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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => Pro AV Forum => Topic started by: Marty McDonald on June 11, 2011, 04:01:06 PM

Title: Please Help with One Man Show Set Up!
Post by: Marty McDonald on June 11, 2011, 04:01:06 PM
Hi,
     Hope someone can help me.  I am a one man show and travel with one tech.  I am looking to move my show to another level.  I would like to add some video clips as well as utilize a live camera during my show.  I'm looking at picking up the Q lab software and run the show off a mac pro.  Can anyone send me to a site or help me with a step by step breakdown of what i need.  As well how to run to the projector out of the mac etc.
do I need a switcher.  I really am new to this.
Thanks soo much
Marty
Title: Posting rules
Post by: Mac Kerr on June 11, 2011, 04:45:02 PM
Hope someone can help me.

Please go to your profile and change the "Name" field to your real full name as required by the posting rules clearly displayed in the header at the top of the section, and in the Site Rules and Suggestions (http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/board,36.0.html) in the Forum Announcements section.

Mac
Title: Re: Please Help with One Man Show Set Up!
Post by: Clark Johnson on August 01, 2011, 06:57:51 PM
Hi,
     Hope someone can help me.  I am a one man show and travel with one tech.  I am looking to move my show to another level.  I would like to add some video clips as well as utilize a live camera during my show.  I'm looking at picking up the Q lab software and run the show off a mac pro.  Can anyone send me to a site or help me with a step by step breakdown of what i need.  As well how to run to the projector out of the mac etc.
do I need a switcher.  I really am new to this.
Thanks soo much
Marty

Depending on how much money you are looking to spend, you might just use the projector as the switch.  Many projectors have multiple inputs so you can hook up multiple sources.  If you do want a switch, look for one that will scale and has seemless switching.  It will look more professional. 

Do some googling, youtubing, and wikipedia.  Many people have had your same problem.  Or you can call a company with a product you are interested and they will help you buy their product.
Title: Re: Please Help with One Man Show Set Up!
Post by: Randall Hyde on August 02, 2011, 05:26:09 PM
Hi,
     Hope someone can help me.  I am a one man show and travel with one tech.  I am looking to move my show to another level.  I would like to add some video clips as well as utilize a live camera during my show.  I'm looking at picking up the Q lab software and run the show off a mac pro.  Can anyone send me to a site or help me with a step by step breakdown of what i need.  As well how to run to the projector out of the mac etc.
do I need a switcher.  I really am new to this.
Thanks soo much
Marty

I can't help you too much other than to say "take your time and research this well." You can spend a lot of money that you'll get to spend all over again to do this right if you're not careful.

That said, get the absolute brightest projector you can possibly afford. Anything less than 5,000 lumens will be a joke (and many A/V types would probably claim that 5,000 is a joke).  I bought an EIKO 5,000 lumen projects (movies on the grass type shows) for around $2,800; they're not too outrageously priced and are far brighter than the 2,000-lumen ilk you find for around $1,000.  I looked into 10,000-lumen projectors; they were well outside my price range (plus I needed to run sound, projector, and a fan off a 15-amp circuit, so I was pushing my power budget already).

If it's strictly live work (no recording), I'd suggest buying three or four of the cheapest SD video cams you can, put 'em on tripods, and switch between them during the show. The quality won't be great, but it doesn't really need to be for this application. If they're cheap enough, you won't be afraid to take them apart and wire up the zoom controls for remote control (of course, if they're expensive enough, they probably would provide the remote capability). If they're cheap, you can hang a bunch on lighting trusses and not have to have operators.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde
Title: Re: Please Help with One Man Show Set Up!
Post by: Brad Weber on August 03, 2011, 08:30:48 AM
I am a one man show and travel with one tech.  I am looking to move my show to another level.  I would like to add some video clips as well as utilize a live camera during my show.  I'm looking at picking up the Q lab software and run the show off a mac pro.  Can anyone send me to a site or help me with a step by step breakdown of what i need.  As well how to run to the projector out of the mac etc.
do I need a switcher.  I really am new to this.
The only real answer is "it depends".  Are you looking to know everything from what camera to what projector and screen and everything in between?  What are your expectations and goals in terms of quality and budget?  Are you the performer or the tech?  How large an audience (physical space, not just number of people) would be involved?  Are you thinking a fixed, static camera shot or a fixed shot but with zoom and focus or are you envisioning being able to pan, tilt, zoom and focus the camera?  How far would it usually be between the camera and the Mac and between the Mac and the projector?

QLab can handle 'switches' via cues that define the currently active camera or video file.  Transitions between video clips or between the camera and video clips can be addressed using animation cues with changes to size, location, opacity and/or rotation as part of the cue.  So the entire show can be programmed, however beyond cues that are triggered by a 'go' button or some external input, it is not very amenable to direct interaction or control 'on the fly'.

You are basically going to need a Mac with a compatible video card, a camera, a way to get the camera output into the Mac (FireWire, video capture card, etc.), a projector and a screen.  You may also want some way to control the camera.  It is recommended to have a dedicated hard drive for the video files and the faster throughput for the drive, the better.  What the camera, projector and screen are is where your expectations or goals and the budget come in.

Keep in mind that the graphics card in the Mac is going to be doing all the video processing, so things like matching the camera, video files and graphics card output resolutions when possible can help in achieving the optimal result.  And if you want to have a local screen as well as the projector output then it may be worth considering a dedicated compatible video card for each output.