MacBook Pro: Black screen or ‘snow’ over DVI into switchers
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems, Presentation IT on February 21, 2010
Recently, it seems, an update to Apple computers with a DisplayPort or Mini DisplayPort interface (that’s MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, Imac, and Mac Pro machines) has caused HDCP to activate whenever the devices are connected to an HDCP compatible device.
What this means, for example, is that if you connect a MacBook Pro to a D/A (splitter) that supports HDCP, the copy protection standard will activate. Which is fine – as long as everything else in the chain also supports HDCP. In many cases, devices after the D/A will include things like Barco Encore or ScreenPRO II devices – which do not support HDCP – and will therefore see sync, but a black screen, or sometimes a ‘snow’ effect (a result of the raw encrypted signal).
I you connect a Mac using a DisplayPort to DVI adaptor to a device that does not support HDCP – for instance, directly into the background input of a ScreenPRO II, or into an ImagePRO HD, HDCP will not activate from the Mac, and the signal will flow through correctly.
HDCP is designed to prevent piracy – if you wish to play back a Blu-ray disc or copy-protected movie, the player (or computer) that it is connected to must support HDCP, and each display device connected to the player (or computer) must either also support HDCP, or be disabled. This is inherent to the HDCP (and DisplayPort) specification, and cannot be circumvented under license. HOWEVER, as Apple has done – they can prevent Blu-ray or copy-protected movies from playing back when non-compliant hardware is connected, but still allow that hardware to display other content (for example, a Keynote presentation).
At this stage, the Apple hardware is a little too smart for its own good – choosing to activate or disable HDCP depending on the first device connected to the Mac being either HDCP compliant or not. What we really need is a work-around to disable HDCP support on demand, which will mean we can connect it to an HDCP compliant D/A (or a unit like the Barco DCS-200), and still support other equipment further down-stream which is not HDCP compliant – in exchange for disabling playback of Blu-ray discs or copy-protected movies (which is typically fine for AV applications).
Work-around: For the time being, a slightly expensive work-around is to connect the Mac to an ImagePRO HD, and then take either/or both the DVI out, and DVI loop-out ports to connect to other equipment (HDCP compliant or not).
If anyone comes across a ‘hack’ for OS X or new Apple hardware that will disable HDCP support for the sake of connecting to AV equipment (and also maintains legitimacy by disabling Blu-ray and copy-protected movie playback), we’d all be grateful if you could leave a comment here or let us know so we can spread the word!
Clear destinations on ScreenPRO II Controller
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems on January 21, 2010
A common frustration when programming presets on the ScrenPRO II controller, especially when using Aux destinations such as ImagePRO HD’s or PresentationPRO II’s, is that ‘learning’ a new preset will store actions for all desinations and aux destinations that are currently lit up (selected).
It’s easy to accidentally program ‘aux’ transitions into presets without intending to.
To deselect any currently selected destination or aux destination, just double-puch (or double-press) the corresponding destination button. If you want to ensure that you record no aux transitions in a preset, press the red ‘DEST | AUX’ button, to select ‘AUX’ mode, and then double-tap ‘ALL’ to deselect all (or select all, if no aux destinations were previously selected).
This process is briefly covered in the ScreenPRO II Quick Start Guide from Barco.
ScreenPRO II Quick Start Guide - Destination/Aux Bus
Augmented reality in events
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems, Online presentations, Presentation IT on July 29, 2009
There are some great examples of augmented reality concepts out there right now – basically interactions between physical actions (e.g. touch, sight, or sound), and virtual responses – for instance, I could point my iPhone at a building, and using the in-built camera, an application could recognise the building, and draw segments over the top, labelling all of the occupants.
This is the sort of stuff we’ve been seeing in high-tech movie scenes since the late 90’s, but it’s finally becoming realistic at a consumer level thanks to devices such as the iPhone which have built in GPS, camera, accelerometer, and magnetometer (so they know where you are, what you’re looking at, from what direction, etc)…
What this means is that we’re starting to see really functional crossovers between real, physical environments, and virtual ones.
I can’t wait to see this start to emerge in the event space.
This could include things like cameras in a venue that automatically recognise known audience members, and greet them on screen by name, or it could extend to allowing the presenter to show a physical document on screen via a camera, and then ‘touch’ a word in the document to ‘hotlink’ it to a PowerPoint presentation or video.
There are a lot of opportunities to showcase the technologies in events which will ‘wow’ the audiences, but I think we will start to see some real, functional purposes starting to emerge over the next few years.
