Touch Screen Monitors

[MegMegMeg]

Hello guys!

 

I'm a first year lighting designer and just bought my first console - a titan mobile. I'm leaving for tour next week (an electronic/rock-ish instrumental band) so I'm trying to get everything I need in place before I fly out.

 

So my questions are:

 

1) Are there actual differences between touch screen monitors when used for this type of application?

2) What should I be looking for in a monitor?

3) What is a good size?

4) Lastly, I'm considering just running the TM with my laptop and just use a mouse to program/select palettes, etc. Bad idea?

 

Thanks!

[top-cat]

4) Lastly, I'm considering just running the TM with my laptop and just use a mouse to program/select palettes, etc. Bad idea?

 

Whilst others swear by touch screens, I run my Chamsys wing like this all the time and I don't really have a problem. I find the main problem if any is reaching over the top of the desk for the built-in trackpad, so it's a lot easier with a USB (or indeed, wireless) mouse or trackpad.

 

I would say the best thing you can do is try a rehearsal with just your laptop and a mouse, and find out if you struggle to busk effectively without a touch screen. Just go in the studio with them and use a visualiser to get an idea of whether it works for you or not.

[J Pearce]

I picked up an ELO 1725L, 17" capacitive touch, unit on eBay for around £50 a couple of years back. If you keep your eyes open there are still ELO monitors going cheap fairly often.

 

The ELO screens are reliable and well weighted, so they don't wobble or fall over as you jab them. Capacitive touch seems to be more responsive than resistive, though does need fingers or a proper stylus.

 

17" is a nice size, making Avo and Chamsys buttons about finger sized. 15" is workable, 10 or 12 becomes stylus only, as you tend to hit too many buttons at once and the text gets very small.

 

You can survive with just a mouse, but a touchscreen is much quicker.

[Jamtastic3]

MegMegMeg, can I ask how much you bought the Mobile for?

[MegMegMeg]

4) Lastly, I'm considering just running the TM with my laptop and just use a mouse to program/select palettes, etc. Bad idea?

 

Whilst others swear by touch screens, I run my Chamsys wing like this all the time and I don't really have a problem. I find the main problem if any is reaching over the top of the desk for the built-in trackpad, so it's a lot easier with a USB (or indeed, wireless) mouse or trackpad.

 

I would say the best thing you can do is try a rehearsal with just your laptop and a mouse, and find out if you struggle to busk effectively without a touch screen. Just go in the studio with them and use a visualiser to get an idea of whether it works for you or not.

 

That's good advice and I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one considering running this without a touch screen. If I get the console shipped to me in time I'm going to set it up in one of the venues I work at and see if I can get by with just a mouse. I feel like I'm running out of time though! As always.

 

I picked up an ELO 1725L, 17" capacitive touch, unit on eBay for around £50 a couple of years back. If you keep your eyes open there are still ELO monitors going cheap fairly often.

 

The ELO screens are reliable and well weighted, so they don't wobble or fall over as you jab them. Capacitive touch seems to be more responsive than resistive, though does need fingers or a proper stylus.

 

17" is a nice size, making Avo and Chamsys buttons about finger sized. 15" is workable, 10 or 12 becomes stylus only, as you tend to hit too many buttons at once and the text gets very small.

 

You can survive with just a mouse, but a touchscreen is much quicker.

 

That's what I was looking for. I knew there were different types of touch screen technologies (capacitive or resistive) I don't know which is necessarily better or if it even makes that much of a difference at all. According to some sketchy source I found on wikipedia...capacitive touch screens are faster and more responsive but resistive touch screens have a higher degree of accuracy.

 

About size...mainly I was worried about palette buttons being too small but I forgot about the text too, that's important. I've only used a TM once so I forget about things like that.

 

MegMegMeg, can I ask how much you bought the Mobile for?

 

Good question. I feel like maybe I should have shopped around more but I bought the board from a source I felt was trustworthy because I was paranoid about being scammed and getting a bogus Chinese knock off or something (if that even exists for the TM). Have you purchased one or are you considering it? PM me if you want to talk further I'd rather not post this stuff in a public forum, nahmean?

[timsabre]

Capacitive touch works by sensing the blood in your fingers. Resistive touch works using pressure. This means you can't operate a capacitive screen wearing gloves, or with the end of a pencil/sharpie, or whatever, it has to be a naked finger. For this reason I prefer resistive touch for lighting applications - if you're outdoors with gloves on (seems to happen to me a lot at this time of year) then capacitive doesn't work.

