is my art project feasible?

Not saying this is the right direction for the project, just more thinking out loud. You most likely will end up with something very different than this in the end Smiley.

this is how it always works. the thinking aloud part is the most fruitful, because even tho 99.94% of the ideas are dead ends, the fraction that are good are great.

i am not going to be too attached to whether the videos can be embedded in the quilt (so called, and for all intents and purposes rightly so). they may end up being shown on a tv in the corner. but that's too old fashioned, and i'm trying to avoid it.

part of the intent of this project is to teach repurposing to a receptive and resourceful group of people, as an idea that has commercial applications. so i'm trying to make something neat with nothing in ways anybody can learn.

back to the idea of a million mp4 players. some of them have external speakers. i could slip them into special pouches in the fabric, and loop the same playlist on all of them, staggered, and wait for the batteries to run out.

or, i could make a million youtube channels. no, that would take internet access at the site, which i'm not assured of, and i'm not willing to do the installation at an internet cafe...

a million mp4 players sounds more like it (i mean 18 or fewer). can you use arduino to power them so you can plug it into an outlet?

Using that same layout idea, you could use a larger monitor for each section with smaller 7" or so monitors around it. Some could be connected to a computer while others to CD output. The same CD output may be able to be split and run into each section, removing the need for some of what may take many devices. This would remove the projection space needs making for a flatter display.

on second read, i really like this idea, including the implied conversation between videos.

a large screen surrounded by smaller screens. and you say you can connect the large screen to a computer, and the smaller screens via a cd output cord?

could i do it all with splitters and never mind projection?

a large screen surrounded by smaller screens. and you say you can connect the large screen to a computer, and the smaller screens via a cd output cord?

Flat monitors and box CPUs are very low cost. In fact, the computers needed to play a video could be obtained for free in many cases (i.e. windows98 machines with no other use). Use standard cd players to connect to smaller monitors with standard video in (i.e. the yellow cable with RCA connection).

could i do it all with splitters and never mind projection?

Yes, connect the CD player output to a splitter and send each output to a screen in each section. So if you had 7 players, you could run 21 screen in three sections plus the 3 run by computers. If you have larger flat screens with video input, you may be able to run with just 8 cd players and no computers.

wow. regular old fashioned cd players. i can find millions of those for nothing.

how come using a larger screen means i can do without a computer?

any idea how the audio works with this setup? the other colored cable, right, and some scavenged tiny speaker?

and what about using portable dvd players?

Portable DVD players with the built in screen was my first thought, but most of those are "fold out" and would look bad in such a project.

The yellow is the video, the red and white are left/right sound. Most small monitors have video and sound input and most good larger monitors do as well.

if the dvd screens can be folded flat, then i can hide the rest of it. it gets bulky tho.

i'm looking on sparcfun and sites like that for prices, and it doesn't look like monitors are very cheap.

scavenging them would be best, but unless there's an 'easy' way, then i'm going to be stuck with proprietary products. because i'm not a tech, and neither are the people i will be working with - they're just economical and expect to have to tear something down to be able to use it.

any ideas?

You can generally find inexpensive monitors on craigslist, thinking around the 17" size for around $50 each. Larger will naturally start costing more. The nice thing about monitors is .. they are easy to reuse after the project display is over. So unless this is a permanent install, you can loan monitors to the project.

As for smaller monitors - I was thinking about something like these.

http://cgi.ebay.com/4-3-TFT-LCD-Car-Reverse-RearView-Color-Monitor-CZ7-/170537635936?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b4d5d060#ht_5577wt_1139
http://cgi.ebay.com/7-TFT-LCD-Color-Screen-Car-Monitor-rearview-camera-VCR-/230503864038?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35ab19d6e6

or in the USA
http://cgi.ebay.com/7-TFT-LCD-Headrest-Monitor-/170590726834?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b7ffeab2#ht_2334wt_905

If you need multiple, you could most likely work out a deal. Also note when ordering from china .. be ready to wait a long time in most cases (i.e. two to three weeks can be normal).

There are also quite a few low cost DVD players out there in e-bay land and maybe your local pawn shops.

