnparrack's suggeston of a single high power widescreen projector is the route to take.

 

THE PROBLEM IS BUDGET!

and the venue. A high power projector could be put under the old cinema balcony, and fill the 7 x 4m screen, but as this is a church service the actual ambient room lighting will be far lighter than corporate controlled venue. Which is why they have suggested 3 smaller and cheaper projz rather than one difficult to get too expensive projector which may lose power/light due to the length of the projection (20 -25m).

 

FYI Watchout 4 is in Beta and NOT "long in the tooth". Dataton Watchout being modular it is not restricted just to projectors so although not as sexy as Barco/Spyders systems it is still "cool" - Sorry I'm v.biased.

 

Any Comparisons with Matrox Triple Head to Go card much appreciated!

 

Any advice on semi pro Edge Blend projectors much appreciated!

 

Thanks for your input

D

[Nick S]

I have worked on 'low' (~$5000) budget shows where I've used the TripleHead as a solution to get three simultaneous projector outputs. It worked very well. I did not require prefect blending for my application. Do not expect perfect edge blending. There are ways to mitigate it, but it's very hard to get it exactly right (think Cinerama).

 

Also, I'm not sure if your 4x7 dimensions will work with three projectors and the Matrox. The problem will not be the blending, but the extreme overlap between projectors. You won't be able to compensate for this using the TripleHead alone (...it literally just creates an ultra-wide desktop and splits the feed to three projectors). Perhaps using two projectors on a 4:3 ratio (thus 8mx3, rather than 4x7) would be easier to achieve?

[Graphics_Guy]

I have worked on 'low' (~$5000) budget shows where I've used the TripleHead as a solution to get three simultaneous projector outputs. It worked very well. I did not require prefect blending for my application. Do not expect perfect edge blending. There are ways to mitigate it, but it's very hard to get it exactly right (think Cinerama).

 

Also, I'm not sure if your 4x7 dimensions will work with three projectors and the Matrox. The problem will not be the blending, but the extreme overlap between projectors. You won't be able to compensate for this using the TripleHead alone (...it literally just creates an ultra-wide desktop and splits the feed to three projectors). Perhaps using two projectors on a 4:3 ratio (thus 8mx3, rather than 4x7) would be easier to achieve?

 

 

LOOKS LIKE THE TRIPLE HEAD IS A NO GO! as we are using three 4x3 on their sides it looks like the triple head is meant to be all 3 side by side NOT sideways.

 

I think I am going to call the client back and suggest a rethink.

 

any more suggestions most welcome

D

[Pete McCrea]

Define 'cheap' projectors. Something widescreen and bright could be had for about £15k. It might be that to do it properly the client is going to have to re asses theur budget, or scale back their hopes.

 

One point with churches is that generally they will be looking for camera feeds live to screen. If they are keying words over images, then lip sync can be an issue. The conversation I've had with the Dataton guys basically said that unless using very high end capture cards, then the frame delay could be an issue. Has this been properly considered? One way to get round this is to use Watchout to drive the graphics content to something such as a Barco Screen Pro II and Blend ProII combo, or Spyder etc, and ingest the camera feeds to the switchers. With the SPII and good projectors the frame delay can be 3 frames, which is bearable.

[henny]

for your info , im told wo4 should launch at plasa, ive tested the beta and there is alot of new stuff , DMX in/out , rs232 & tcpip out midi in ect.

 

one work around for the power point in is good old VNC , I have had to go back to it resentley for one show, solid white background in watchout and the powerpoint, not fun trying to match up 3 datapath cards so gave up and ran vnc.

[jason5d]

Neither,

 

I can help you with a cheap way of doing this

 

buy a fast mac with 2 graphics cards and

 

we supply software that will do the soft edging, aspect ratio alteration

and movie playback for about £400

 

regarding cheap beamers:

 

as budget is limited, look at Sanyo (which we supply) but no built-in soft edging

 

As said above the built-in soft edging

adds a delay that we find unacceptable

this is why we use software.

[mac.calder]

IIRC - and I may not RC - watchout can use VNC to display computers (ie you will not need the VGA capture cards) - there is a slight frame latency though from memory, but with PPT that should not be a problem.

[jturpening]

Neither,

 

I can help you with a cheap way of doing this

 

buy a fast mac with 2 graphics cards and

 

we supply software that will do the soft edging, aspect ratio alteration

and movie playback for about £400

 

regarding cheap beamers:

 

as budget is limited, look at Sanyo (which we supply) but no built-in soft edging

 

As said above the built-in soft edging

adds a delay that we find unacceptable

this is why we use software.

 

 

 

What is your software called? Where can I find more info?

[toytown]

The new version of VisualJockey has support for Matrox Triplehead edge blending. Its free, but not sure of the licensing implications.

[Graphics_Guy]

The new version of VisualJockey has support for Matrox Triplehead edge blending. Its free, but not sure of the licensing implications.

 

 

thanks toytown,

I will check out visualjockey. Dataton Watchout 4 has now been released but as we have already discussed for widescreen presentations Dataton Watchout with the cost of the USB Dongles is in a different pricing league.

 

How are you using VisualJockey?

 

Thanks

David