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Syncronizing Video with the Show


xrays911

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I plan to add a rear projector to my display ths year. Will be using Virtual Sanat during the Christmas season. I have some ideas of some videos I would like to play during specific songs in my show for Halloween and am not sure how I would get them to play at the times when I want them to play. Is this possible and if so what do I need to do?

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You can sequence your show using audio or video. The sequencing is the exactly the same, just chose the video you want to play during the song and then start sequencing. When it comes to show time, LOR will play the sequence and the video just as it would play the audio. You'll have to connect your projector up to your computer, which isn't much of a problem.

 

There's a ton of people who have done this, I did it for a Halloween project a few years back, and it works well. 

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I'm still confused. Do I need to create a video file that runs the entire length of my show or can I just have a small video file that plays during only one song from my show? How do I get the video to turn on and off as needed?

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It's exactly like when you create a regular sequence except you chose a video instead of an mp3 file. You can do a video of your entire display, or you can do a video for each sequence, that's up to you. And LOR will play the video while your sequencing and then run it in the show and it will show in its own screen. It's basically a screen that shows the video and the rest is the same for the sequence. LOR will play the video whenever the sequence runs. You can try testing it out with a music video if you want to see how everything works, that's my best suggestion to answer questions for you.

So long story short, LOR supports video displays and it plays the video automatically. Try making a test sequence to get the jist of how it works, its easy to sequence with a video.

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I learned the hard way last season.  While Lightorama does play most video formats there is one glitch that happens: The video window size is not consistent.  The same video during a show would sometimes go full size and other times it was only half size.

It was suggested in another forum that LOR suggested to use .avi format and that seemed to do the trick for me too!

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It's exactly like when you create a regular sequence except you chose a video instead of an mp3 file. You can do a video of your entire display, or you can do a video for each sequence, that's up to you. And LOR will play the video while your sequencing and then run it in the show and it will show in its own screen. It's basically a screen that shows the video and the rest is the same for the sequence. LOR will play the video whenever the sequence runs. You can try testing it out with a music video if you want to see how everything works, that's my best suggestion to answer questions for you.

So long story short, LOR supports video displays and it plays the video automatically. Try making a test sequence to get the jist of how it works, its easy to sequence with a video.

OK, so I got my projector and created a sample sequence with a short video. I hooked the projector up to my laptop with an HDMI cable. When I play the sequence it automatically launches Windows Media Player and the video begins to play (nice!) BUT the problem is that it opens postage stamp size and on my laptop screen rather than displaying on the projector screen. I then must drag it over there and increase the size, but when the sequence ends I see my desktop on the projector screen.....I don't want that. Is there a way to make this default so that the video only displays on the projector screen consistently and so the viewers only see the video?

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OK, so I got my projector and created a sample sequence with a short video. I hooked the projector up to my laptop with an HDMI cable. When I play the sequence it automatically launches Windows Media Player and the video begins to play (nice!) BUT the problem is that it opens postage stamp size and on my laptop screen rather than displaying on the projector screen. I then must drag it over there and increase the size, but when the sequence ends I see my desktop on the projector screen.....I don't want that. Is there a way to make this default so that the video only displays on the projector screen consistently and so the viewers only see the video?

 

If you are playing the sequence in the editor, the video will pop up in a small screen so you can see it while you're sequencing, I find it helpful when I sequencing to a video. What you'll have to do is go into the setting in the editor to change where the video pops up. Go to Edit > Preferences > Video Settings. You'll see where you can put the video and if you want it to run full screen and there's a couple other options as well.

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Hi, I'm also doing the same thing with a projector and it's working fine, sort of. I can get the video to play full screen on the projector, no problem. The issue I have is that when I create the sequence and add the video, it assumes that the video is the media file.

 

How can I use a different song along with the video? I think I'm missing something basic.

 

Thanks,

Larry

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Hi, I'm also doing the same thing with a projector and it's working fine, sort of. I can get the video to play full screen on the projector, no problem. The issue I have is that when I create the sequence and add the video, it assumes that the video is the media file.

