Connect to old projector??

[flick]

Hey VJ gang!

I am trying to send a signal from a macbook pro to an old projector - and I can't figure it out!

https://www.barco.com/en/produ...

It has weird inputs - something called 5-BNC RGBHV which is five BNC plugs, oh heck I'll post a picture.

I have a Macbook with MDP out, which I currently have rigged to an Extron IN608 that sends Cat5 video signal, and at the other end of that I have a box for Cat5-HDMI conversion.  Not sure where in this stream I should switch out hardware and for what new device or system.

 ostrange old device

[flick]

@flick  Using a cable like this seems to be hung at "please wait" on the input selection menu of the projector...

https://www.startech.com/ca/Ca...

[flick]

@flick But ultimately doesn't find anything.  "No signal"

I'm using a MDP to VGA adapter, VGA cable (tried swapping both those) and thence to a VGA-5BNC adapter (not sure about the grey and black cables, which is H/S and which is V/Cr... but switching those two seems to make no difference either)

.

[bonemap]

hi,

The image shows that there are HD-SDI inputs so you could look at a HDMI to HD-SDI converter from Blackmagic Designs

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/au/products/miniconverters

A bit more expensive than the VGA cable option though.There might be cheaper brands but personally I have only used the bmd converters.

Best

Bonemap

[jhoepffner]

It's really a old standard H and V are for horizontal and vertical synchro and VGA cable have the same. You can find old transformer from VGA cable to 5 cable.

It could be preferable to output a real HD (1920x1080 or 1280x720) signal to HDMI and then use a HDMI to SDI converter (you have now very cheap BlackMagic ones) and plug the SDI BNC

[mark_m]

@flick

In the projector's menu try to change the input on your 5 BNC cable thing to RGB (which is what you're feeding it from your VGA output) rather than PrYPb. See if that works.

[mark_m]

@flick

Looking at the Manual, (which you can find on the Barco website) and at your photograph, it looks like the active input is the HDSDI one, not the one you have your cable plugged in to.
From the manual: 

The input and communication unit is equipped with two input slots,..., the uppermost slot is slot number “1”, the second is slot number “2”. All input modules have two status LED’s. The green LED lights up if the input module is selected as the active input module. The yellow LED lights
up if the input module has detected valid input syncs.

Everything else you need to know is in section 8.2.2 of the manual.
You can download it here:
https://www.barco.com/services...

But at the end of the day, if you want to use this machine to its full potential, you will need to feed it HDSDI, and for that my fellow isadorables have suggested the best solutions.

[flick]

Yes, thanks everyone for helpful solutions!  Good catch on the active input Mark!

The "input setting" in the proj menu was set to "RGB auto" which should have solved it - but all the switches I was changing were settings FOR the inputs, which I mistakenly thought was switching WHICH input was active.  So eventually in the manual I discovered that the only way to change inputs was using the remote, and the only way to get the remote to work was to physically pull out / extend the XLR cable port, which activated the IR remote function (yeesh!). (Not having an XLR cable in the box, it took us a while to figure out how to get the IR working...).

The manual was a bit unclear because the actual input ports are optional at the factory, as in each port can be swapped out physically - so the modularity meant the manual was a bit more ambiguous to me than it might have been.

Even a phone call to the rental house didn't catch what we were doing wrong.  They had nicely sent a guy out to help us but we figured it out before they arrived, and we turned them back home!

We ran VGA cable and skipped the Extron box.

[flick]

@mark_m @bonemap Here's the funkiest remote I ever saw!  This was the show I was working on... https://twitter.com/hashtag/ho...

[flick]

@flick Oops the video didn't upload here it is... 

[mark_m]

@flick

Great remote!!! Love that choice between wired and wireless.  I reckon Barco had real people working in real situations on their design team: I'd love to be able to watch the screen and make adjustments without having to point the bloody remote at a projector somewhere behind and above me. In fact, that's why - as often as I can - I control my projectors over LAN.  

[Woland]

@mark_m

I'd love to hear about/obtain your method for doing so if you feel like sharing it, or resources. It's so much more efficient to ask someone who's already been through the gauntlet than to run it oneself. I've done this successfully a few times, but only by using MIDI from Isadora to trigger an Applescript Cue in QLab to shutter the projector and such. Also it'd simplify the times I'm focusing a bunch of different borrowed/rented projectors for which I don't have remotes.

Best wishes,

Woland

[mark_m]

@Woland

Hi Lucas, you probably know all this already but in my experience projectors with a LAN connection also have a web interface: you just put the ip address of the projector into your browser's address bar, and you get a web interface*. My experience is that this web interface is just a skin on the menu, and you can control most menu items from it. I use this for setup, but when running a show I'll send commands - generally to shutter open and close - via Isadora's TCP actor. 

