Media servers

[martinosthalassetis]

Hey guys

I am new to the forum.I am working with an Av company in Cyprus.I am wondering if you could help me decide between Dataton watchout and Arkaos media server,I have read all the pros and cons for both softwares and work with them on demo modes.Any thoughts or advises

Best regards

Martinos Thalassetis

 

[mac.calder]

Martinos -

 

Sorry if this sounds a bit rude, but I would almost call it comparing Apples to Cheesecake - which both foods, they are both completely different.

 

In the same way, Arkaos and Watchout are both media servers, Arkaos and Watchout have completely different ways of dealing with media.

 

Watchout is powerful and you can create intricate timelined shows spanning multiple displays in weird and wonderful configurations but once the show starts is very cumbersome to change or update live. Arkaos is also very powerful, but excels more in the live improvised environment and is not really designed for large multi-display shows or highly scripted timelines.

 

Two very different tools.

[patakskrause]

Or go for the best of both worlds - Ai. Most powerful software out there by far

[mumbles]

Out of interest patakskrause could you please qualify your previous post with details of the range of media servers you've used and why you feel Ai is the best. Personally I always steer towards Catalyst, though mainly as it is the system I have most experience with. I've hardly used Ai, and so have barely scratched the surface, but haven't found anything that makes it stand out...

[patakskrause]

I've used Hippo, Arkaos and Catalyst and Resolume. I find it very easy on Ai to get complex mappings going in a short space of time - go to Avo some time and ask Arran or one of the guys there to demonstrate 'mapping in four clicks' to you. In addition, the visualiser built into Ai is a godsend in many occasions, and the support given by Avo is excellent. That said, the networking on Ai is a bit lacking - that's where Hippo really excel. It all comes down to personal preference really: I find it easiest to get a complicated show going with Ai as opposed to Catalyst or Arkaos. Please note that I'm not trying to slag any software off: I'm just trying to give the op a bit of advice. Cheers.

[martinosthalassetis]

Guys

Thanks for the replyI left catalyst out of the game because it's out of the company's budget.I will check Ai also and get back to you.

Best regards

Martinos

[simo86]

If you need to work with multi projection, Watchout or Pandoras Box will be better.

[AHYoung]

If you need to work with a timeline based show pandoras box or watchout will maybe be a better , but if you want dynamic live control possibly not, and both are utterly different to each other so its a somewhat sweeping statement. There are hundreds of programs for delivering content to 1 or more displays. All are different, most have specific strengths, if you define what you actually want to do you could then maybe look at the best option, but you need to refine the question to get a proper answer. Ultimately the best software is the one you can use - and as pretty much everything has a demo version, you can try it and then buy the one that suits.