Projections for Three Screens--windows

msfixit

Member
Hello again,
I just wanted to post about this before my brain explodes.

I work at a high school and we are currently doing "Letters to Sala" which includes projections. We have already rented three projectors and three screens, but I'm trying to figure out the computer end of things.

I had been planning, up to this point on using Qlab for our projections, but any attempts to rent/borrow/somehow acquire a mac with a recent operating system have failed. So I'm looking for a new program to run off of Windows--the more user-friendly the better. We will be using still-photos only, but they will need to project onto three different screens, sometimes at the same time.
Then there's getting them onto the screens: we have HDMI cables from the projectors, but how do we control all three? Are we going to have to settle for running one at a time?

TLDR: Extremely overwhelmed TD wants to know: what is the best still-photo projection program that could run 3 screens at a time? Which adapters/matrixes would be good? Budget for program/ adapters: $300. Is this even possible?
 
Multiplay is free to use and can do up to 4 outputs.

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Use this and buy a proper switch/TH2GO
 
For still images, the biggest challenge that you have is multiple outputs. If you have a PC tower, there are a number of video cards which can support up to four outputs. If you are running on a laptop, then most of the graphics cards will support a maximum of three (including the one on the laptop). So, if you only have a secondary monitor (or otherwise don't have four outputs), then you need to make sure that you have a resolution multiplier (such as the Matrox TripleHead2Go). For something like this, all three of your projectors will need to be the same resolution.

As you are planning on using still images, you could also just use PowerPoint for the outputs. I can email you an example (as it isn't a type of file that I can attach here). Basically, you make a custom slide size of three times your output. Then you can change them all at once or individually as needed.

The Matrox new will eat up your budget, plus it has DVI, so you will need to add three DVI-HDMI adapters. In all, I would plan on around $325.
 

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