*obviously the projector(s) and the computer(s) have to be on the same network! I have a dedicated router that I use with reserved ip addresses for everything with a MAC address, so the projector(s) and computer(s) and iPhone/iMac (when using touchOSC) always have the same ip address. [I recently invested in a Kramer HDMI matrix switcher, which can also be controlled via LAN - again using TCP actor - and I can use Isadora to switch inputs/outputs. Kramer produce a very neat bit of software called Protocal 2000 calculator, which does the homework for you by generating the TCP command you send for all the various options. This has been brilliant for switching live cameras into Isadora or directly to projectors].

ANYHOW, the level of sophistication of the web interface varies IME: my 'home and portable' Viewsonic Pro8400s let you do a lot, but not everything, notably they don't have ceiling/floor/front/back whereas my ProjectionDesign projectors, IIRC, give you access to the same menu that you see on screen.

So when sitting in a control position, trying to line up three projectors, it's lot easier to have a web page open for each and do the horizontal / vertical lens shift from the keyboard rather than from a remote control which, when using multiple identical projectors, is just as likely to trigger the wrong one!

The downside, of course, is that it's one more cable you have to run.... the new(er)** Panasonic Projectors apparently combine signal and control over a single LAN connection, but I've not investigated this thoroughly...

Does this answer your question?! Hope this has been useful rather than me just banging on...

[Woland]

@mark_m said:

@Woland

Hi Lucas, you probably know all this already but in my experience projectors with a LAN connection also have a web interface: you just put the ip address of the projector into your browser's address bar, and you get a web interface*. My experience is that this web interface is just a skin on the menu, and you can control most menu items from it. I use this for setup, but when running a show I'll send commands - generally to shutter open and close - via Isadora's TCP actor. 

*obviously the projector(s) and the computer(s) have to be on the same network! I have a dedicated router that I use with reserved ip addresses for everything with a MAC address, so the projector(s) and computer(s) and iPhone/iMac (when using touchOSC) always have the same ip address. [I recently invested in a Kramer HDMI matrix switcher, which can also be controlled via LAN - again using TCP actor - and I can use Isadora to switch inputs/outputs. Kramer produce a very neat bit of software called Protocal 2000 calculator, which does the homework for you by generating the TCP command you send for all the various options. This has been brilliant for switching live cameras into Isadora or directly to projectors].

ANYHOW, the level of sophistication of the web interface varies IME: my 'home and portable' Viewsonic Pro8400s let you do a lot, but not everything, notably they don't have ceiling/floor/front/back whereas my ProjectionDesign projectors, IIRC, give you access to the same menu that you see on screen.

So when sitting in a control position, trying to line up three projectors, it's lot easier to have a web page open for each and do the horizontal / vertical lens shift from the keyboard rather than from a remote control which, when using multiple identical projectors, is just as likely to trigger the wrong one!
The downside, of course, is that it's one more cable you have to run.... the new(er)** Panasonic Projectors apparently combine signal and control over a single LAN connection, but I've not investigated this thoroughly...
Does this answer your question?! Hope this has been useful rather than me just banging on....

Some of this I knew, some of this I didn't. All of it is extremely helpful, thanks so much for sharing your process.

Best wishes,

Woland

[Woland]

@mark_m

Something that you (and others) might enjoy, if you haven't already started doing it, is using a laptop with the free, secure, cross-platform, very user-friendly/simple, remote access/screensharing, application TeamViewer to be able to move around onstage inspecting things while controlling the production computer via the laptop. I love using this for precise mapping, and I imagine it'd be helpful for projector focus as well. There's a little bit of latency, but I've found it massively helpful to be able to sit beside a surface I'm mapping onto and work on my laptop instead of having to extend my mouse/keyboard/monitor or move my control computer.

Best wishes,

Woland

[bonemap]

Hi,

Team viewer works with mobile devices as well so you can control your desktop with a tablet device. This is great for pairing a MBP and iPad for example. The other thing about Team Viewer is it allows remote desktop over the web and that makes it popular for providing direct support and intervention for clients and collaborations such as monitoring an installation computer.

Best wishes 

Bonemap

[flick]

@mark_m yeah the XLR cable on the remote (maybe it's even DMX??) means you can have three or however many projectors of the same brand and control them separately without accidentally triggering the wrong one.  You could have three remotes or just one and swap the cables as needed.

[Woland]

@bonemap said:

Hi,
Team viewer works with mobile devices as well so you can control your desktop with a tablet device. This is great for pairing a MBP and iPad for example. The other thing about Team Viewer is it allows remote desktop over the web and that makes it popular for providing direct support and intervention for clients and collaborations such as monitoring an installation computer.
Best wishes 
Bonemap

I use TeamViewer to give private Isadora workshops via the web, (with Skype or FaceTime), so folks can use my license to save their work. It works fabulously. I can show them things, and they can control my computer while working in the Patch.