- Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:15 am
- Real Name: Kit Marsden
Hi, I am experiencing a recurring issue on gigs I’m playing with a show I am running as MD/designer. We are playing in a lot of venues which now have large LED matrix video screens at the back of the stage. On paper this is great for us, because we run a lot of live video projection alongside the tracks and the musicians onstage. But in practise, it never works unless I run VGA directly into the screen.
I figured I would ask here for some advice. I’ll explain the basic setup of my system and the connections, and maybe someone can give me some pointers.
I’m running the show on a MacBook Pro — but in BootCamp mode, on Windows 10. Tracks are in Steinberg Nuendo, but firing MIDI cues in ArKaos GrandVJ for video output. The MacBook has a Thunderbolt 2 (MiniDisplayport) output, so I have Startech adaptors for Thunderbolt to VGA and Thunderbolt to HDMI.
The venues typically run their video from QLab on an iMac. They go into HDMI Input 1 on an ATEM Mini Pro, and the ATEM Mini Pro then sends HDMI out to the LED video screen. When I want to project my video onto their screen with my show, they want me to send an HDMI cable into Input 2 on the ATEM Mini Pro, then they can simply switch from their in-house graphics to my video feed when we are about to come on and play our show.
However, I can never get this to work. I have sent HDMI out to this setup dozens of times, always with the same result. A totally black screen. And a totally black screen on my MacBook too! I can’t even see what I am controlling until I unplug the HDMI adaptor from the MacBook’s Thunderbolt port. I have tried using different cables and different adaptors. I have tried running via an HDMI splitter (to try and resolve HDCP handshake issues), and I have tried used VGA from my MacBook and a VGA-HDMI adaptor (a powered Kramer one) to shorten the length of the HDMI cable run as much as possible. None of these things have helped.
Does anybody else have any other suggestions I could try, or any simple issues I may have missed? I am more of a musician and producer than a video person. So I am still learning on this side of things! I would greatly appreciate any advice or any tips the community here can offer!
Many thanks,
Kit Marsden
I figured I would ask here for some advice. I’ll explain the basic setup of my system and the connections, and maybe someone can give me some pointers.
I’m running the show on a MacBook Pro — but in BootCamp mode, on Windows 10. Tracks are in Steinberg Nuendo, but firing MIDI cues in ArKaos GrandVJ for video output. The MacBook has a Thunderbolt 2 (MiniDisplayport) output, so I have Startech adaptors for Thunderbolt to VGA and Thunderbolt to HDMI.
The venues typically run their video from QLab on an iMac. They go into HDMI Input 1 on an ATEM Mini Pro, and the ATEM Mini Pro then sends HDMI out to the LED video screen. When I want to project my video onto their screen with my show, they want me to send an HDMI cable into Input 2 on the ATEM Mini Pro, then they can simply switch from their in-house graphics to my video feed when we are about to come on and play our show.
However, I can never get this to work. I have sent HDMI out to this setup dozens of times, always with the same result. A totally black screen. And a totally black screen on my MacBook too! I can’t even see what I am controlling until I unplug the HDMI adaptor from the MacBook’s Thunderbolt port. I have tried using different cables and different adaptors. I have tried running via an HDMI splitter (to try and resolve HDCP handshake issues), and I have tried used VGA from my MacBook and a VGA-HDMI adaptor (a powered Kramer one) to shorten the length of the HDMI cable run as much as possible. None of these things have helped.
Does anybody else have any other suggestions I could try, or any simple issues I may have missed? I am more of a musician and producer than a video person. So I am still learning on this side of things! I would greatly appreciate any advice or any tips the community here can offer!
Many thanks,
Kit Marsden