Live playback of video content

Hi all,

I work on live sporting and corporate events, of which a large portion of what we do is playback video content through different video and date vision mixers to big LED screens or large projection.

For years I have used editing software like Final Cut Pro to playback straight from pre-prepared timelines and output via firwire 800, Expresscard 34, and now thunderbolt using different i/o devices depending on the job format (SD or HD). This has worked very well, and continues to do so, however FCP is not built for the purpose of live content playback.

Does anyone know of a good, solid, Mac OS X software that is built for stable, good quality playback of video content in a live event format?

I need to create multiple playlists with potentially the ability to change on the fly, stop/delete particular clips while in playback mode, instant playback for individual files, count out timers and knowing that clients wont always give you the format required, something that can scale to the particular format output being used.

I mentioned earlier that I output via firwire 800, Expresscard 34, and thunderbolt. However, I also have Blackmagic DVI to SDI mini convertors which I would like to get more use out of.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and I apologise for the long winded question.

sjktech.

Hi,

Haven't used it for playout but know Telestream pipeline can do it. http://www.telestream.net/pipeline/overview.htm But this is hardware based. (Though pipeline replay may also be something of interest to you) It is not cheap.

Could also use a Hyprerdeck Studio; load the files onto drives and playback as required (Assuming it is all pre edited)

These guys have some products which may be suitable, I've never used them and not sure if they will fufill your needs but http://softronmedia.com/products.html

But if money is no object, you can always look at an EVS!

Daniel

I would check out Renewed Vision Products:
ProPresenter was designed for churches, but many have used it outside of that
I use it all the time for projection.

ProPresenter will probably do everything you need it do, but you can download the demo and try it for yourself.

ProPresenter ($400)
http://www.renewedvision.com

PVP-ProVideoPlayer - $1000
Has some tiling and advanced scaling features

Never used it, but you might check out:
http://dtvideolabs.com/PlaybackPro.html

Second vote for ProPresenter from Renewed Vision. I use it all the time on live events and it performs well provided you keep an intelligent approach to codecs.

It has failed on me twice out of 20 events but the problem was codec related. Now I religiously follow their PDF about file conversion using Mpeg Stream clip and it has been rock solid since.

Price vs Capability vs Stability vs Flexibility it cannot be beat. The next step would be a DoReMi or other hardware playback device.

Try Playback Pro Plus it is very stable and a dream to work with.

http://dtvideolabs.com/PlaybackPro%20Plus.html

The cheapest but also a good solution is Virtual DJ.

You can use Full HD MPG4 clips running trough your HDMI secondary output in an inexpensive Laptop directly to yor TVS.

I´ve been using that configuration in multiple events recently with a 100% efectivity.

Sorry about my english.

Thank you all very much for your input. It is very much appreciated!

So far out of the suggestions above, I have found that PlaybackPro Plus is looking to be the most likely software that I will go with. The only downfall of this particular software is the lack of a count out timer relevant to an entire playlist. Rather than just having the count out timer for each individual video as it is playing back in the program window.

All in all I think it is a very good start.

Thank you all kindly.

Softtron


Over the Air Media Express. Hands down the most solid and easy to use software that is out there in my opinion.


We've tested a lot of options. Can take 1920x1080 45 minute pro res files with ease.