Cheap media server software

[MidgetWillis]

Hi guys.

 

I'm working in a school at the moment which is in the process of making some pretty major upgrades to its theatre facilities. As part of this, we've aquired a beefy server from the it department which we'd like to convert into a media server to use with our projectors. As it stands, we have 3 projections (stage left, stage right and up stage)

 

Our query is whether there is any free or cheap software that we ought to use. Our ideal setup would be to have a control computer in the control room and then connect the projectors either directly to the server or, even better, to stand alone machines that can then access the content on the server.

 

Obviously our budget is basically non existent so I hope you can help.

 

Thanks ?

[Shez]

I hope your server has a beefy graphics card in it - general IT servers usually don't as they don't need them. A card with four outputs would be the most useful as you can use three for the projectors and one for control.

On the free front, have a look at CasparCG - it's normally used for playout in TV circles but might be useful for your applications. On the slightly less free front, SCS has reasonable video facilities and is of course great for sound cues.

[gyro_gearloose]

You could try running several instances of Screen Monkey. I'm not sure if you actually can, but the software is free so why not try it? The software is very simple to use, which might be a bonus depending on the skill-level of the end users.