Jeff : A lot of what you'll eventually need is dependent on the majority of the type of events you do. As my focus is on weddings, my equipment choices have been predicated on that ilk.
First, weddings are highly mobile oriented. One comes into a blank arena, then as fast as possible in the smallest area possible, the road show is set. Then, when it's over...whoosh...gone and nothing left behind. Will you have roadie help or will you be alone? Another equipment choice impact.
Portability, speed, labor, and time.
In my case
only [not speaking for or against anyone else's concepts], the decision was the laptop route. Since going digital in 1998, no CDs have been used or carried at an event. There was no going backwards and begin carrying DVDs. That eliminated DVD players and turned the direction to digital only.
Because of personal long term success with GigaPortAG sound cards ( 4 stereo channels using ASIO driver sets ) and an everlasting love affair with the 1U Numark RM-6 mixer (six channels), plus spending good bucks for quality lap tops with the right horsepower ( one main, two backups ), the video media choice path was digital again. With four output choices into four input mixer choices, I can run two playback programs concurrently which is a fail safe should either hiccup.
If one chooses the digital route, be prepared for a cacophony of software rendering software, file type decisions, editing programs, and playback mixing software. Mind boggling, horrifically diverse, confusing, and far from being standardized. Too much development money at stake.
For the monitor, size/weight were the primary issues, screen quality second, track record third, warranty fourth, an available carry-in local repair shop last.
Making the usual ground breaking but novice usual mistakes, the first purchase was a small inexpensive screen. Could not see squat from more than 10'. Bought a larger, heavier, model. Ahhh, 20' viewing range. But because the screen wasn't "flying", when folks danced, no one at the tables could see. Also, because no money was spent on a proper protective transport case/bag, ended up shattering the anti-glare protective screen with an overly tightened ratchet strap. The replacement anti-glare screen was as much to replace as the buying a new monitor.
As of this moment, the screen choice is and remains the Samsung 52" lcd monitor (a mere 70 lbs) and a crank up lighting tree tripod (not a trussing crank stand; the lighting stand is smaller and lighter than those). By custom altering the stand, [run all the wires inside the center] there are
NO EXPOSED wires. By putting hooks on the back of the screen instead of the far too heavy wall mount or truss mount brackets, the screen simply hooks on the crossbar, and using an 18v drill, crank that puppy in the air at various needed heights. The transport, set, and strike is all done by my personal roadies...me, myself, and I. It has added about 20 minutes to setup, less than 10 minutes strike time.
Storage is done on duplicated 2TB external drives to house the video files having decided on the native vob format until somebody comes out with a universal codec format that will allow for vob clarity at a considerable file size saving. FYI: vob to video is what wav is to audio. wav files are about 1 mb per minute of audio, vob is about 80mb a minute. Both vob and wav are original, lossless, and ginormous space hogs.
The last less obvious consideration is media duplicity. Are you going to subscribe to a DVD service AND a CD service? Are you going to have a 200mb video file and a 5 mb audio file of the same song? Once subscribed to RPM for audio AND video, and to TM Century for video simultaneously, that has been reduced to TM Century video only. They seem to keep current with what is needed for today's audiences
PLUS the content of TM Century video's language and visual is rarely more than "R" rated, which is tame considering what has been seen from other services.
Lastly comes the historical needs for video content. Try to find any quality video tracks of artists and songs from 1980 or older. Now one will go from buying new, to catching up with yesterday, to questing for the older, to learning how to put your own audio tracks on an ancient video and somehow sync up the lips with the sounds.
Good luck with your choices and stand by to accept another addiction into your life.
Here's my presentation as of a two weeks ago:
This has been a quick and dirty synopsis. There's much more detail and system experiences into varying decisions especially if one is developing an eye for futuristic possibilities.
I figure my wife will kill me one of these days :sqerr: