To respond to MNicolai first just because he had my most the direct questions and then I'll put up some more of my thoughts.
Are you sending the same content to each
projector or unique content to each?
No I am thinking I will be able to run four signals into the space. One is already in from the
Cat5 and I think I'm going to leave it alone. I'm considering just running it through the door or the window frame because the ceiling space is awful and I don't know how the faculty will feel about doing new runs. Basically one would be higher quality on a
flat back
screen. The four cones would be the new runs.
- How many unique video feeds do you need between all of the projectors?
I would then need four distinct signals. I could probably do it with three. One back
screen two for the cones being mirror on each side although that would present the problem of how can I basically schedule them so that the paired couplings wouldn't always be on. I probably could just bleed it out, but that would seem sloppy to me.
What is your budget, if any, for rentals/purchases?
At the moment I have $400 to prove this concept. I should be able to just hook into to two. The entire show has to cost about $1500 max not including what is purchased in this $400. There's a lot of other things that that has to
cover, but some more of it should be able to be allocated for it.
Is it possible with the
layout of the
stage that you hit all of the cones from a single, larger
projector, rather projector-per-cone? (this would simplify your cabling, interfaces, consistency of color/brightness between images)
I don't have the space angle for that. I'm in a forty by thirty
foot black box.
Have you rigged this up to establish proof of concept that this will be bright enough once
stage lights are on? (many
VGA projectors left kicking around these days have enough hours on them that they don't put out the same brightness they did when they were freshly purchased)
Luckily I am not the one who is charged with
projector maintenance and none of it will come out of my budget (you have to love some of the work arounds that the Educational
system provides). I haven't done this proof yet but it should be able to be seen as long as my light designer and I are conscious of it (luckily we have enough lights to be super directionally conscious)
If this gig is in the SRQ area, you also may want to
tie in w/ Asolo Rep. They just did a show with several projectors and may be willing to rent their gear out to an area theater for not much money.
I did not know this. I'm at New College so I certainly should be able to talk with them.
Sorry I just wanted to continue that conversation now for some questions for others.
Next let's talk about your computer. How old is it what's under the hood?
You could slap in some Gfx cards but can the computer handle it.
The two I might be using (depending on how I am running the cabling) are either a windows Dell laptop that's about two years old. I don't know quite enough to tell straight off if I can do this so if you can provide maybe some resources there that would be amazing.
An alternative would be to buy two of these gems.
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/displayport/
And
1 GFXcard with two displays out.
I've seen these and they confuse me a little especially with the
VGA capability so if you can speak to that, that would be amazing. Also the Three to go wouldn't it have three out? Are they chainable? Do they use your graphics card or do they add some
power. Also would I be able to run basically three different screens? I'm a little confused on the capability and actual usage.
50-100 feet then you'll probably want to get a
VGA amplifier.
Would these be for each
line or is there some type of signal booster that can take different 1to1 lines and boost them all?
he good news is that you can use that
cat5 cable, the bad news is, you will use it as a
pull string for 5 new runs.
I actually had this thought. How
practical is this?
Just for some more thoughts and specifics that might help facilitate this conversation further. I have been thinking about the TripleHead2Go although I'm not sure what the
efficacy will be and at that price
point at the moment it has to be a godsend. I'm thinking either I will run
VGA split four ways with one feed and do massive restaging leaving the fifth alone, and going up from there using mirrored pairs depending on how many feeds I can possibly run out.