 

How can I use a different song along with the video? I think I'm missing something basic.

 

Thanks,

Larry

I think you would need to edit the video. Remove the audio and attach the audio you would like. I am planning to do the same thing. I think this can be done within Windows Movie Maker. I am planning to try this weekend.

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Great! Make sure you let me know how it works, I get to work all weekend, so no fun for me.

 

Larry

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Thanks everyone who helped me with this! Your postings were very helpful.

 

I also read somewhere within these boards of someone else that was experiencing a similar problem and he suggested contacting Drew Hickman of Holiday technologies @ dhickman@holidaytechnologies.com


I went ahead and sent him an email and he sent me back step-by-step instructions on the video component set-up within the Light-O-Rama software. Boy was this helpful as I kept looking for a solution within the windows display properties on my laptop.
 

Sometimes the solutions can be so simple and I am thinking too hard!

 

So thanks again to everyone!

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How about posting his solution here for everyone to see and hopefully help others that might have the same problem in the future?

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Sorry, Here are the instructions given to me by Drew Hickman:

 

Here are the steps you need to take.  First we need to tell the sequence editor we want the video full screen and not a small window.  Make sure your projector is turned on and connected to the computer.

1. open the Sequence Editor (you don't need to open a sequence)
2. open the Edit menu
3. select Preferences (very last option in the menu)
4. select Video Preferences
5. check the "use full screen mode" checkbox
6. click OK

Now open your sequence and play it.  you should see the video go full screen.  Hit escape to see the sequence editor screen again.

Next we need to tell the Sequence Editor which screen to use for the video.  You first need to make sure the two screens (your laptop screen and projector) are not displaying the same thing.  This means you need to extend the windows desktop instead of mirroring it.  After you get that done do the following:

1. open the Sequence Editor (you don't need to open a sequence but it's ok if you already have one open)
2. open the Edit menu
3. select Preferences (very last option in the menu)
4. select Video Preferences
5. click the Select Monitor button
6. a message will pop up telling you to click OK.  go ahead and click OK to close the message.
7. move your mouse pointer so it is on the screen where you want to display the video.  then click your mouse button anywhere on that screen.
6. go back to the Video Preferences window and click OK.

Now open your sequence if you haven't already loaded it and play it.  The video should be on the screen you clicked on.

 

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X-rays, that worked great. I actually had 2 monitors and a projector connected to one computer, so I can see everything that's going on.

Did you have any luck editing the video and audio? I was able to add a song to the video and it worked well in the windows player, but when I used it in a sequence it seemed to lose the song! I'll have to play with it more and see if I can figure it out. Almost there!

Larry

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I am not sure if this is the easiest way to go about creating your own video, but this is how I did mine:


1. I copied the entire DVD that I wanted to use to MP4 format without sound
2. I used Windows Movie maker to cut clips out of it that I wanted and saved those clips for later use.
3. I then started a new project in Movie maker and started adding my clips.
4. I then added the audio file for the music I wanted to use to this video in Movie Maker.
5. When I was done editing it I saved it to 1080 format.
6. I then used a free AVI converter that I found online to convert the entire thing to an AVI file. I did this because I was told that AVI is the best format to use in LOR as it may otherwise not display the correct size consistently.....didn't want to take a chance.
I started a new sequence in the LOR sequence editor and used the AVI file and it plays perfectly. Visit my Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/JaegerHolidayHaus to check out my Ghostbusters Video if you'd like to see  how it turned out. Let me know what you think. If anyone reading this has an easier way to do this I'm always wanting to learn more.

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  • 1 month later...

can anyone tell me what kind of projector I need to look for?? I'm not electronically literate... and what are you projecting it on??

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  • 11 months later...

Ok guys.. first this thread was a lot of help, but the question I have is.

 

Some of my songs wont have videos associated with them, but my computer wants to send the standard windows blue screen to the projector to display.  Other than just changing the backdrop color to black, any ideas how to get the projector to not display anything during the non video sequences?

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