Getting from laptop to projector... a long way away
 

For Boyd or anyone who has experience with digital projection for theatrical (and with apologies in advance for bringing up in a new thread something that's probably been discussed before). Has anyone had any problems with long runs of VGA cable (of the sort seen here, for example)? Are there more effective ways of getting a signal from a laptop to a projector? For my application, I'll be transmitting from a laptop in a theater balcony to an InFocus LP540 projector mounted on the ceiling nearer the stage (haven't measured yet, but it's probably about 75' away).

Also, seeking a way for a live video feed used on stage by the actors to feed into same projector. Is a wireless system the answer? If so, which one (looking for cheap, here, or rentable), and if not, what sorts of cabling and signal boosting gear would be required (again, cheap/rentable preferred).

Thanks for listening--

Can't help with the wireless video, but we have run our two 3,000 lumen projectors for the title translations via about a 150' VGA cable. We use a VGA splitter/amp for this; according to the original specs it's an "Extron P/S2 DAe Splitter/Amplifier". This rig is about 2 years old now so there may be newer/better products.

On our next opera, A Masked Ball we're running one 10,000 lumen Christie LX100 projector from the light booth for front projection and a second from backstage for a rear screen. These projectors are really far apart, at least 250'. They are being fed from a pair of High End Catalyst Pro media servers. The servers can be networked to each feed a local projector, but instead Scharff Weisberg suggests that we feed video to both projectors from a single server. They're renting us some sort of box to do this, which I think sends the video over ethernet. They called it an "M Box" IIRC. Will see if I can get more info on it, but probably not until mid October since I'm doing another show now.

You may find this useful however. It comes from High End's website and discusses ways to send video from their servers over long distances, along with links to suppliers:

http://www.highend.com/support/digit...ideoprimer.asp

BTW, this is my first time using the Catalyst and it is really cool for anyone with both a video and lighting background. It lets you send multilayered content with realtime effects to projectors. That in itself isn't such a big deal, however it can be controlled using either the DMX or Shownet protocols which are used by stage lighting consoles. So once you get the hang of programming you can treat your video just like stage lighting and the same console will run everything in sync during the show.

Boyd, I thank you for your informative reply. I hope you'll let me come check out your work the next time I'm in Philadelphia.