Which software

[Javis]

Another good piece of software is also millium. I used this in a show and, and edited the media previously with some fades etc and then created a queue stack and a usb controller for the op to run alongside their sound board.

 

Do you mean Millumin ?

 

 

 

 

Apologies, yes Millumin, its a great piece of software

[ImagineerTom]

Before you get too bogged down in precisely which software to use you should first look at your physical set-up. You NEED a dedicated machine for doing this - every slow/troublesome/crashing Q-lab or media system I have ever seen has been one where the machine has been borrowed, is full of other software and in some cases was taken home occasionally to check emails. No matter what software system you go with you should be looking to format/wipe the computer completely, install only the video software, disable all automatic updates and web connections & ensure that the machine is physically located in the same position throughout the programming and performance as simply unplugging the replugging a mac can cause re patching and configuration changes that will impact your video & affect your processing speeds significantly.

[J Pearce]

Interestingly Tom - I haven't noticed any performance difference between the offline non networked Mac I keep in my desk and the fleet of student access macs with a plethora of software installed on them. And that's on shows with 3 live streams going in, audio coming in and out, and 1 HD projector mapping multiple surfaces across the stage.

 

I agree on the replugging bit, and be religious about power up order. Got caught last week by a projector that didn't send back EDID until it was out of standby. Had to talk stage management through power cycling the whole lot again on the phone before doors.

[ImagineerTom]

Interestingly Tom - I haven't noticed any performance difference between the offline non networked Mac I keep in my desk and the fleet of student access macs with a plethora of software installed on them. And that's on shows with 3 live streams going in, audio coming in and out, and 1 HD projector mapping multiple surfaces across the stage.

There clearly are processor and memory drain differences between a clean machine and a daily use one - more importantly though it's about ensuring that other have no reason to ever touch the show machine; if it's got word processors. internet access and games on it then people will think nothing of using those features "just for a second" and in doing so active all sorts of configuration changes inadvertently or knock the plugs and connectors.

[soakes94]

What kind of Mac would people recommend? Im guessing money not being an object I would say a Mac Pro but that will be way out of our budget. I know a mac book pro can hold handle it but I wouldn't rely on it for a show like that ever again! Also it was my personal mac and I was doing them a favour so I was taking it home in the evening which wasn't ideal the next morning when I tried to get it to reconnect to the projectors!

 

Im wondering if 2 mac minis would be the best option? We have just bought a new one but I believe they can only output 2 displays, 1 being the control side so one could run the FoH projector and one can run the triple head. I guess give me your best option where I have an unlimited budget and give me the most budget option you can think of!

 

Cheers

Stephen

[AHYoung]

If you go for any of the midrange macbook pros , you will get the performance you need for qlab, Im guessing that your 4 projectors arnt all hd so getting 4 720 signals running at the same time isnt actually that much of an ask. You will need a Matrox thtg to give you 3 signals from one mdp output as otherwise you are stuck with three displays only, but it will work fine. If you need 4 hd displays, go for the top of the range 2 grand macbook, and it will work fine, but im guessing this will be overkill. Id take one better spec macbook pro over 2 mac minis everytime , and whilst the hardware will be about the same, theres 2 software licences rather than one, 2 monitors etc etc so its probably cheaper with the laptop.

 

also if its a show machine, dont ever let it be connected to the internet or used for anything else untill after the last show, people have phones to go facebook with....

[soakes94]

The mac we used last year was a 2014 Mac book pro i5 with 8Gb of RAM. I think we ran 3 * 1024x768 displays on the triple head so it was 3072x768 and then HD from the HD port for the FoH projector. While the mac managed it always ran toasty warm and occasionally if I tried todo to much at once it froze briefly. It was also used for video playback sometimes 3 different videos on the triple head output and that seemed to push it to the limits.

 

And while I'm not sure, I think it will be the design team plan to make the videos and images better and more detailed than the previous year. So I think the answer would be a high end Mac book pro or a Mac Pro if I can get the money. We will see!

 

The year before we used Overhead Projectors and slides so we might be going back to those haha!

 

Stephen

[gyro_gearloose]

If your Macbook got a little toasty then I'd avoid using it again. Overheating your Mac will cause it to crash or turn itself off. The heat won't do the battery any favours either, even if you are running it on the charger/PSU. As for preparing your Mac for QLab, there's a handy guide here.

[Andrew Edwards]

You can pick up a second hand 2008 8-core Mac Pro for £300-£400. Extra graphics cards would make it more.

 

I run one of these with 2 Graphics cards and it happily copes with video on all 4 outputs at 768 (or 720p) and other simultaneous audio. I've only had performance issues with oddly encoded or very high bitrate video. I normally drop it down to the standard settings for H.264 on Handbrake without too noticeable quality drop if any.

 

I do now have an SSD in it but it was fine on a spinning platter. It also has bays for extra drives too so you could split the data off from the OS drive.

 

Two cons are physical size and it will not be supported by macOS Sierra and onward.

[alistermorton]

Also worth pointing out that, due to the way the bays on the "old" pro are constructed, swapping or adding extra drives is very straightforward.

[soakes94]

Thanks for all the advice, I will take the options to the team and see what they want todo!

 

Cheers

Stephen