 

Also you can't do multi-touch with resistive, but that doesn't matter for Titan which doesn't use multi-touch anyway.

[Judge]

I gues it depends on how mobile you want to be. Our control kit has to travel as carry on luggage in planes so that ruled out getting one of those nice big all-in-one PCs. Instead I bought a Dell Latitude XT which is a laptop/tablet hybrid. It has touch screen and works perfectly that way as a laptop, but thats not ideal when you are stabbing at virtual buttons onthe sceen. So I bought and modified a little laptop cooler stand so that I could fold the screen back and run it in tablet mode, and its also at a nice angle and is solidly supported. This all fits, along with the Avo into a cabin bag, The buttons are smaller than I would like but its doable. I then ask the theatre that we are playing in to supply a regular VGA monitor as well. two screens=very handy.

 

I also have a Protouch Geode touchscreen which is really solid and one of the best brands available and will take any amount of abuse and stabbing of eager or frustrated fingers. I highly recommend these. Not tried it yet with the Dell, and feel that there may be conflicts between the internal touch drivers, but its perfect for a regular laptop. Just too big to fit in carry on bag which is why I have not used it for a while.

[norty303]

I prefer resistive because you can slightly rest your finger on screen without activating the button.

I have a personal preference for ELO as poster above.

I use dual 15" monitors, think most I paid was £80 for each. With 15", the onscreen playback legends line up with the playbacks on the PC Wing, and the bottom of the screen is just high enough to slide the wing under for a snug fit.

[Stuart91]

I use dual 15" monitors,

 

Just out of curiosity, I assume you're running Chamsys rather than Titan? I didn't think Titan could do dual monitors. If it somehow can, I'd be very interested. :)

[timsabre]

I use dual 15" monitors,

 

Just out of curiosity, I assume you're running Chamsys rather than Titan? I didn't think Titan could do dual monitors. If it somehow can, I'd be very interested. :)

 

Titan mobile can now run on dual monitors, as of v6 I think. Other versions of Titan always could.

[Stuart91]

Titan mobile can now run on dual monitors, as of v6 I think.

 

I've not yet got around to upgrading to V6 so that's probably why I've missed it so far.

 

Of course, I now need to buy the new fader wing as well...

[timsabre]

Titan mobile can now run on dual monitors, as of v6 I think.

 

I've not yet got around to upgrading to V6 so that's probably why I've missed it so far.

 

Of course, I now need to buy the new fader wing as well...

 

Come on, keep up, we're on v7 now

[Joe Bleasdale]

I always opt for capacitive screens. I own an Elo 2201L that works great.

 

Resistive touchscreens work with pressure and usually consist of an LCD screen covered in a plastic touch layer. Hence why with some consoles you need to give it a good poke to have the touch registered.

 

Capacitive touchscreens have a very thin layer of capacitive material in place of the plastic on resistive screens. In most cases now, its even embedded in the glass. That layer of capacitive material holds an electric charge, touching it changes the charge and hey presto, the screen senses the place you touched.

 

Now, capacitive screens are usually nicer to touch (glass) and more accurate than resistive ones, but they will be a little more fragile. The tolerances will be different too. Stuff like dirt can get in the bezel around resistive screens easier I have found, but the glass capacitive ones need to be kept clean too. Resistive is probably better for a festival environment.

 

You CAN also use capacitive screens with gloves and styluses. They just have to be specific ones. I have a pair of north face gloves that work with iPhone/iPad/capacitive screens quite nicely. I also carry a stylus around with my console, even if I don't use the stylus all the time; it comes in useful when calibrating the screens to the most accurate possible level. Capacitive screens usually support multitouch too.

 

I would certainly recommend the Elo screens, they are pretty much industry standard - and not just our industry! They are pretty bulletproof and provide a good warranty, price is high vs el cheapo brands but IMHO worth it.

 

Thanks.

[MegMegMeg]

Ahh this is so helpful! Thanks everyone. Everyone has been telling me to get ELO now I know why.

[norty303]

In response the earlier query, yes I'm using Chamsys.

 

I agree regarding the festival environments too. On my screens you can clearly see the layout of the execute window when they're switched off due to the years of ground in dust from fingers prodding the same places. But they refuse to stop working or break, and they sit very solidly on the desk, so what's not to like. Paid for after the first job pretty much.