Ideas for plasma display

[seanandkate]

So I am finally putting up a nice 42" plasma in the hallway outside the theatre that will be attached to a computer. My idea was to create a huge Powerpoint presentation with loads of pictures and messages that would loop throughout the day. I'm not even close to being done, and my computer (I'm creating this on a Macbook Pro with 4gig of RAM -- probably twice as capable as the computer that will eventually be driving the program in the venue) is choking on the file, saying I'm running out of memory and to close other programs (when it's the only one running).

So questions that may or may not be quick:

At 1.4 gig at present, is this too large a file for a PP presentation?

Could I solve the problem by limiting the size of my pictures? They average about 8meg per imported jpg. I want the pictures to be crystal clear to take advantage of the HD display, so how small can I adjust the size before I start to lose quality?

Or, is there a better program entirely to do what I'm trying to do?

 

[DuckJordan]

So I am finally putting up a nice 42" plasma in the hallway outside the theatre that will be attached to a computer. My idea was to create a huge Powerpoint presentation with loads of pictures and messages that would loop throughout the day. I'm not even close to being done, and my computer (I'm creating this on a Macbook Pro with 4gig of RAM -- probably twice as capable as the computer that will eventually be driving the program in the venue) is choking on the file, saying I'm running out of memory and to close other programs (when it's the only one running).

So questions that may or may not be quick:

At 1.4 gig at present, is this too large a file for a PP presentation?

Could I solve the problem by limiting the size of my pictures? They average about 8meg per imported jpg. I want the pictures to be crystal clear to take advantage of the HD display, so how small can I adjust the size before I start to lose quality?

Or, is there a better program entirely to do what I'm trying to do?

I would suggest making it a video instead of a power point, it will be a smaller file and would be less laggy with the files.

 

[metti]

First of all, you can probably make the pictures smaller. When you say "8meg" do you mean 8 megabytes or 8 megapixels? Remember the image only needs to be 1920x1080 which isn't that big compared to what most cameras are producing. Also, have you considered some sort of digital signage application? This would make future edits 100% easier and it could be inexpensive and/or free.

Check out this company: Digital Signage | FREE Professional Digital Signage for everyone you might be able to use their free mediaCLOUD service to achieve what you want. With some Googling you can probably turn up some other options too.

 

[cpf]

My very-homebrew suggestions:
Use Photoshop/Some Other Script to resize photos so their dimensions fit inside the resolution you think you're going to use (try out the final computer with the screen and play with the settings).
Put those photos into an appropriately-sized slideshow video in something like Adobe Lightroom (or anything that makes video photo slideshows).
Install VLC on the target computer, and write a batch (the final computer is windows, right?) file to launch VLC fullscreen and loop that video. Make sure the computer is configured to automatically login, and put this script in the user's Startup directory. For more reliable & professional performance change the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell key to point at the batch file (it's more complicated, but will be so much more smooth: no extraneous programs will be started, nothing will pop up, your video will just start). If you want to save time updating the video at a later date, simply get an adequately sized memory key, put the video on it, then in your batch script point VLC to the flash drive. When you want to update just pull out the drive, replace the video file, put it back in and restart the computer.


If that seems a bit much, check out the digital signage link in the post above.

 

[museav]

Check out this company: Digital Signage | FREE Professional Digital Signage for everyone you might be able to use their free mediaCLOUD service to achieve what you want. With some Googling you can probably turn up some other options too.

If you read a bit more it seems that what they are offering appear to be either a server you provide plus their $895 software or a server service you pay for on a per use basis. And that's along with providing a distribution network and their $500 player or PC you provide and a $195 software license at the displays. So perhaps less costly than many other digital signage options but I'm not sure where the "free" part comes in. Also, this specific application was described as "a nice 42" plasma in the hallway outside the theatre that will be attached to a computer", thus apparently a single direct computer to display connection rather than a distributed signal from a server to multiple displays.

Information displays usually display a limited amount of content, you typically want to get everything across in a short time, so they tend to have a relatively short program that is continually repeated rather than a long presentation. They also usually try to limit time and date dependent content so that updating the presentation can involve minimum changes. And you normally don't want to much content, you usually want to focus on limited specific messages or information. When you say that you have "loads of pictures and messages" it does make me wonder if you may have more content than is necessary. However, that is all dependent upon what you are trying to achieve with the display and content. That can have a huge bearing on how much and what content may be appropriate.

 

[seanandkate]

@Duck - I'm keeping it more Powerpoint because it's easier to edit and make small changes without having to recrunch a whole looped video, but I did toy with that idea.
@Metti - I'm looking at jpg files that are around 8 megabytes. I could crunch them down with a batch script in Photoshop, but I'm not sure how much I can downsize before they sart to lose image quality on an HD monitor. I'm also looking at this program to see if it does what I might want to do down the road, and the pricepoint is certinly right.
@cpf - My tech guy was talking to me about VLC as well. I have no experience using it myself, so if you get a pm from me in a week or so, you'll know it's a VLC noob question!
@Brad - You're right--the slide show is WAY bigger than a normal application might dictate, but it's going to be the same students for four months every semester seeing this thing as they pass, so I want to keep the content as fresh as possible.

