External screen connection

[Andy Wood]

Perhaps someone can shed some light on following issue:

I'm trying to connect an external apple cinema display monitor to my MacBook Pro to see what I may get on an external screen when i get into the venue.

I am doing this via thunderbolt mini display port to DVI adapter. If i hit 'mirror displays' in the Displays system prefs then it does precisely that, so i assume connection is ok and machines talking.

How do i get to see the output from QLab, on my external monitor? I assumed it would just see it, same as QT but without all the transport controls (and why i got QLab in first place). 

In QLab the 'audition' screen is working fine and i assumed this was what QLab would be pumping out and what i would see in my attached external monitor but i get nothing on the monitor (unless i 'mirror displays')

There appears to be something called Untitled Surface 1 but if i do anything with this i get red Xs everywhere

If i try to repatch any screens i get told i need a license (?) I have demo version and been told it should do what i need here which is very simple.

Will i have the same problem when i arrive at venue and need to patch into a (full-size) cinema screen there?

I assume i'm missing something really obvious but i looked at the tutorials and can find stuff on 'surfaces' and the complexity of options with programming these but no simple instructions on connecting to a single external screen properly.

Any help gratefully received! Thanks.

Andy

[Andy Wood]

Ok folks. Apparently QLab sometimes won't recognise connected hardware if they are connected after QLab launched, so you have to relaunch it then it will see external monitor. Now all i got to do is work out how to set it up so it doesn't just mirror my local screen (on laptop) and show me what i see in the audition window! Any advice?

[Christopher Ashworth]

Hi Andy,

On Aug 30, 2013, at 2:34 PM, Andy Wood <an...@soundalibi.co.uk> wrote:

> Now all i got to do is work out how to set it up so it doesn't just mirror my local screen (on laptop) and show me what i see in the audition window! Any advice?

Forgive me if I've missed this in an earlier email, but do you have mirroring turned off in your system screen preferences?

Also, just to make sure it's clear, video will go either to the audition window or the final screen output, but not both at the same time.

Best,
Chris

[Christopher Ashworth]

Hi again Andy, 

A few more things to check:

On Aug 30, 2013, at 11:58 AM, Andy Wood <an...@soundalibi.co.uk> wrote:

Perhaps someone can shed some light on following issue:

I'm trying to connect an external apple cinema display monitor to my MacBook Pro to see what I may get on an external screen when i get into the venue.

I am doing this via thunderbolt mini display port to DVI adapter. If i hit 'mirror displays' in the Displays system prefs then it does precisely that, so i assume connection is ok and machines talking.

You'll want "mirror displays" off when using QLab.

How do i get to see the output from QLab, on my external monitor? I assumed it would just see it, same as QT but without all the transport controls (and why i got QLab in first place). 

In QLab the 'audition' screen is working fine and i assumed this was what QLab would be pumping out and what i would see in my attached external monitor but i get nothing on the monitor (unless i 'mirror displays')

If the audition window is open new video cues will only go there, so it's a good place to check your work but it will prevent video from going to the final output.

There appears to be something called Untitled Surface 1 but if i do anything with this i get red Xs everywhere

If you see a red X you can:

• Hover over the broken cue to see a tooltip about why it is broken, or

• Press command-B to see a list of all broken cues.

This should help explain what you need to do.

See also this video tutorial:

http://figure53.com/qlab/documentation/broken-cues-and-warnings/

Best,

Chris

[Kelly Schmidt]

Having seen your response of "have you turned mirroring off" in a number of responses lately, would it be possible / wise to allow QLab to hi-jack the mirroring option, then restore the settings after closing?

[Kelly Schmidt]

With that said, I'm not really a proponent of enabling ignorance to the technical aspects of your craft. So maybe that's not a great idea.

[Andy Wood]

Thanks Chris, ~I didn't realise either of the below but thats clear now

andy

[Andy Wood]

Hi Chris

Thanks for the two points re mirroring & audition screen below which are now clear.

But a simple and fundamental question i dont seem to be able to clarify is the below:

Is it possible to see your workspace on your local screen so that you can select and trigger stuff manually whilst outputting ONLY the video to an external screen?

or
once you are in show mode and outputting video to an external screen, the only way to then control or select cues 'on the fly' is via key commands? ie if you go back to your workspace screen during show, the audience would see that also?

This is crucial to me to understand as I have to find a way to manually trigger videos in a simple cue list in response to a live show. (Laptop output to Single cinema screen.)

I cant pre- programme the cues as we wont know precise timings of live performers until the show happens live. I hope you understand my question. 

If you could advise settings i need to make sure video outputs ok that would be great too. I understand i select the screen - which should auto show up if connected (and i launch QLab after connecting!) makes sure the mode is 'full screen' and 'preserve aspect ratio'. Do i have to re-patch anything in the video settings as well?

Thanks

andy