mrmaverick Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Wondering if any experienced users would share their comments. I am trying to compare QLab and Millunim for a project we are designing now for delivery in a month and a half. We are looking at edge blending three Christie LX605 XGA projectors into one wide screen about 10 metres wide. The system will be portable and mainly used for awards and corporate events. Projected content will mainly be preproduced video clips, sometimes many in quick succession, all with audio. We already have the screen and projectors but need to purchase all the playback gear. Both these software solutions are Mac based and offer integrated edge blending, mapping for screen alignments and playlist/timeline playback cueing but I cant really figure out how either really performs. Is the edge blending in one better than the other? How stable are they in critical playback situations, are there lock ups, crashes, latency issues? How is the playlist cueing, can they play clip to clip seamlessly? How hard are they on computer resources? I think my images will be about 768x2900 pixels so not real high resolution and mainly 30fps video. Also for control/operators screen, do I run a dual output video card in the computer and run one output to the operators screen and the other to drive the video splitter? If this is right do these software packages have the ability to asign the program output to a specific output on the video card or do I have to drag a "window" over and position it in the extended desktop space? As well I am thinking of using Matrox THTG or a Datapath x4 to split the signals to projectors....but would it be just as easy to run something like an AMF Eyefinity video card with four outputs. three outputs to drive the projectors and one to drive the operators screen? Thanks for help in advance. CheersChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason5d Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 I use millumin, what are the specs of the mac you plan to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmaverick Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 I have to buy the entire playback system including computer. I would prefer PC but I don't think any PC software will do the job. We work in a mixed PC/Mac company so adding a dedicated Mac is not an issue. It would be a tower, not a laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbini Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 I haven't used a Datapath, but I've heard they are very good. my experience of Matrox adapters is mixed. sometime's they're great, sometimes they're a nightmare. if you can afford a Datapath, I'd suggest that over a TH2G, but you might not need either if you build a system with multiple outs from internal graphics cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason5d Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 I need specs,what's the best mac you have available? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmaverick Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 I need specs,what's the best mac you have available? As mentioned above I have to buy one so I am open to suggestions as to what configuration would be best. Particularly which graphics card. I assume lots of ram and ssd drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_R Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 I have to buy the entire playback system including computer. I would prefer PC but I don't think any PC software will do the job. We work in a mixed PC/Mac company so adding a dedicated Mac is not an issue. It would be a tower, not a laptop. Hi Chris,I cannot help with comments on QLab vs. Milumin, but picking up that you would prefer PC, have you looked at Arkaos ?It will meet your requirements for soft edge blending (the Video Mapper is pretty funky), video playback with audio etc apart from playlist/timeline as its a media server. You can drive it from DMX, MIDI or computer keyboard hot keys though. Demo downloadable so you can have a trial. Hope this helps,Paul Note: I don't work for Arkaos; I'm a user with experience of DMX control of Arkaos including soft edge blending :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lite_lad Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Sounds as though Qlab would be more ideal for your situation, with which you have the option of going for separate outputs per projector/control screen (which I would definitely recommend if you can, it will also work over multiple graphics cards) I'd say cueing wise Qlab is significantly better than Millumin. Qlab is made for straight theatre shows (largely) and sounds as though it would be much more suited to the kind of thing your doing (its similar to playback pro, which is used widely for conferences, but has recently gained more features such as keystone etc.) Millumin is more of a VJ software largely aimed at video mapping not just creating a screen which you want to reliably playback the same thing on over and over. I haven't had a chance to properly use the edge blending on Qlab3 but the controls look good and its not something you can go too wrong with. Ive never had any issues with Qlab in a show (and I havent used millumin in one, only on research/development/testing things but never had any performance issues running on a fairly low spec mac pro) and the Qlab support is great as they are a considerably bigger company, also should you ever need an extra machine you can hire a license super cheaply for 3 dollars a day! Playback for both has been fine for me on a Mac Mini running a dual head doing a similar thing to what your describing with no issues playing multiple HD clips and crossfading into others. Really id say your best to use one of your existing macs and have a play, Qlabs demo is rather limited on the video front, but as I mentioned you can hire a full license for a day to see what you think, and millumin has a fully featured demo you can download. Id have a go and see what works best for you, but my personal preference would defintely be Qlab unless your doing some quite advanced projection mapping which is where millumin really has the advantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmaverick Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 Thanks for the info. I did have some communication with the Qlab developer and he offered a demo license that allowed better video testing. I'm gonna get the HW together and give it a try. I did like the Millumin timeline idea as I could see the progress of the many clips as they played. Believe it or not I have been using AVID Media Composer for these jobs until now and layed out my show on the timeline and started and stopped manually. actually works pretty well. Now I have to figure out how to get the main output to our truss about 25 meters away from the control table. Was thinking DVI-D would be my signal path....comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lite_lad Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 You can see the progress of Qlab videos in the cue bar that you can open on the right hand side! Signal wise it depends on your budget, DVI over fibre would be my personal choice 1 but it is definately not the cheapest! Magenta make some good Cat5 signal boxes, at your res you could drop to VGA. http://www.magenta-research.com/ In fact your probably just as well going VGA as your only running XGA, there are loads of cheaper cat 5 VGA balun boxes but as ever you get what you pay for, the magenta ones will be more expensive but also,in my experience, more reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmaverick Posted November 22, 2013 Author Share Posted November 22, 2013 So I have never used a Mac professionally and am not sure how to compare specs for performance. I have found the following box on Ebay, could anyone comment if this will work OK with the Qlab setup we have been discussing here. I am ready to swap out video cards if needed. I want good performance and the tower will be dedicated to this Qlab use, not doing any other Thanks Mac people. Maybe I'll become a convert. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Mac-Pro-2006-2-66-GHz-Desktop-Tower-4-Core-MacPro-Hardware-Upgrades-/121215103531?pt=Apple_Desktops&hash=item1c38fbb22b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmaverick Posted November 23, 2013 Author Share Posted November 23, 2013 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason5d Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 The mac shown is a bit too old, you really need at least an early 2008 and ideally upgrade the graphics card. Millumin is ideal for your project with it's time line and built in soft edgingthe support is really good too. Don't take my word for it, download the demo and have a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter F Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Playback for both has been fine for me on a Mac Mini running a dual head doing a similar thing to what your describing with no issues playing multiple HD clips and crossfading into others. Slightly off topic but caught my eye...What spec mini Mac are you using? When I asked the slab chaps seemed very unenthusiastic about running it on a mini Mac. Cheers,Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter F Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Playback for both has been fine for me on a Mac Mini running a dual head doing a similar thing to what your describing with no issues playing multiple HD clips and crossfading into others. Slightly off topic but caught my eye...What spec mini Mac are you using? When I asked the slab chaps seemed very unenthusiastic about running it on a mini Mac. Cheers,Peter Mac MiniQlab Perils of sending messages from a phone whilst in a hurry! Cheers,Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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