HOT PHINGAZ Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Hi, I want to run 3 separate movie files to 3 separate projectors from one machine. I want to use Matrox or similar, but what I really need is software that can have 3 separate windows open but be able to trigger all 3 at once (from black). Am I dreaming, do I need a Hippo, or is there A CHEAP AND EASY way to do this?? :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHYoung Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 you cant do this cheap and easy, but the most cost effective way to do this is to make all three files into one and play it on a machine that will handle it. You split the output either with a matrox triple head to go or more options / money a datapath x4. If you want to play seperate files , get a decent mac and a copy of Qlab. Its the affordable but proffessional industry standard, you can download it for free, and rent it by the day, so for short projects its cost effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason5d Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I think you can do it cheap, as long as we're not talking full 1080p. A dual core g5 with an extra graphics card off ebay and that qlab or other free software could be brought in for less than £300 easy. £300 too much? look for a 4 channel mpeg2 video server again from ebay. It'll play dvd video files and you can pick them up cheap, the last 2 I got where under £100 each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Second for QLab being used to execute this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwright2104 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 If you can get 4 mac's use Qlab, wired network them together, video file on each mac with the extra mac as control. done this for a school show before so was easy to get 4 macs. It works pretty accurate, really couldn't notice any sync problems. if you want more info give me a shout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHYoung Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 five seperate machines networked doesnt really meet the Ops requirement for cheap and easy in my book, especially as you can run all the videos on a single machine and split the output later with a matrox or datapath product, the frame sync will then be spot on rather than pretty accurate.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 And bear in mind that with qLab you would either need to recreate the file every time you restart, or would need to buy the video license, which isn't stupidly expensive but isn't always considered cheap.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lyall Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Or you can rent full Q-lab licenses for not very much. About a £1-3 a day if I remember correctly. If you're educational you get a discount too Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOT PHINGAZ Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 five seperate machines networked doesnt really meet the Ops requirement for cheap and easy in my book, especially as you can run all the videos on a single machine and split the output later with a matrox or datapath product, the frame sync will then be spot on rather than pretty accurate.... exactly.. this is for a small scale tour as well, so bit of a pain to lug 4 machines about.. I think matrox is the way, I just want something better than say 3 VLC windows open on different screens, esp as ideally (not absolutely essential) we can start all 3 together. Qlab rental could well be the way.Not to be anti-mac ( :o ) but PC is my preferred way. Many thanks for all the replies - anyone got a PC software solution? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepytom Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Resolume Avenue - cheapish and does the job quite well www.resolume.comVideo Projection Tools - free I think, relatively crappy performance (its a max/msp patch) http://hcgilje.wordpress.com/vpt/various other lowend media servers / VJ apps can also do an OK job of this task. Look at a Arkaos VJ, Catalyst (ok thats mac based) or maybe MXwendler or AVStumpfl Wings. or there is always Watchout (though I wouldn't bother with it myself) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyld Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Using a product like the Matrox, which the playback machine doesn't "see" as three different output devices, whichever software you choose needs a little bit of a hack to get the media on the screen you require. With Qlab you need to place the media at the correct point on the large desktop that is being split between output connections (three, on the THTG, obviously). With media server software like Resolume you need to create a composition that matches the pixels of the output device, then scale and position a layer for each output. Avenue will do this part, but if you are thinking of buying something, consider Arena which gives you ability to do basic edge blending across the Matrox for a future show. For me, Qlab is first choice for this particular application because of it's flexible cueing of sound, media and everything else too. And you can rent. But obviously not for PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon street Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I have frequently done this trick for theatre and other events using arkaos grand, a triple head and a crap old laptop. Although I now believe that Arkaos is being overshadowed by other more inventive software, it does the job, & does it well. If you set up your output to a custom resolution (eg 3072 x 768) then you have a preset already programed in to route video to any third of the out put. This allows instant selection of which projector you are sending your image to. You could map your 3 videos to one keystroke (or midi/DMX trigger) and each will play to selected screen. Quick to setup & in my experience, very stable. The other way of doing it, creating triple width files and using quicktime/vlc/qlab/whatever to playback also works well, but can be awkward for last minuite adjustments. Tom will probably correct me here, but I have had some problems getting Premiere to output triple width video and have always ended up creating them as after fx projects. Horses for courses innit, good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepytom Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I don't really use Premiere - it's never been very good for odd shape videos. After Effects or Sony Vegas are the weapons of choice for ultrawidescreen production. Qlab is great for a programmed show with a consistent queue stack - once it's setup you can probably even replace yourself with a trained monkey to bash the space bar at the right points. Resolume is nice if your show is a bit more improvised - you can set it up so you have 4 layers - 3 of them going out to the 3 specific screens and an additional layer which spans everything. You then get nice little thumbnails of all your clips and you manually trigger them (you can setup things in columns to be simultaneously triggered if needed)Arkaos I've never really got on with, but other people swear by it so it's worth a look. It is very annoying that there is not a windows version of Qlab. I'd use it a lot more if it could run on one of my racked PCs - whilst it's great software laptops are not ideal for shows. Why apple haven't made a new Macpro in 2 years is another question.. Maybe they have no real interest in pro users these days? (FCPX would indicate that to be the case too) I hope they do come out with an updated Macpro at some point, it would be great if they did a rackable case and made it cost less than 4 grand! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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