[ANSWERED] Questions about Matrox hardware

jrhooker

Hi foks.

I'm gearing up to do my first actual blended projections (gulp, but long-time watchers of my confused antics will note I tried one a couple months ago and had to abort that set-up). I'm having issues with both my Matrox TripleH2G and my QuadH2G.

I'll give you my set up and then my questions below.

Two landscape screens (40 feet x 12 feet) each with two short throw projectors of the same make, model, and vintage (resolution = 1280 x 800).

I was trying to use one TripleH2G with two outputs for one screen and one QuadH2G with two outputs for the other screen.

The computer is MBP 2.3 ghz 8-core Intel core 9 running OS 12.4

That said, the first problem is that I can't actually get them to work, even independently right now, even though the computer and Izzy are registering both Matrox devices.

FYI -- I'm also in contact with Matrox about this, but this forum is always the place with the answers, sooo...

Triplehead Questions

1. Do I need Matrox Powerdesk for the Triplehead to work with Izzy? The releases on the Matrox site only go up to Snow Leopard. The Matrox Rep told me to use the Catalina release. I tried that, but it's 32 bit and so doesn't open on my computer. Neither does the Snow Leopard release. Related -- I haven't used this triplehead for a looooong time and it probably needs a firmware update, but don't I need the software to do that?

2. The Matrox rep told me my Triplehead DP edition would work fine as long as I went DP to Usb-C with no adaptor. I bought a good quality cord for that, and it doesn't work. It does work when I go through the Matrox DP to a DP to USB-C adaptor. But when I do that what I see, pre-Izzy, is that the two projectors are mirroring each other...but not mirroring the main display. Izzy is seeing it as one display for just 1920 x 1080.

3. Lastly, I assume if I'm using two outputs from the Triplehead rather than three, I choose Matrox Triplehead and then the correct outputs (1 & 3). So don't use the Dualhead option.

Quadhead Questions

1) Honestly, this is probably 90% user error. So I'll go back and rewatch Mark's Guru session on this. But one question is -- do I need any Matrox software? The Matrox rep said that it works without software, but " if you need to apply a special layout, the Powerwall software works over the network so you just need a Windows computer on the same network as the QuadHead 2 Go to configure it." I have no working windows machines, but do I need to find out?

2) Also, does anybody have experience using a Triplehead and a Quadhead coming from the same machine?

FINAL QUESTION: does anybody do, like, FaceTime consulting for this kind of set up. Historically, I'm not good at this side of things. I'm a couple weeks out from load-in, but would really like to not be the one creating a lot of stress this time around. If anybody does that kind of thing, I'd be interested in hearing from you and getting your rate. DM me!

Thanks in advance for ANY help.

J

Woland

@jrhooker said:

Do I need Matrox Powerdesk for the Triplehead to work with Izzy?

As far as I remember, yes, but that has nothing to do with Isadora. If I recall correctly, you need Matrox Powerdesk to setup the way in which you want the Matrox to be configured.

@jrhooker

I was trying to use one TripleH2G with two outputs for one screen and one QuadH2G with two outputs for the other screen.

Why not just use the one QuadHead2Go for all four display outputs?

jrhooker

@woland Thanks for these responses. I was on tour with a different show so couldn't respond until now. I'm in tech now for the new one with these landscape sufaces. I *did* get the triplehead running so far, with a link they sent me for Powerdesk so I'm good to go there. The reason I'm not using just the quad is that their are two landscape screens and I didn't think there was an option for 2 separate 2x1 surfaces via the quad. Am I wrong? In any case, I'm just now able to really tinker with the actual physical surfaces, so hopefully I can get it all going. But obviously if I run into trouble, I'll submit another post! Thanks for your help.

Woland

@jrhooker said:

2 separate 2x1 surfaces via the quad

The QuadHead should be read by your system as a single display, so you should be able to do this using the "Quad" split options: Gif

jrhooker

@woland Thanks! I did get this up and running and looking good yesterday. 'ppreciate it!