Audio Source Switching

[Harold Hallikainen]

Back to the original question about playing music before the feature, how about making a DCP of the music and just put it in the show playlist?

[Tj Hopland]

Alright so can be automated within the server so its just a matter of coming up with what you want the flow and timing to be and making sure you have the cues and possible remote controls to support that plan.

At the beginning of the night do you know when the show will start or does it vary depending on the weather and how busy it is? If its a fixed time that's pretty easy you would just built that timing into the playlist. if it varies then you would maybe look at something like having the playlist pause itself after it engages the HDMI then you would need a way to hit play when it was time to start the real show. That could be done with GPI, Jnior, or the web interface if it wasn't done locally in the booth.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Back to the original question about playing music before the feature, how about making a DCP of the music and just put it in the show playlist?

If one is comfortable with the same set of music, or a rotating selection of playlists... making a DCP of the drive-in period is a pretty direct solution... no clever 12v or other automations required.

But it does kinda take the fun out of variety, or add more work to accomodate variety. Staff will be the first to complain about the canned nature and hearing the same things over and over. ;-)

[Harold Hallikainen]

Can any server play just an audio file as opposed to a DCP? If so, can they be included in the show playlist? You could build the week's music list along with the rest of the show.

[David Ellis]

Thanks so much for the ideas guys. To answer... We have a NEC 3541L laser projector. I actually tried the DCP idea but its SO much work to mix up the playlist. You would be surprised how quickly they get old. Also, although rare, we sometimes need to duck the music to use a mic for announcements, which is another complexity.

[Hong Sung Hyeok]

Oh, I have a completely new idea.

Converting RCA music sources to HDMI. You'll need to buy an RCA to HDMI converter.

Play music to the HDMI of the IMS-2000 server.
Configure the show as HDMI clip + TLR + FTR.

The HDMI clip plays indefinitely as a streaming clip (actually, about 13 hours...I tested it with gdc), you can also use automation cues to cue the next clip, which you can define at any time. start the movie.

[Caleb Williams]

Oh, I have a completely new idea.

Converting RCA music sources to HDMI. You'll need to buy an RCA to HDMI converter.

Play music to the HDMI of the IMS-2000 server.
Configure the show as HDMI clip + TLR + FTR.

The HDMI clip plays indefinitely as a streaming clip (actually, about 13 hours...I tested it with gdc), you can also use automation cues to cue the next clip, which you can define at any time.

@david this is a great idea if you still want to include automation but don't want to buy anything. It would allow the IMS to pipe non-sync audio out through the same ports as the cinema audio. This is probably the simplest solution

[Hong Sung Hyeok]

Wait, you're playing music on your PC? If you're outputting sound from a PC, it'll probably be 3.5mm, so think carefully about it.
Then you can just connect an HDMI cable between your PC and the projector. Just set the sound output on your PC to HDMI.
If you have a dedicated PC just for playing music

This is how almost all theaters in Korea broadcast commercials before movies. It's ideal for flexible operation due to constantly changing ADs.
You can also broadcast audio and video via HDMI, so you'll need to decide on that, too.

You said drive-in. Do they put something like an FM frequency notification DCP before the movie? That could be shown as well.
What kind of video will be shown with the music? Will it show the theater logo, a still shot of the FM frequency notification, or just the dowser closed?

If you set the picture you want to use as your wallpaper and choose to extend the monitor, no one will think that the projected picture is your PC desktop.