RS-232 Control

[sirhcllenrad]

Tekman,

My recommendation would be that, if you are installing your projector permanently, wire up for every form of imput that you might want, including RS232. yes, it might cost more, but the additional effort required in adding cables later on is horrrendous.

Alternately, you could consider using a good cable duct with additional capacity for addional use later on (and possibly put a dummy line in that you could use to pull future cables through)

Just a thought, but worth considering,

Chris

[intuitas]

Sorry Mango,

I misunderstood your comment.
Of course if your projector does come with such software then my suggestion of a standalone application is pointless (because it already exists). Our Sanyo projector comes with a USB port but not a serial port. The USB port seems to be for the projector to drive the computer mouse interface rather than the reverse. Hence my confusion.

God Bless,

Paul

[zer0burn316]

we just got a projector in our youth building and i can now see the exact understanding of this and it is very much needed in zionworx

[Diceman]

RS232 sounds funky (most mixing desks use it allowing you to control A/B roll and effects from your PC) - can we have Midi support while were on - then we can be cue backing tracks, lighting, pyro, you name it'll rock. Perhaps provide alternative interface layouts like Adobe Premier, the standard view (as it is now) and a timeline trigger view with live looping for video clips, logos, and wallpapers. I've seen a nice little macromedia Director movie app. which does this using apple quicktime (the quicktime architecture allows the user to hot-swap betweeen video files using predifined in and out points).

From where it is now Zionworx is well positioned in future releases to be a innovative leader in event visual asset managment.

Dice

[zer0burn316]

not to sound silly but this area has kinda lost me sorry

[Diceman]

which bit?

[zer0burn316]

so let me get this straight this section is addressing the issue of controling multiple projector systems or am i missing the mark totally, cause i do not want to sound stupid or anything, but once i think i figured it out i get lost again. anyways prace out and blessings in

[Mealz]

why not add capabilities for DMX control as well

then zionworx would be a one stop shop for all media and a full control system as well. Control the projector, scalers, midi instruments, effects units, and lighting systems (eg dim lights near screen when projecting)

[AliBy]

DMX control would be a possible future addition, but at this stage a little wishful and not in such demand ...

Mango Wrote:

I believe most projectors already come with software that does that, just means that you don't get the convenience of controlling everything from ZionWorx.

If anyone has such software is there anyway we can get a copy of it?

[Pete]

Most projectors should supply this sort of software if your projector supports it our infocus projector comes with this software on a disk and i can controlle the projector from the laptop change things like source, brightness, colour, front/rear projection turn the projector off unfortunatly this dosn't work for turning on still need remote for this. Adjust Keystone, etc..

All from an icon in the bottom right of the laptop screen.

Check with your projector manifacturer to see if they already have software to do this.

[Clarence Peters]

We made the decision to control our Epson projector with LAN (allows for emails to be sent from projector when bulb is low).

If you added serial or LAN control, I could see that being a plus for many, but mostly it's not a big issue to open another small application that comes with most machines.

[alangeering]

RS232 support/scripting would be very useful.

Beyond projectors there are many other devices we may be using for words projection.

I recently spotted a custom version of another words program that had had a button added to control the scan converter's overlay fuction. This allowed them to key words over camera footage without any controls other than the words software. Also, there was no need to capture video into the PC.

RS232 input would be great too!
I use a touchpad with customisable keys as an interface for words programs. It's safer sometimes than the tiny keybord buttons. Having support for this built in would be awesome.

Alan

[alangeering]

OK, I realised that I shouldn't ask overworked people for more features. Thinking more about how to improve the software I wondered whether you could release some kind of event API.

The idea would be that instead of us asking for x,y or z protocol and a, b or c hardware to be supported you could get on with the core program. You would create a way for us to interface our code with yours (i.e. give us access to a few functions from the outside) in an agreed standard way. We would go about adding external functionality and sharing this code with one another.

It's sort of a middle way between opensourcing (which would be a big change) and having to try to satisfy diverse user requirement all on your own...

... even microsoft does this. I can easily download the MSN Messanger plugin SDK and extend the functionalty of messanger without affecting Microsoft's development program.

Thanks,
Alan Geering

[ed]

[quote="Mealz"]why not add capabilities for DMX control as well

then zionworx would be a one stop shop for all media and a full control system as well. Control the projector, scalers, midi instruments, effects units, and lighting systems (eg dim lights near screen when projecting)[/quote]

ur a genius, just reading through. itd b alot cheaper than buying a lighting deck

[danparkes]

How about USB? Our projector (InFocus LP500) has a special port and cable which breaks out into VGA and USB. The projector software then controls the projector through it. I must admit though that we don't actually use it as the projector is too far away and the signal, both VGA and USB, would degrade making it usefless. We use composite video instead and use a switch box at the AV desk end. See the posting under "Safety and Security" for more info.[/list]