# TV Panels



## KyleAnderson (Jan 30, 2015)

We are going to be incorporating two to three flat screen panels of an as yet unspecified size (ballpark 50" range) into our next set. I'm hoping to get advice for shopping for the screens and control scheme.

What I expect to do is to use one of our existing QLab 2 licenses on a new MacMini. I expect I'll need something akin to the Matrox Triplehead and some HDMI over ethernet boxes. This sound right to everyone? I'm mostly pulling this info from my own experience and another thread posted here a little while ago.

But I don't have experience using monitors on stage. Near stage, sure, but not on it. I'm hoping to find screens that don't put out too much ambient light when in video black, but can also still compete with the stage wash to show an image. 

Other possibly pertinent details:
medium sized room, 200 seat house.
No extreme viewing angles. Nobody is more than 25' off center. (though the tvs won't be center, so a few people won't get great angles)
Not married to any control scheme. Have Watchout and Qlab experience. Will probably stick to Qlab because it's well integrated into the room already, but open to recommendations.


----------



## len (Jan 30, 2015)

I haven't done that exact thing, but video screens are a lot more visible than you would think. Flat panel tv are common as dirt. You can buy or rent easily. If you're going to project the same image you'll need a splitter, but again, no big deal. The only thing you might be concerned with is the length of the cables. You might have latency or other signal degradation. If you're in Chicago I can give you a number of places to rent them from.


----------



## RJNAP (Sep 11, 2018)

KyleAnderson said:


> We are going to be incorporating two to three flat screen panels of an as yet unspecified size (ballpark 50" range) into our next set. I'm hoping to get advice for shopping for the screens and control scheme.
> 
> What I expect to do is to use one of our existing QLab 2 licenses on a new MacMini. I expect I'll need something akin to the Matrox Triplehead and some HDMI over ethernet boxes. This sound right to everyone? I'm mostly pulling this info from my own experience and another thread posted here a little while ago.
> 
> ...




Kyle what was your solution to this ? I'm doing the same thing in my current design.


----------



## BillConnerFASTC (Sep 11, 2018)

Just curious but:

"http://www.chicagolightingdesign.com"

Why a link that returns:

*Forbidden*
You don't have permission to access / on this server.


----------



## ruinexplorer (Sep 12, 2018)

BillConnerFASTC said:


> Just curious but:
> 
> "http://www.chicagolightingdesign.com"
> 
> ...


Well: https://www.facebook.com/chicagolig...998581726492/2335135383179467/?type=3&theater


----------



## BillESC (Sep 12, 2018)

I just did a church installation with three 65" and two 42" flat screens along with future wiring for 3 more flat screens. Went HDMI to Cat6 to an 8 way distribution unit and Cat6 to the TVs and back to HDMI. Used a total of 562' of Cat6 without a hitch.


----------



## KyleAnderson (Sep 24, 2018)

RJNAP said:


> Kyle what was your solution to this ? I'm doing the same thing in my current design.


Blast from my past! The short answer is basically the same as Bill's.

There were two versions of this show, because halfway through its run there was a fire in the building, caused by the restaurant next door, that resulted in my having to replace all of the electronic components. 

Version 1 was a MacPro, in the old silver case, with three video cards. One powered my monitor, and one each powered the screens so they had individual surfaces. I did not have to use a Matrox, though I have had to for other installations. Version 2 I had to replace the computer with the Trash can version, and the active DVI adapters.

Video black was not a problem, as I found LED screens that, with the back light turned to minimum, did not put out too much light. I had to replace those screens when the fire hit, though, and the new ones I found weren't as good on that front. With the life cycle of TVs anymore, I don't have a real suggestion for you there other than to test them out if you can.

In that original build I was close enough to the stage to use 50' HDMI cables. In situations since then, I've been further away and made do with HDBaseT to get the signal over ethernet cable. 

I used HDBaseT transmitters and receivers from FSR:
https://fsrinc.com/fsr-products/product/p100-meter-hdbaset-slim-pack-transmitter
https://fsrinc.com/fsr-products/product/p100-meter-hdbaset-slim-pack-receiver

In one theater we have 5 televisions, and use a Wyrestorm 4x4 matrix to send the HDBaseT outputs. A Matrox TripleHead provides three signals, each sent to the matrix, and an additional FSR transmitter provides the additional. That gives me 4 surfaces in QLab. The matrix is set so that two of the screens have the same output, and the other three are identical.

We've gone a bit silly with TVs.


----------

