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Author Topic: Video Wall  (Read 13090 times)

glynor

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Video Wall
« on: June 15, 2011, 01:41:40 pm »

I finally took some new pictures, since you reminded me!









(Click on the thumbnails to see the full sized images.)

To explain what is going on here, there are actually three separate computers running this display.  The main system, which is directly connected to the monitors (each of which are 40" or 42", I'm not sure, Samsung LED-backlit LCDs), is running MC in fullscreen display view.  The background image (green in the first pic) is a slideshow of 12 or so different JPEG images, which play in rotation with a nice, short fade between them, so it has an "animated" appearance without having to actually have been animated.  This system has a number of different HD inputs (component, DVI, or VGA), which the fancy video card can scale across screen boundaries.

So, the large video window on the right-hand side is actually a separate computer, also running MC.  This computer has an Nvidia GTX 7800 GPU, connected via it's component outputs at 1080p, to one of those component inputs on the main system.  The machine has a separate monitor hidden away in the back room where MC is running in Standard View.  The display window is detached and sent "fullscreen" on this second "monitor" (which is really the video input on the main system).  You can control what movie plays in the window using WebRemote or a PC connected to this system via the nice Tremote function.

Lastly, the small white window is actually just a PowerPoint file in this case.  It is a third PC, which can also run MC (and does sometimes), but I'm using a PowerPoint slideshow right now.  It is also on a KVM so I can switch it quickly to a Mac I have back there if someone wants to run a Keynote presentation on the wall (which happens sometimes).

We actually want to replace the main system, and I currently have a plan to do so as soon as it is funded.  When this was built, EyeFinity didn't exist.  The only way to get a graphics card to scale past 2 monitors was very clunky, and even this system has serious limitations.  For example, I cannot run video full-screen on the "main system".  If any video is playing directly on that PC, and you cross a monitor "border", you lose all graphics acceleration and the framerate plummets to the 1-5fps range.  The only way it can scale video content across the monitor boundaries is if you use these specialized input cards which have hardware scalers built-in.

That's not a problem anymore because AMD is awesome.  When I get the money, we are going to replace all of that with a single machine with dual 6970 cards running EyeFinity on the displays.  They're all HDMI, so I'll need a pile of active DisplayPort adapters, but that's not a huge problem.  Then, MC can run the single thing as one big display running full-motion video, and I can overlay additional detached displays if I need to (and probably will for the main video content window), but mostly I can build the whole thing in Motion and have it look very slick with actual motion graphics for the background, animated fonts, and things like that.
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JimH

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2011, 01:51:04 pm »

Thanks for another great post.

I wonder what the limit would be.
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minolotus

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2011, 02:20:48 pm »


(Click on the thumbnails to see the full sized images.)

I get a 404 error after clicking the images.

Anyhow, really nice system! (It would be a fine improvement for my living room  ;D )
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glynor

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2011, 03:24:26 pm »

I get a 404 error after clicking the images.

Thanks, fixed.
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MrC

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2011, 03:31:07 pm »

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Alex B

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2011, 03:36:26 pm »

The image size is 5.1 MB. Please change it to a link.
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JimH

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2011, 03:39:41 pm »

The image size is 5.1 MB. Please change it to a link.
Done
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glynor

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #7 on: June 15, 2011, 03:43:34 pm »

The image size is 5.1 MB. Please change it to a link.

Yeah, my linked "big" ones were quite big.  The raw JPEGs right off of the camera.  That's why I made little ones.

Mmmm, Mouse w/hoisin sauce  :P

Hah.  It does look funny in that still frame.  That technician is actually moving mice from one box to another.  I forget what that brown goo is for, but I think it is sterilizing goo of some kind.  I never even see the mice myself, except for on video or photos, despite being surrounded by literally millions of them right this minute.

Interesting side note... Even if you wanted to and even if you were allowed to buy them, you couldn't actually afford to eat our mice in many cases.  Some of them are thousands of dollars each.  These aren't pet-store mice.   ;)
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MrC

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #8 on: June 15, 2011, 04:13:52 pm »

My bad, sorry folks.

Interesting side note... Even if you wanted to and even if you were allowed to buy them, you couldn't actually afford to eat our mice in many cases.  Some of them are thousands of dollars each.  These aren't pet-store mice.   ;)

Oh, ok, I'll take just one then... sauteed in white truffle oil, dusted with powdered rhino horn. :-)

So, if I'm doing my math correctly, you are surrounded, literally, by billions of dollars worth of ... mice !?
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glynor

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #9 on: June 15, 2011, 04:26:07 pm »

So, if I'm doing my math correctly, you are surrounded, literally, by billions of dollars with of ... mice !?

Millions, not billions.  If only there was enough money in science that we could sell ALL of them for those kinds of prices...  I'd probably get my video wall upgrade quicker.   ;)

You know, and they'd cure cancer quicker.
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glynor

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #10 on: June 15, 2011, 04:38:58 pm »

In truth, the vast majority of our colonies are much more "generic" mice that aren't even available for sale.  I'm getting to the edge of my knowledge on the subject, actually, but the expensive ones are usually expensive because they are specialty (so we don't "stock" them and have to custom breed them on request) and/or they are difficult to care for... Either way, the cost is usually based on how labor intensive they are generally.
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Moe

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #11 on: June 15, 2011, 05:04:45 pm »

Very cool, makes my three monitor setup look lame :)
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imugli

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #12 on: June 16, 2011, 12:21:24 am »

Theres a Lonely Island song that comes to mind...

JimH

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2012, 06:40:05 pm »

Anything new with The Wall?
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glynor

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Re: Video Wall
« Reply #14 on: June 17, 2012, 07:53:21 pm »

Anything new with The Wall?

One of the monitors broke (ballast for the backlight), and it is currently down.  Deciding what to do if it can't be repaired.
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