4 ms·

I've been involved with several live productions in large arenas where there were multiple very large LED screens (48 feet wide I think) as well as being webcas

by dave78 5y ago

I've been involved with several live productions in large arenas where there were multiple very large LED screens (48 feet wide I think) as well as being webcast to a significant audience. The A/V budget for these events was 7 figures. Several semi-trucks full of equipment for A/V. I don't know if that's professional or prosumer, but it seemed very professional to me. 100% of the computer graphics at these events came from PCs and Macs with their default video output. Some even came from the HDMI output on a Raspberry Pi. I worked a lot with the production companies behind these shows and it seemed to be SOP to use a regular Macbook with Powerpoint to drive the displays.

thepasswordis 5y ago
Just want to echo this story. Maybe at the super bowl, or the opening of the olympics, or at some major pop stars tour where everything is time coded and planned and is the same production every night, sure. But at festivals? Clubs? Whatever NYE party you go to this year? No.
- dkonofalski 5y ago
  At festivals, clubs, and my own NYE party, a tiny dot in the corner is not a dealbreaker and wouldn't make the display "unusable". If it did, I would bring a dedicated hardware I/O device.
  - thepasswordis 5y ago
    We go to different festivals, clubs, and parties I think.
    - dkonofalski 5y ago
      Maybe. We should swap sometime. I'm always open to new shiz. :)
dkonofalski 5y ago
Then a small dot in the corner can't possibly be considered a use-case where it's "unusable" because using the computer with the default I/O in the manner you're suggesting means that those people are also ok with notifications, OS alerts, and any other OS chrome being OK on the screen. You cannot control the display of OS functions on the built in I/O via an app. That being said, I just don't believe you. A 7-figure budget with semi trucks full of equipment that couldn't afford (or didn't think to afford) a video display device is unbelievable if you want to suggest that a small dot makes this unusable.
- dave78 5y ago
  > means that those people are also ok with notifications, OS alerts, and any other OS chrome being OK on the screen All of those things can be controlled though, unlike this new dot. I've had my personal laptop hooked up to one of these huge screens with a live audience of 20,000. Yes, you better be careful to close out your messaging and Gmail and everything else. But also, since it's running as an extended display and the program is running in full-screen mode, the OS generally will not show the things you mentioned anyway, in my experience. An orange dot would not have been tolerated in this environment. "Unusable" may not be the right word, but the people who set up these kinds of things are very particular about how things look, and so is the client who is paying millions of dollars.
  - dkonofalski 5y ago
    If the client is paying millions of dollars, then the production should be using dedicated hardware I/O. You saying "the OS generally will not show you things" admits that it can and sometimes does show those things and those would absolutely not be acceptable in a million dollar production gig. That's why we use dedicated hardware.
    - dave78 5y ago
      I don't understand why you're so combative about this. You say "professionals never do this", but lots of people are telling you that sometimes they do. Perhaps it's time to consider that your experience is not universal? In the cases I've been involved with, the computers generating the displays came from the clients, though the production company also used Macs with Powerpoint for creating lower-thirds for IMAG. The client-provided computers were running a custom software application designed for displaying data on a secondary screen. I'm not even sure if Decklink can even do that as the software just expects to output to a secondary display (it does not know anything about Decklink). Here is a picture of one such event: https://media.beam.usnews.com/7e/1e/aecd818e4128ab67593583079871/160429-first10-editorial.JPG https://media.beam.usnews.com/7e/1e/aecd818e4128ab6759358307...

by dave78 5y ago

thepasswordis 5y ago

Just want to echo this story. Maybe at the super bowl, or the opening of the olympics, or at some major pop stars tour where everything is time coded and planned and is the same production every night, sure. But at festivals? Clubs? Whatever NYE party you go to this year? No.

dkonofalski 5y ago
At festivals, clubs, and my own NYE party, a tiny dot in the corner is not a dealbreaker and wouldn't make the display "unusable". If it did, I would bring a dedicated hardware I/O device.
- thepasswordis 5y ago
  We go to different festivals, clubs, and parties I think.
  - dkonofalski 5y ago
    Maybe. We should swap sometime. I'm always open to new shiz. :)

dkonofalski 5y ago

Then a small dot in the corner can't possibly be considered a use-case where it's "unusable" because using the computer with the default I/O in the manner you're suggesting means that those people are also ok with notifications, OS alerts, and any other OS chrome being OK on the screen. You cannot control the display of OS functions on the built in I/O via an app. That being said, I just don't believe you. A 7-figure budget with semi trucks full of equipment that couldn't afford (or didn't think to afford) a video display device is unbelievable if you want to suggest that a small dot makes this unusable.

dave78 5y ago
> means that those people are also ok with notifications, OS alerts, and any other OS chrome being OK on the screen All of those things can be controlled though, unlike this new dot. I've had my personal laptop hooked up to one of these huge screens with a live audience of 20,000. Yes, you better be careful to close out your messaging and Gmail and everything else. But also, since it's running as an extended display and the program is running in full-screen mode, the OS generally will not show the things you mentioned anyway, in my experience. An orange dot would not have been tolerated in this environment. "Unusable" may not be the right word, but the people who set up these kinds of things are very particular about how things look, and so is the client who is paying millions of dollars.
- dkonofalski 5y ago
  If the client is paying millions of dollars, then the production should be using dedicated hardware I/O. You saying "the OS generally will not show you things" admits that it can and sometimes does show those things and those would absolutely not be acceptable in a million dollar production gig. That's why we use dedicated hardware.
  - dave78 5y ago
    I don't understand why you're so combative about this. You say "professionals never do this", but lots of people are telling you that sometimes they do. Perhaps it's time to consider that your experience is not universal? In the cases I've been involved with, the computers generating the displays came from the clients, though the production company also used Macs with Powerpoint for creating lower-thirds for IMAG. The client-provided computers were running a custom software application designed for displaying data on a secondary screen. I'm not even sure if Decklink can even do that as the software just expects to output to a secondary display (it does not know anything about Decklink). Here is a picture of one such event: https://media.beam.usnews.com/7e/1e/aecd818e4128ab67593583079871/160429-first10-editorial.JPG https://media.beam.usnews.com/7e/1e/aecd818e4128ab6759358307...