For now, here are a couple of good examples of what’s possible outside the event world -
petitinvention blog: Future of Internet Search
‘petitinvention‘ discusses a concept towards the ‘future of mobile search’ on their blog – these graphics are great concept renders of what is now possible with a device like the iPhone…
BMW UK – Print out a special square and move it around your desk in front of your web-cam to control a BMW Z4 on your computer screen. GE Money has build something similar, sending the visual ‘key’ to clients by mail as marketing collateral – an interesting way to compel customers to visit their website.
Virtual tours are back
Posted by Steve Wylie in Online presentations, Speaker support content on July 1, 2009
QuickTime VR was first released in 1994, but until recently, it seems to have been regarded as beyond the ‘DIY’ capabilities of presenters and content producers.
It seems like Google Earth and Maps are playing a huge part in changing this perception. It’s now becoming pretty common for presenters and content producers to incorporate Google Earth ‘fly-throughs’ either as live demos, or as canned screen captures.
I’ve recently come across an Australian company called Pixelcase, which produces similar results using a Flash-based front end, which makes sense for compatibility.
And it turns out that QuickTime VR still exists, and there are a bunch of tools you can use to create VR shots, including software and hardware-based systems.
Pixelcase Photo from AMP Building
Display output bug in Windows 7 RC
Posted by Steve Wylie in Presentation IT on June 5, 2009
I came across an interesting bug in Windows 7 RC this week, where a laptop running Win7 was being used for a live software demo. The laptop had been connected to a data projector in extended desktop mode, and worked fine. However, the laptop was then disconnected, moved to another location, and connected to a new projector.
At the new location, the vision switcher in line would acknowledge that the source was connected and syncing at the correct resolution, but could only see a black/blank screen. In Windows 7′s display settings dialog box, if you pressed ‘Identify Displays’, the system would show “1″ and “2″ number overlays next to each other on the laptop’s local monitor.
It seemed that Windows 7 had confused itself, and thought that both outputs were in fact showing on the one monitor. Confused? So was I. A restart resolved the issue, and I haven’t had time to try replicating it again. Hopefully these bugs will be ironed out before RTM.
Windows 7 Identify Displays Bug
Microsoft Project Natal: Must have consequences for Presentations
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems on June 5, 2009
Microsoft has released information about it’s new XBox games platform, dubbed Project Natal. The system uses a 3D camera to allow participants to interact with games without requiring a controller – it detects the people in the room and translates their real movements to commands in a game.
We’ve already seen the guys at pptPlex working on using much the same 3D camera technology to control PowerPoint – and I’m sure that it’s just a matter of time before great things happen in this space – I could imagine some really neat interaction with a system like Dataton Watchout. We’ll see…
More information about the Project Natal platform on the XBox website.
Virtual Events Platforms
Posted by Steve Wylie in Online presentations on June 5, 2009
I’ve noticed both Jack Morton and GPJ talking about virtual events more and more lately.
Jack Morton released their new Virtual Events platform recently, which seems to loosely resemble Second Life, but built as a virtual ‘convention centre’ of sorts. This is an interesting idea – we’ve already seen companies taking advantage of Second Life itself to differentiate their online ‘events’ from the now-traditional webcast/webinar platform, so it makes some sense that a large player like Jack’s have come up with their own solution in-a-box.
GPJ’s Diretor of Digital Experience in the UK, Kevin Aires has been talking a lot about virtual events lately. I think it’s clear that the big players have all seen both the threat that virtual/online poses to live events (to a limited extent) but also the opportunities attached. Interesting times.
Jack Morton Virtual Experience Platform
Presentation timer for Mac OS X
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems, Speaker support content on May 30, 2009
Apimac Timer Interface
Apimac makes a great presentation timer for Mac. It’s freeware, and supports displaying the current time, count-down, or a stop-watch. The timer has a great, simple full-screen mode which looks excellent for presenter fold-back or confidence monitors. Tip: press the space bar in full-screen mode to start or pause the timer.
Use Twitter in PowerPoint
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems, Speaker support content on May 30, 2009
A new service called Poll Everywhere allows you to set up interaction with your audience via Twitter. Your audience can participate in surveys or ask questions via Twitter, and results can be included in real-time in your PowerPoint presentation. Poll Everywhere is free for up to 15 participants, then has a subscription model depending on the number of audience members you require.
Another interesting presentation service that uses Twitter to interact with your audience is Visible Tweets, which is a free web-based service that displays tweets from a specific user, or with a specific tag using stylish Flash transitions… would look very neat on LCD displays around a conference venue.
Visible Tweets using 'Rotation' effect