my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » pre show projector automation

Author Topic: pre show projector automation Bradley Johnson Film Handler Posts: 23 From: Newport, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2009 posted 04-13-2012 12:29 PM                     It is with great sadness that we (The Newport Roxy) have said good bye to our dual carbon arc lamp, 35mm simplex projectors. Not only have we converted to digital (we open tonight), but we have also converted the theater from a 450 seat single screen to a three screen house. It has been quite a undertaking driven by a unkind budget. My question for the forum is based on controlling a pre show projector. We have a Integ Jnior automation system that controls the in house lights, curtain, etc. The projector that I would like to just turn on and off is a Benq sp830. The Benq has a serial port for control. Is there a box that can be controlled via the Jnior that will send commands via RS-232 to the Benq? Thank you  |  IP: Logged Peter Castle Expert Film Handler Posts: 220 From: Wollongong University, NSW ,Australia Registered: Oct 2003 posted 04-14-2012 03:37 AM                     Why do you need a pre-show projector? Use your main projector. There's no real saving in using another one. The main projector lamp going to be on all the time anyway.  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-14-2012 09:04 AM                     The Jnior can do it all. Contact Rick Shulkowski at Integ for the exact setup procedure, it's not hard but I can't explain it correctly. You load a "Cinema Jnior" package into the Jnior 310. Then in the Jnior you set up the projector as a device, link some commands to it, and the Jnior will control the projector via the serial port. You send macro commands to the Jnior from your server as usual, and the Jnior takes care of the serial control of the projector.  |  IP: Logged Bradley Johnson Film Handler Posts: 23 From: Newport, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2009 posted 04-14-2012 03:46 PM                     quote: Peter Castle Why do you need a pre-show projector? Use your main projector. There's no real saving in using another one. yep, I said the same thing but the owner seems to think that it will be cheaper to run the preshow adds on the small projector. Also the preshow video is on VGA sent to all rooms via a computer. I would have to adapt from VGA to something the Barco has inputs for. The other issue is that the owner wants to run a consumer Blu ray player into the pre show projector for special events. If I am not mistaken, consumer dvd and blu ray will not play through the big projector because of security? I do not know this for fact, havent tried it yet. Thanks  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-14-2012 05:41 PM                     If one really does the math...it is cheaper to use the xenon lamp in the DCinema projector than the lamp(s) in a cheap consumer projector (cost/hour...especially if equal lumens are used). As for BluRay...if you set the BluRay to 1080p output, you can connect straight up to the DVI inputs via a suitable adapter or adapter cable (HDMI to DVI)...this is true of any DLP projector. Most of the IMBs coming out have an HDMI input to facilitate this as well. As for the VGA signal...yes, that would need to be adapted via a suitable scaler/converter...of which there are many. One could also distribute the DVI signal as well now via Cat 5/6 solutions.  |  IP: Logged Peter Castle Expert Film Handler Posts: 220 From: Wollongong University, NSW ,Australia Registered: Oct 2003 posted 04-14-2012 09:35 PM                     We feed all sorts of video signals through our NEC, by passing them first into a domestic receiver (an Onkyo). This rescales DVD, computer, BluRay, and STB - while switching these inputs. Works like a charm, although I think I need a Gefen box to avoid the HDCP handshake delays. The difficult situation with this setup is it is not automated - lots of button pressing.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.