djohnson1810 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Hi guys. This year I purchased the BenQ W770ST Short Throw 3D 720p HD DLP Home Theater Projector for my light show. I am using the Light-O-Rama S3 Advanced edition to run the show. So far, so good. I have managed to get the projector to show a video against the house by using a media file through the S3 editor. My question however is what happens when I am not doing video projection with some of the songs. I don’t want my sequence editor projecting against the house. In other words, the projector needs to be projecting sometimes, but not other times. Do I need to have two video cards to accomplish this? Right now I am using the HDMI out on my laptop. Second, when the video is NOT projecting an image, there is still somewhat of a dim light projecting against the house. How do you guys handle that? Does you projector go into a sleep mode and the bulb turns off, or do you use some type of actuator to “cover the lens” when you want it completely off? I have found some other threads discussing projectors on this forum, but not very many answers. Anyone got any good links to tutorials or detailed discussions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I turn my computer screen to black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grump010 Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) I have the same projector, so I will be watching this thread intently.I'm able to control the projector via hyperterminal or procomm via the serial port but I haven't been able to figure out how to send the commands from LOR sw to the specific serial port that the control cable for the projector is plugged into. CheersDaryl B. Edited February 19, 2014 by grump010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjcruz Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I also set the background black on my computer so between videos you barely notice that it's on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevikester Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 THis is just an observation, but I think a projection onto the front of the house versus, say a back projection screen inside the house will vary how much light is shown, even if the screen is black. I would think that it would be pretty noticeable on the front of the house. I do it on the back projection screen for virtual Santa, as there are times that I like to take the audio from Santa, and actually hear what he is saying over the speakers. I did that for the first time last year, as prior to that, I just ran the dvd on a loop without the sound, I have the video clips of him attached to all of my songs, so there is that brief moment of darkness where Santa disappears and is back again, but the kids thought it was neat when they actually heard Santa's voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aemnky Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I install a lot of these with my job. We are a dealer for them. the best way to not have anything show and not waste your bulb life would be to control it with the RS-232 and turn it off remotely. the cost of a new bulb is around $150 for 1500 to 2000 hrs. and being out in a non controlled environment it cold make it less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grump010 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 aemnky,Have you ever used the RS232 control within the LOR SW to control the functions of this projector? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aemnky Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 aemnky,Have you ever used the RS232 control within the LOR SW to control the functions of this projector?no I have not. We use Extron and Crestron to control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhigley Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 There are good device servers that you can send commands to RS232 devices over ethernet. You could use the CMD option on the sequence and write a batch file or other program to send commands to the IP address in turn sending it to the RS232 device. I'm currently exploring this as well. I have created a PHP hosted site that the CMD feature of the sequence executes a 'GET' of a HTTP page in turn sending commands to my LED scroll with whatever I want. Currently it is the song title, and Next song in X minutes (while the show is idle).There are options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grump010 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I've used .bat files for quite a few years, but I don't have the experience and can't seem to locate the information to send the bat commands to a specific com port. For instance to blank the screen it's a very simple text command as follows:<CR>*blank=on#<CR>and unblank the screen:<CR>*blank=off#<CR>If anyone knows how to send this as a bat file to a specific com port, I would very appreciative on any direction they can offer. djohnson1810, I hope this isn't hijacking your thread as you will probably need this information also. If you wish I can create another thread asking this question, just seemed like a good opportunity since you seem to be working on the same issue. CheersDaryl B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohnson1810 Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Any good primers on this RS232 you speakith of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohnson1810 Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 I've used .bat files for quite a few years, but I don't have the experience and can't seem to locate the information to send the bat commands to a specific com port. For instance to blank the screen it's a very simple text command as follows:<CR>*blank=on#<CR>and unblank the screen:<CR>*blank=off#<CR>If anyone knows how to send this as a bat file to a specific com port, I would very appreciative on any direction they can offer. djohnson1810, I hope this isn't hijacking your thread as you will probably need this information also. If you wish I can create another thread asking this question, just seemed like a good opportunity since you seem to be working on the same issue. CheersDaryl B.No, your good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grump010 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Thanks,As I find out more info I will post it here. I've asked a few people at work, but no luck so far. CheersDaryl B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohnson1810 Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Yea. I know people have been doing this for a while now and hopefully someone will have a step by step video or written tutorial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyD Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I googled "bat file send rs232 commands". Might be helpful? https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fempegbbs.com%2Fubbthreads.php%2Ftopics%2F350713%2FHow_to_send_a_text_string_to_a&ei=yecXU7GkNqWk2gXh_IGICg&usg=AFQjCNEMfiPoQVhC6qn2nxRrGmTFz-IryA&bvm=bv.62577051,d.b2I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grump010 Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Thanks Tony,I saw that and was unable to duplicate what they are doing using a win 7 or 8.1 OS. I haven't tried on my xp machine but hopefully this weekend as long as I don't get bugged with any call out for work. CheersDaryl B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohnson1810 Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 I have not had time to digest the information, but here is a link we might find helpful. http://www1.lightorama.com/help/windows_shell_commands.htm?zoom_highlightsub=Windows+command Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grump010 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Looks very promising, I remember reading in the forums a few years ago when Video was implemented into the software but I couldn't find any info on it when I searched. Duh, never thought of the user manual!I'm out of pocket for a few days and then taking a sabbatical for a couple of weeks in the Dominican, but I'll try to play around with this when I get home before leaving for the Dominican. I would really like to get this working so that I can sequence a couple of videos that have been on the back burner for a couple of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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