[Swansea Hackspace] New Member and project Question

[Emyr Morris]

I very doubt you will manage that with an Arduino... there is a shield that
will overlay graphics (rudimentary) over composite video.

Composite video is pretty much a no-no these days, between their artefacts
and very low res (575 lines ish)

If you are working to a low budget then your best place to start would
probably be an existing computer (needs to be decent) and spend your bucks
on a very good graphics card that has 8 outputs (or two graphics cards with
four (quad) outputs)

This is how we put the score screens on podiums on TV quiz shows.

You would then write code in something like Visual Basic that would then
populate the screens

I say 8 outputs as you will need one screen for control and then the other
4 display screens

The audio out would come via your sound card / amps / speakers etc

This way you will be able to use existing video libs to open your various
AVI/MPEG files and send them to the correct destination.

This then goes back to your computer - to play four different videos at the
same time will require some pretty good hardware, while your graphics cards
will do most of the donkey work the computer will have to be fairly decent
with plenty of RAM to be able to cope with the data throughput. So fast
processors and fast RAM and plenty of it.

An ambitious project.

On the other hand, depending on the quality required, there is a lot of non
HD equipment now coming on the market as old SD studios and OB trucks are
closing down.

There is a lot of kit that can do this sort of thing available on BB List.
I have to do the school run now so I don't have time to search for a
suitable piece of kit for you right now. http://www.bblist.co.uk/

I can make enquiries for you if you like.

Emyr




On 1 January 2015 at 15:53, Debi Withers <debiwithers at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>
> Hello there,
>
>
>
> I am a new member to this list and am considering joining the Swansea
> Hackspace fir 6 months next year to realise a project.
>
> I am writing initially here to get some advice and some indication of how
> difficult it would be.
>
> So here is the project:
>
> I want to make a 'transmission machine' which can simultaneously play back
> up to 8 channels of digitised media - video, images and audio.
>
> Ideally the levels will be controlled by an external device, like a mixing
> desk/ interface, because it is important that people using the machine have
> the physical experience of controlling the levels - i.e., how loud the
> audio can played, the clarity of the image. The selections of the digitised
> files will be made via a laptop.
>
> Attached to the 8 outputs will be four screens and 1-4 speakers - although
> all the audio channels will probably be played through one speaker - so
> comparable to a live mix which plays back multiple audio channels.
>
> The one complicated thing perhaps is ideally to separate the audio and
> moving image of the video file so that the audio and image levels can be
> controlled separately, i.e., turn down the sound but still play the image;
> turn down the image, still hear the sound.
>
> I've asked a friend of mine who seems to think this would be possible
> through Arduino, but I wanted to check in with a local hackspace for advice
> to flesh out the idea.
>
> I've attached a diagram if this helps to explain the idea better.
>
> I live in Drefach Felindre but could travel to Swansea to work on the
> circuit if people could help me. I don't quite have the technical expertise
> to manage it myself!
>
> I see there is a workshop on 8 Jan but sadly I cannot make this date...
>
> Many many thanks in advance for your help -
>
> debi
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Hackspace mailing list
> Hackspace at swansea.hackspace.org.uk
> http://swansea.hackspace.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hackspace
>
>


-- 
Mob: 07836 267426

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

Mae'r e-bost hwn ac unrhyw ffeiliau a drosglwyddir gydag ef yn gyfrinachol
ac at ddefnydd yr unigolyn neu'r corff y cyfeiriwyd hwy atynt yn unig.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://swansea.hackspace.org.uk/pipermail/hackspace/attachments/20150105/18d6a946/attachment.html>