Audio/visual lap top control programme

[davediamond]

I work for a show touring theatres and we have in the last year started using a projector and screen to show a short video and pictures during the show

 

We also use the audio visual link to playe pre show music and various introductions during the show.

 

to start with we used power point for the video and pictures and an andrioid pad for the music and introductions, but the lap top which belonged to one of

 

the crew sometimes skipped or froze in the video section and because the android pad was a touch screen it was hard to touch the right track in half light promt corner

obviously we have realised that power point is not the right programme to use because we cannot play the music and introductions on it as well.

 

We have tried another system on the bosses 9 year old lap top but have had no more luck - ie the lap top freezing on various pictures, introductions not happening etc,

 

and we have still had to have the pre show music on windows media which meant that there was a delay before the video could start due to swapping screens etc.

 

We desp[erately need to know of any pc programmes out there that will run our projector - videos, pictures, pre show and interval music, and introductions all from

 

the same lap top programme and not freeze on go wrong at crucial times- obviously we dont have mega amounts of cash to splash but we need to do this as professionally as possible.

[Andrew Edwards]

For Windows you could try Show Cue Systems. The Standard version should suit your requirements. Great software and outstanding support.

 

If you have access to a Mac then Qlab is pretty much the standard. Same as above in terms of quality and support.

 

HTH

[pjrails]

HI

 

I'm in agreement with Andrew, SCS is a good progamme and should do the job

 

PJ

[Hilary Watts]

For a low budget solution I suggest you try Screenmonkey . Don't expect miracles with your boss' machine, but I have used Screenmonkey to do all the things you ask on an XP machine which is 3 or 4 years old and have never had a problem during the show (set everything up beforehand and run through the cues in order 3 or 4 times to ensure that everything will happen as you want it). If you can run to a more recent machine with Windows 7 you can get video fading, which is not really successful in XP.

 

If you want a program for sound cues alone then I suggest Multiplay which is also free to download and try.

[alistermorton]

What everyone said - also turn off ALL power saving on the computer. The last thing you want is a disk spinning down or the system going into sleep mode just as a cue is due.

[GR1]

For replay of sound cues I use Sports Sound Pro. The free demo version allows you to run about 130 cues - the full version is over 1200. You can assign cues to keyboard keys so you don't have to worry about sequencing just hit the start button There is no time limit on the demo version - I've used it for 8 months.

[Shez]

I'd suggest having a go with Screen Monkey too. The free version will do all that you want so it's worth downloading and trying out. Watch the tutorial videos first though as the user interface isn't entirely intuitive.

 

I just did an awards ceremony last night with it; two laptops so I had a backup. The one that performed better was an older one running XP whereas the newer one with Win7 was less smooth. I suspect neither had great graphics cards though; I'm sure something with a bit more processing power in that department would help.

 

SCS also has a free demo available so have a play with that too. I've only used it once with video as it normally just runs sound cues for me but the basic functionality is all there. Screen Monkey is a bit more flexible with what it can do with multiple layers though.