ProPresenter/Camera signal flow

[Ryno]

Just purchased ProPresenter 4 and an iMac. I'm trying to figure out the best way to run PP4 with a 3 camera shot while exporting VGA to projectors. I know I need a switcher but the switchers that export native vga are out of my price range. Any thoughts?

PP4 and Cameras independently to Switcher...out of switcher to projectors.

*I have about 2k to make this happen.

[zactommo]

Simple, don't run VGA to your projectors What are your cameras are you planning on running, and what sort of price range do you have for your switcher?

[Ryno]

lol...here was my thinking...we are currently running s-video from cameras and then s-video to projectors. I figured I could boost the quality to the projectors by nearly half if I run native vga from switcher to projectors. What are your thoughts? I have about 2k...maybe 2,500 to play with.

[gbharris]

You can use a scan converter to convert your ProPresenter VGA output to s-video, which lets you run a less expensive switcher.

However, converting your ProPresenter output to s-video will definitely degrade the image quality which will be much more noticeable on text and graphics than on a live camera shot. If you can find a rackmount style switcher/scaler in your price range you'd be much better off keeping ProPresenter VGA into the switcher and VGA out to the projectors. Take a look at TV-One or Kramer or something like that. Mixing live cameras on a switcher/scaler box isn't going to be elegant, but on a tight budget it will give you better quality than going all s-video and (depending on your switcher) you may even be able to do basic keying of your ProPresenter text over your live video if you wanted to.

Another option would be to mix your cameras on a lower end s-video mixer and go into ProPresenter's Live Video Input with your mixed camera output. You can do this for about $120 with a USB video input device (XLR8 ProView USB). The downside to this is that everything is running through your computer. If the computer goes down, you don't have any separate control of the screens (i.e. you can't go to black).

- Greg Harris
Renewed Vision

[JacobAppleGeek]

Greg, you mention TV one. I am thinking about getting the c2-2250a from them. Do you have any experience with that unit? Is TV one a fairly reliable manufacturer? Thanks!

[[Director] drew ryan]

We use a TV One switcher for our center screen. It is very nice for the money.

[JacobAppleGeek]

Thanks!

[gbharris]

I haven't used that unit myself, but we do recommend TVOne units regularly. They have been reliable for us and are a good value.

- Greg Harris
Renewed Vision

[JacobAppleGeek]

Great! I think I am going to go for it. Oh, and ProPresenter 4 is totally awesome!