Video question

[Floppyman]

Hi all,

We are planning on doing a dance at school and we are going to hook up 2 LCD projectors (into the computer) to display things. Now we were also thinking of hooking up a digital camcorder into a capture card on the back of the pc and film the dance live. Is it possible then to film the dance live and have it project on the projectors since it's hooked up into the capture card on the back of the pc? Now if this would work, what software would I use, or would just standard video editing software work (i.e. for example Ulead that comes with the ATI DV Wonder card)? Thanks in Advance!

[archie]

Hooking up to two projectors may dim the pic too much ... at least that's what I noticed when trying it with two projectors [only once]. As for the brightness, there may be one of the two that does better so compare both. If you have access to the equipment, you may want to test this setup beforehand just to be sure.

[audiyoda]

You will need some sort of line amp for the projectors -- depends on the run of the cable. To project the live dance, ULead's really not going to cut it. It will for the capture and edit, but not live. If you were running a dual monitor configuration, you could just move the capture window to one monitor (LCD Projector) and do that. But there is specific (expensive) software that will allow what you want. The least expensive that I'm aware of is Avid Media Composer. It will let allow you to do real time editing for broadcast.

-Craig

[Floppyman]

Thanks for the replies guys, would it be possible to do this instead:

Hook pc and one projector together and have that be one setup. Then can I just hook the camera into the other projector and film with it projecting on the screen, without plugging the projector into the computer? Then can I also use a monitor on that same projector so I can see what I'm filming (since projectors have pass throughs) Would this work? Thanks again.

[audiyoda]

I think you answered your own question. As long as there's a video-out on the projector, yes.

-Craig

[Floppyman]

Thanks Craig,

Just to make sure, I "can" hook a camcorder into a LCD projector and project what I'm filming, correct? If so, where would this plug in, the video in on the projector (as the monitor will hook on the video out, correct?)? Thanks again.

[audiyoda]

If you are coming out of the camcorder (obviously :) ), there are two possible signal paths. If your monitor has a video out, I'd go camcorder---> monitor---> projector. If there is no video out on the monitor, the path would be camcorder---> projector---> monitor. The first would be the better choice but either would work.

-Craig

[Floppyman]

Hi Craig,

Ok, it makes sense and I think it should work the way I'm planning it:

Setup 1

PC--->projector 1---->monitor

Setup 2

camcorder--->monitor----->projector 2

Oh yeah one more question, what kind of cable would I need to hook the camcorder into the monitor, a RCA cable? Thanks again for all the help, as always, it is much appreciated.