Conductor Monitor/Relay system

[Tom]

Hello.

I need to set up a cheap and cheerful, temporary Conductor Monitor system.

 

Camera in the pit pointing at the guy with the stick and several screens

Big one on the circle front

Couple in the wings

Little one for the DSM

 

I seem to remember doing this in the past just using a simple camcorder and a couple of big old CRT TVs.

 

I've talked to the usual hire suspects but no one seems to have a god to go system and the options they are providing are not suitable.

 

So, firstly does anybody have a system good to go they'd like to discuss renting to me (or lending, I'm not fussed), or can you point me at somebody who might have some or all of what I need.

(I'm in London)

 

Alternatively (or more realistically) what components do I need?

 

A Camcorder with an S-Video Out?

Some cable - what? (I reckon the longest run will be about 30m). Seem to remember using BNC before with some clever connectors.

A splitter - can I get away with Y splits or do I need to go active?

A screen with an S-video in?

 

Will that work? Will there be any significant latency?

 

What pitfalls am I missing.

 

T

[alistermorton]

when we did Olympus last year at Croydon we had a similar system - camera pointed on stage relayed to the band, and camera at the MD relayed to the stage (the band were in the scene dock, behind the cyc).

 

I'm fairly sure we just used standard security type cameras, sending the video down CAT5 with converters and distributing it from there.

 

EDIT : spelling.

[jason5d]

we have the kit you need for this

 

Panasonic 3ccd e type cameras

 

you'd need

camera with lens

bracket

bnc cable

splitter

screens with stands or brackets

 

how long do you need the equipment for

[J Pearce]

Keep an eye on frame delay. Most handycams and especially LCD screens have significant frame delay that makes them pretty poor for conductor relay.

 

CRT screens and CCTV cameras are best.

[Tom]

Yes, that's what's worrying me.

Unfortunately, one of the monitors has to go on the circle front where the is limited space and weight loading which is why I was thinking an LCD.

 

Also easier to pick up a bracket to fly an LCD than a CRT.

 

 

how long do you need the equipment for

 

Next week for two weeks.

I've PM'd you.

 

T

[paulears]

analogue video camcorders don't suffer any noticeable delay from the composite video output that I have ever discovered. Any form of digital output via usb, or firewire has a coding delay, but any old cheap camcorder will do the job. Some annoyingly switch off with no tape in, others shut off if there IS a tape in that doesn't move, but most will output video if you leave the door open. Lots of cheap ones on ebay but time will be against you. Old camcorders, any TV with a composite in (as in yellow phono) and you are away - I'd never worry about delay myself - analogue was pretty much delay proof, unless the camera had digital processing and effects.

[J Pearce]

Yep, I have an old analogue video camera I keep just for this purpose, but most modern handy cams have image stabilisation and gadgetry, and often run at higher than SD internally, requiring conversion for a composite out.

 

If you have to use an LCD screen SD screens seem to have less delay than HD, probably because they don't have to rescan the signal.

[AHYoung]

Ive done conductors / Mds relays many times, and ive allways used high resolution cctv cameras with composite video outs into monitors with video ins, either televisions, commercial lcds or cctv monitors. never noticed any delays , but if you try and use a scaler to make use of a vga monitor, it all goes wrong. generally screens dont have much delay, unlike projectors that not only do scaling, but also have to do keystone etc. Avoid camcorders and processing the signal in any way and its all going to be fine. There is no such thing as 0 delay, but keep it analogue and all should be fine.

[Tom]

Thanks for all of the above.

 

What about splitting to multiple monitors, 3 or 4 in this case.

 

Will I get away with simply Y connectors or should I use somthing powered and if so what?

 

T

[paulears]

You can probably get away with a single split - but with analogue video, the sync pulse is rather prone to level loss - so a passive split introduces loss, and it's easy to find pictures that won't lock, and the other snag is the level loss also spoils the picture too - If the monitors have a bridging input, then you can often squeeze quite a few on the line, but of the monitor has a lowish impedance, then you start to pad the line down quite badly - and like DMX cable issues, the results can be a bit unpredictable. Get it wrong, and even if the pictures are stable - odd things can happen with brightness and colour. A proper video distro work well - even if it's the cheaper type.

[Jivemaster]

Analog CCTV is the cheap answer and it has the least latency, so good for taking cues from.

 

IIRC Maplin do an active splitter. If you raise pin 8 on a TV scart connector to 9 - 12v DC, it listens to that input.

[JDLX]

LCD monitors are fine providing you use ones with a fast responce time (in ms, lower the better - anything less than 10ms will be fine). For the rest of it just use a cheap old camcorder or cheap cctv camera on a tripod stand, using the composite video output as an input to a composite distribution amp and feed to where you need using bnc cable. It's quite easy to overcomplicate this but this is really all you need.