As for scavenging them, my opinion is you will spend more time trying to get videos playing on odd parts pulled from machines then you would want to spend.

okay. car seat monitors looks good. i can get 3.5" to 7" monitors for $20-$50. what if i have ten monitors of various sizes, to start with. what's my next step?

i found a dvd player on ebay, multi region, so it will play no matter where i end up going. i'm not sure what all the cable colors mean, but there's red, white, blue, yellow, green, and amber connections on the back.

if i wanted to run different sections of the same movie to all ten monitors (effectively starting the same movie in ten different spots), how would i do that with one player and ten monitors?

or would i need a computer for that? and if so, how would i do it with a computer?

i love the sound of pawn shops, by the way. thanks for reminding me. there's also freecycle. org.

Red and White wires are Left and Right Sound
Yellow is standard video

To run three monitors with the same video and sound, you may be able to use a VGA splitter. To run different videos and different sound, you may need three computers.

I would suggest a very small prototype .. end to end with a borrowed monitor a a few smaller screens. This will help proof of concept the implementation and end results.

Have fun :slight_smile:

As for splitting the video output. Not sure how well 10 would work but you can get a normal Y splitter to split your output. You could use 2 y splitters to get 3 outputs from a single source. Beyond that you may end up seeing a price for a "video distribution" device being a bit costly compared to other options.

video distribution. see, i would never come up with these ideas if it weren't for you guys telling me about them. that's where you're being really useful to a newbie and an artist, and that's worth brownie points in heaven.

i went and looked up video distribution machine, but they seem to be all about sending the same signal to multiple tvs. is that how i would send ten different signals (i mean ten the same signals at different times)?

Video distribution is basically a big splitter. This would send the same video output to as many outputs as your distribution system supports. That said, you may find total cost to be not much different to have say 3 video players and 3 - 10x distribution setups as it would cost to have 10 video players and 20 2x y splitters. The later would give you 10 video screens with different videos running in three sections each.

well, that's not what i need. so i need ten individual players unless i can rig a computer to send ten individual signals, right?

Can you mock up/describe the details on your vision for a final build? Basically - what it would look like and what videos should be played where? Not the sources, just what you see when looking at it.

i would like up to ten screens of various sizes, with speakers, from 1.8" to 7", ideally sewn with somewhat random spacing into the fabric of a 2x7 yard length of cloth that will be either displayed flat on a wall or wrapped around a 9' post.

the screens will all show a single video, compiled from interviews and run from different starting points for each screen, so that they're all showing different parts of the video at the same time. the entire video would be made up of 2-5 minute segments, from 10-30 segments of mostly talking heads.

the sound should be clearly audible in front of each screen, and at a proper viewing distance of 10-20' the voices should all blend together into a soft rustling sound.

if it's not possible to sew the devices in, then the second best idea is to group them together on a wall and do exactly the same thing with them.

i hope that's a specific enough vision. it will likely change...

You will need 10 players for that setup, but you should be able to use simple DVD players and burn your own video. The trick here will be having players that allow for the video to loop. If not, you may need to create the video of all the videos combined and repeat over and over for a couple of hours worth of video. Then you could just start them at different intervals or make a DVD for each on that starts at different places. Then you could simply restart them all. If you had 10 players of the same type,then a single remote may start them all at once.

Someone else may have some other input on how to get 10 video outputs, but with the need for sound on them .. looks like you will need a unique player for each screen for the desire results.

i don't mind putting as many copies of the video onto a dvd as i can get.

i guess if i had 10 mp4 players it would be the same, just more expensive, right?

well, that's simple. and when the show was over, the locals could walk away with their own players. do these things use different country formats? can you hack that?

i guess if i had 10 mp4 players it would be the same, just more expensive, right?

Correct - but smaller and easier to deal with / most likely will allow for looping videos better, etc.

do these things use different country formats?

Not that I know of, but I can't say for sure. If someone knows, please chime in.

Sounds like you are on the right track. You may have to use small speakers to go with your 2 and 3 inch screens as most of those will not have built in speakers. Many of the 7" ones do. Consider that when looking at overall cost and effect.

Have fun :slight_smile:

thanks for all your input. i'll undoubtedly have more questions, as soon as i think of them.