Matrox tripleHead2Go and Matrix/switcher

[sleepytom]

The TVOne is useless for this (too low resolution)
The X4 would not be upscaling if chained.
you would feed X4-1 with 3840x1400 (6x 720p) it would then split out 3 720p signals and a 3840x720 feed to X4-2 which then splits the final 3 720p signals out. The entire pipeline is run pixel for pixel.

I would commission a correctly specified windows machine from an experienced Resolume expert (ie ME!) - in the field maintenance will not be necessary or desirable, correctly flightcased systems should not break, and the low cost of PC hardware means you can have a redundant spare which stays on the truck - at the very worst the only task your touring tech needs to do is to swap out the broken machine from the rack.

I'm more than happy to give you some proper advice regarding all this, I've designed quite a few touring systems now and am very aware of the various issues with having things out on the road. Drop me an email if you like tomATsleepytomDOTcoDOTuk

[strangefamilia]

Thanks Tom,

you re a true resourceful person.

I get the idea, so if i keep the logic, chaining 3 X4 will give me in resolume an output screen of 3840x2120, right ? So nine 720p. And with a fourth X4 chained 3840x2840, 12 720p feeds !
Resolume arena 4 is suppose tu support 8000X8000 output, it should work nice with just this one output ! And i could keep adding up ?

This particular project (if it happens), will take place in about two years from know in south america. I m sure you don t know much of your agenda at this point as i do. But i ll keep your contact ! It s really nice of you to offer your services. I m myself really interested to learn more on system design.

If this project happen, i ll probably have to deal with at least double this amount of screens, and yes ... they will be LED screens ! So not the easiest thing to work with !

I don t know what you thought of my last graphic.
I mean by that, using 2 different heads on the same graphic card for outputting resolume and a third one on the same card to manage the UI.

Will resolume handle nicely 2X3840x2160 feeds ?
I m referring to a picture from their website (attached with the post).

Maybe i m miss interpreting and should stay in the specs of DVI, then getting 2x2560x1600. So with a single card that would mean 8 720p feeds as before we got 9 from 3 X4 chained! That s a lot, don t know if any card can support that ?

And if i plan to go PC, then maybe it s dream coming true, like with a ATI Radeon™ HD 5870, with 4 outputs, 3 for 3 X4 and the last for monitor. Ending up with 3x2560 x 1600 , meaning 12 720p feeds , but with jus 3 X4, one less X4 that would be used by chaining. So 12x720p, on one computer on one card !
Sounds like pushing the limits, but maybe you will validate ?

If that works, money wise it s the most interesting. But will resolume handle those 3 screens of 2560 x 1600 ? You probably the best to know.

Any way if the project happen, i ll try hard to document the all process, and share a little BTS documentary of it all, you ll never know, it may help somebody.

Thanks again everybody !

[strangefamilia]

Just to correct myself

chained 3840x2840, 12 720p feeds !

chained together it should be 3840x2880

Ending up with 3x2560 x 1600 , meaning 12 720p feeds , but with jus 3 X4, one less X4 that would be used by chaining. So 12x720p, on one computer on one card !

And you end up with more than 720p in parallel, more like 1280 x 800

Hope it makes sence. I had 2 little graphics to understand my logic.

[stickygreen]

oh geez, now you're already playing with 12 screens!

you know the KISS principal?
K- keep
I - it
S - Simple
S - Stupid

i like to follow this with most things i do in life. it just makes it easier.

where in Canada are you from strangefamilia?

I'm in Vancouver.

[strangefamilia]

Nope, other side sticky, Montreal ...

i wish to make it the simpliest, maybe there is easier solution that i don t see ?

[devonmiles]

I would recommend starting with the content you want to show and describe your goal, i.e. what kind of impression do you want the audience to have, what kind of stuff do you want to show, is it live cam, prerendered, live effected, realtime generative etc. and then figuring out a suitable screen and stage design configuration. aside from the fact that it is really demanding to playback 12 streams from a single machine there are lots of issues scheduling and controlling tightly timelined stage video. you are building your show around a specific idea, which is transported by the video content and brought to the audience in the shape of a certain stage design. some stuff looks better when it is presented in a certain way, other stuff is totally unsuitable for playback on a certain screen configuration. that should be the consideration before you start adding screens after screens.

[sleepytom]

you certainly do not need 12 720p outputs for LED screens - if you put this resolution pixel for pixel on a 10mm LED screen the screen would end up being 153.6 Meters long. This would be the world biggest LED screen by a long way. (50m bigger than the biggest led screen i've worked on, which was the biggest LED in the world!)

The playback side is really not so important, there are lots of options which would work. The important factors are the screen design, how it works with the content and how screen + content + performers . musicians / whatever all come together to make the show.

If this is a serious project I'd be quite happy to come over to help you get it all working properly.

[strangefamilia]

Thank you Devonmiles and Sleepytom,

I totally agree with both of you on the importance of the symbiosis between content and medium.

I had for fun pushed the limit of, probably, a miss-placed post for this thread. You tell me. It s pretty clear for me what are the intentions underneath all this set-up, even if it looks like thrown away due to my lack of technical knowledge and my bad english.

I m looking for a design enough robust to sustain multiple outputs (probably around 12) that will go on LED screens. And i know that it wil not be the easiest medium to deal with, but i m after the feeling of it !

It s probably not gonna be HD, and everything will be pre rendered, no effect, so using resolume as a way to trigger clips, that's it.

I start to have an idea of what computer will run that much of info, and the X4 looks like the way to go, first to interact with a matrix. (backup system being mandatory) Second for it s ability to scale and map stuff to led screens. (content and screens will not fit in conventional measurements, like the 8:1 aspect ratio talked on the resolume forum).

There is probably more than one way to go. But i spin more and more around the same numbers.

The project is in quite a while, and i feel confortable with the time i have left to learn what s necessary. Of course going trough testing.

Thanks for all your advices, i ll try to keep track of the artistry of it as much as i can, being the one that will produce the content from scratch. And i ll keep you posted on the evolution of the project. I ll start soon a blog on the evolution of the project, and i ll share that with the forum of course.


Hope to see you in the project Tom.

Keep in touch