And update:
Powerpoint has a "Compress Image" function that knocks images down to 220ppi, but only on the WINDOWS version. I am now continuing to create the presentation on a Windows laptop, and with the compressed pictures (500 and growing) it's 366 megabytes. I'll see on Monday whether I can see a difference in image quality.

 

[derekleffew]

For those who know both, since it's on a Mac, would Keynote be better suited than PowerPoint?

 

[NickVon]

@Duck - I'm keeping it more Powerpoint because it's easier to edit and make small changes without having to recrunch a whole looped video, but I did toy with that idea.
@Metti - I'm looking at jpg files that are around 8 megabytes. I could crunch them down with a batch script in Photoshop, but I'm not sure how much I can downsize before they sart to lose image quality on an HD monitor. I'm also looking at this program to see if it does what I might want to do down the road, and the pricepoint is certinly right.
@cpf - My tech guy was talking to me about VLC as well. I have no experience using it myself, so if you get a pm from me in a week or so, you'll know it's a VLC noob question!
@Brad - You're right--the slide show is WAY bigger than a normal application might dictate, but it's going to be the same students for four months every semester seeing this thing as they pass, so I want to keep the content as fresh as possible.

And update:
Powerpoint has a "Compress Image" function that knocks images down to 220ppi, but only on the WINDOWS version. I am now continuing to create the presentation on a Windows laptop, and with the compressed pictures (500 and growing) it's 366 megabytes. I'll see on Monday whether I can see a difference in image quality.

A clarification on JPG file sizes. a 1680xby 1050 resolution) photo or graphics. should run between 1.5-3 mb. (if that much) this example is the resolution that you would be displaying on your Plasma, and notice that it's under 1mb. The 8mb file is great for working with inside of photo shop or to reproduce in print or just for fiddling with as there is much more data there. But your TV won't reproduce th 8mb version any better then the appropriate resolution 1mb image. It's like taking a Blu-ray and watching it on a 1960 black and white television set. The viewing medium is not nearly as advanced as the media itself.

 

[NickVon]

For those who know both, since it's on a Mac, would Keynote be better suited than PowerPoint?

keynote has prettier and more "showy" professorial looking transitions that are easier to use. Powerpoint has the ability but the time and expertise to do the equivalent is much more higher.

 

[chausman]

For those who know both, since it's on a Mac, would Keynote be better suited than PowerPoint?

If the final computer was a Mac, then I'd say that Keynote is better that PP. Mainly because when once you got everything finalized on the Slideshow, the mac could start Keynote, select the specific slideshow and press play easily. And then once you wanted to change it you could change it on the Laptop and just load it again on the computer. Going along with the video ideal, what about once you make it, burn it to a DVD and play the DVD. Most computers can open DVD player fo some sort on login and then just play that DVD until you shut the computer off.

 

[museav]

You're right--the slide show is WAY bigger than a normal application might dictate, but it's going to be the same students for four months every semester seeing this thing as they pass, so I want to keep the content as fresh as possible.

This is often the fun part of projects with digital signage. You get the people making the decisions who have to have signage all over the building or all over campus. They get all excited about how cool it will be with big, widescreen displays everywhere. Then you ask them what they intend to display and who is creating that content, the resulting silence is deafening. They eventually turn to someone who is already working long hours and say "I guess that would be your responsibility.", providing no idea of what they actually want other than that it should look all cool and high tech. And if they don't have the ability to create the type of content envisioned internally they are almost always shocked by how much it costs to get someone else to do it. There is indeed a lot more to getting the eye-catching, impression making results that most want than just the technical distribution and displays aspects.

 

[seanandkate]

TALK to me Brad. I'm now north of 700 slides and climbing... I'll let people know if Powerpoint has a built in limit for number of slides, beyond which the mysteries of the universe are revealed a la 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

[shiben]

TALK to me Brad. I'm now north of 700 slides and climbing... I'll let people know if Powerpoint has a built in limit for number of slides, beyond which the mysteries of the universe are revealed a la 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Ok why? Cant you just loop the danged thing? I mean, realistically, you only need like an hour and 10 minutes of footage so as that its different each passing period. At most 500 slides, and if there is video, you can get away with longer than 8 seconds per slide.

 

[seanandkate]

No worries shiben -- there is repetition of sections with different stuff in the breaks. (No video -- maybe an idea for later!) Final slide count was 733. The largest PP presentation I have ever made by a large margin. Looks great though. Now, thankfully, it's mostly set it and forget it.