Joined
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3 Posts
Greetings. I sure hope this group can help me, because so far, neither 3M's web site nor the rest of the 'net have...
This is long-winded, so I apologize up front. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
Here's the setup. Our church currently meets in a movie theatre. Varies between 250-350 seats, depending on anticipated turnout. We setup starting at 7 AM for a 9:30 service. 5-8 person band, light board, 24 channel sound board, a laptop with PowerPoint and a VCR or DV video playback via S-video, the last two connected to a 3M MP8745 projector. We set this up and break it down every week, so things are never the same from one week to the other.
We have a wireless remote for said projector. But, tech is set up about 40 feet behind the projector, in the last row of the theatre. The remote just can't handle the distance when people stand up! So, we tried the x10 Powermid IR->RF triangles. They're great in rehearsal, but only 75% reliable in service, again mostly failing when the room is crowded, 10 rows of people between tech and the projector. It sucks to have to send someone to the fifth row, past 12 people, just to change the input on the projector...
The MP8745 has a serial input for control, and the users manual shows the pinouts for the cable, and the command codes, but I don't have the time (and only some of the knowledge) to write software for it.
We considered disecting the remote (or getting a cheap programming remote and taking it apart), and essentially running a 50 foot cable in the existing snake to the projector, slapping an IR emmitter on the end. But that's not very eloquent.
We'd like to find a wired serial solution, either with an external control box, or into the laptop and control from there. Our problem with the laptop is, we're running powerpoint for presentation, and we're worried about switching between programs to switch sources on the projector. Probably just a timing issue.
Our eventual goal is to find a video source mixer (another forum http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif ) to mix s-video and XGA/SVGA, then just send one signal to the projector. But that's more money than we have now... athough I'm really itching to go that route.
So, finally, the question(s):
Is there a wired remote out there for the projector?
Is there a 3rd party wired solution? I.e., cables (I can make those), or maybe just software?
The biggie: can anyone recommend a s-video/rgb/dv (wishful thinking) video switcher? http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
Thanks in advance...
And please, ask me for more specifics if need be!
-- RL
------------------
"Television - a medium, so called because it is neither
rare nor well done." -- Ernie Kovacs
This is long-winded, so I apologize up front. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
Here's the setup. Our church currently meets in a movie theatre. Varies between 250-350 seats, depending on anticipated turnout. We setup starting at 7 AM for a 9:30 service. 5-8 person band, light board, 24 channel sound board, a laptop with PowerPoint and a VCR or DV video playback via S-video, the last two connected to a 3M MP8745 projector. We set this up and break it down every week, so things are never the same from one week to the other.
We have a wireless remote for said projector. But, tech is set up about 40 feet behind the projector, in the last row of the theatre. The remote just can't handle the distance when people stand up! So, we tried the x10 Powermid IR->RF triangles. They're great in rehearsal, but only 75% reliable in service, again mostly failing when the room is crowded, 10 rows of people between tech and the projector. It sucks to have to send someone to the fifth row, past 12 people, just to change the input on the projector...
The MP8745 has a serial input for control, and the users manual shows the pinouts for the cable, and the command codes, but I don't have the time (and only some of the knowledge) to write software for it.
We considered disecting the remote (or getting a cheap programming remote and taking it apart), and essentially running a 50 foot cable in the existing snake to the projector, slapping an IR emmitter on the end. But that's not very eloquent.
We'd like to find a wired serial solution, either with an external control box, or into the laptop and control from there. Our problem with the laptop is, we're running powerpoint for presentation, and we're worried about switching between programs to switch sources on the projector. Probably just a timing issue.
Our eventual goal is to find a video source mixer (another forum http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif ) to mix s-video and XGA/SVGA, then just send one signal to the projector. But that's more money than we have now... athough I'm really itching to go that route.
So, finally, the question(s):
Is there a wired remote out there for the projector?
Is there a 3rd party wired solution? I.e., cables (I can make those), or maybe just software?
The biggie: can anyone recommend a s-video/rgb/dv (wishful thinking) video switcher? http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
Thanks in advance...
And please, ask me for more specifics if need be!
-- RL
------------------
"Television - a medium, so called because it is neither
rare nor well done." -- Ernie Kovacs