# High School projection software suggestions



## mbmiche (Mar 8, 2016)

Hello. 

I'm new to this forum, and this is my first post. I've done a little browsing through the previous posts. I'm looking for software recommendations, and I have about 30 windows open on my computer right now from all the suggestions in the previous threads. Hopefully you can help me narrow my search down a bit.

I am about a month and a half out from our school's spring production. Ive constructed a 6'-0" x 40'-0" video wall for rear projections (5 x 3:4 SD projectors). Ideally, I'd like to project both still and moving images, at times running 5 separate screens and at times running blended projections. I would like to control the projections from a computer and will be using 5 separate projectors. I'm not worried about perfect blending as I can visually separate the screen into 5 smaller screens.

Media servers, VJ equipment, etc. are all foreign languages to me currently--my past experience is laptop and powerpoint, 1 mac to 1 projector... Is there a software package out there that will help me take off my projection training wheels, allow me some versatility in design, and be "learnable" in a relatively short (3-4 weeks) period of time?

Thanks for the assistance!


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## Chris Chapman (Mar 8, 2016)

mbmiche said:


> Hello.
> 
> I'm new to this forum, and this is my first post. I've done a little browsing through the previous posts. I'm looking for software recommendations, and I have about 30 windows open on my computer right now from all the suggestions in the previous threads. Hopefully you can help me narrow my search down a bit.
> 
> ...


Qlab will support separate projectors, and you can rent the software on a daily basis. You will need a hardware solution for the video routing though.


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## mbmiche (Mar 8, 2016)

Chris Chapman said:


> Qlab will support separate projectors, and you can rent the software on a daily basis. You will need a hardware solution for the video routing though.


I've used Qlab for sound cues previously (though in a very limited fashion), but am not familiar with their video platform. Do you know how many separate screens Qlab will support? Will Qlab also allow for single projections stretched across multiple screens?

In terms of routing--is this where hardware like the TripleHead2go comes in? Any other suggestions.

Thanks again for the responses!


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## Chris Chapman (Mar 8, 2016)

mbmiche said:


> I've used Qlab for sound cues previously (though in a very limited fashion), but am not familiar with their video platform. Do you know how many separate screens Qlab will support? Will Qlab also allow for single projections stretched across multiple screens?
> 
> In terms of routing--is this where hardware like the TripleHead2go comes in? Any other suggestions.
> 
> Thanks again for the responses!



Qlab3 Video routing is awesome and supports up to 6 outputs (I believe.) It lets you map output to discreet screens, and works pretty intuitively. Yes, you'll need a Matrox head or something for the signal routing for the Mac to see all of the different projectors. You need a pretty beefy Mac to make sure it can handle all of the discreet video as well.


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## mbmiche (Mar 8, 2016)

Chris Chapman said:


> Qlab3 Video routing is awesome and supports up to 6 outputs (I believe.) It lets you map output to discreet screens, and works pretty intuitively. Yes, you'll need a Matrox head or something for the signal routing for the Mac to see all of the different projectors. You need a pretty beefy Mac to make sure it can handle all of the discreet video as well.


Awesome. Thanks again for the quick replies. I'll play around with Qlab tonight. 

In terms of video routing--It looks like if I go with a Matrox (TripleHead2Go), I'll need to buy 2 units to accomodate 5 screens. Can anyone recommend a similar product that will accomodate a larger number of individual screens (5+)


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## Drew Schmidt (Mar 8, 2016)

Before you go too far, Matrox only supports one TH2G at a time. Officially at least. See if you can borrow a couple before committing to purchasing. 
Moreover, the processing power to move video through 5 screens might be your bottleneck. What are the specs on your mac? You can help this by being mindful of the resolution of your videos, being sure you never have more than 2 videos playing at a time, etc. 

Otherwise, you could always move to a MacPro. They'll handle this like a champ.


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## mbmiche (Mar 8, 2016)

Drew Schmidt said:


> Before you go too far, Matrox only supports one TH2G at a time. Officially at least. See if you can borrow a couple before committing to purchasing.
> Moreover, the processing power to move video through 5 screens might be your bottleneck. What are the specs on your mac? You can help this by being mindful of the resolution of your videos, being sure you never have more than 2 videos playing at a time, etc.
> 
> Otherwise, you could always move to a MacPro. They'll handle this like a champ.


I'd love to move to a MacPro, but $$$...

I'm running a MacBook Pro 2.5 GHz i5 processor, 4 GB 1600MHz DDR3, Intel HD Graphics 4000, on OS X 10.9.4

I'll tap into our tech guys here at school to see if they have anything with a little more "umph" that I might borrow for the duration of the show.


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## Amiers (Mar 8, 2016)

Hopefully you can look for something better, a dual core with a 5400rpm HD and a GFX card with shared memory from 2012 you ill be pushing its limits. Qlab will work for the software though no problem.


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## jwh78 (Mar 21, 2016)

Didn't OP specify SD projectors? Should 5 SD streams really be a problem on that hardware, presuming he renders the video files in SD resolution with a sane codec?


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