Multi ouputs on Mac via Matrix and tripleHead2Go

[strangefamilia]

hello everyone,
i don't know much anything. Specially what the difference between Matrixes and Switchers, they seem to do the same thing to me.

Anyway, here are some questions that i'm sure, will look trivial to you.

I m looking to see if its doable to output 6 screens from a single Macpro and a single graphic card (being their recent ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB for example). The 2 mini displays on the card will be transform to dual DVI links via the apple adpter, and the extra DVI out from the card will go to monitor. So, back with our 2 Dual DVI links out coming from the 2 mini display ports, they ll pass trough a switcher/matrix (so i can run a back up system in parallel) and then end up on 2 matrox tripleHead2Go.

Little diagram of the idea

question Resolum Forum.png (85.32 KiB) Viewed 9855 times

Do you think the card will handle so much data and the computer not fry ? I m looking to output 720P.
I have read couple of posts positive to running resolume on single card with 2 tripleHead2Go, but they were all done on PC, with quite more powerfull graphic cards. I wonder if the HD 5870 will do the job and if the matrix will be a problem for the system to recognise the tripleHead2Go, especially if i switch.

thanks

[sleepytom]

I would not switch inputs going into a TH2GO - the matrox is very prone to falling over and suffers from a load of problems caused by EDID errors etc.

I would use Datapath X4 Splitters, they are a lot more reliable and can cope with switching inputs. Seing as you need 2x X4 splitters for 6 outputs I would simply chain them together (an option which isn't possible with TH2go)

http://i45.tinypic.com/2612p2t.png

This lets you use the other output for your operator monitor and means you can use a (good quality) KVM switch to allow for switching between the systems.

Do you actually need to run this on mac hardware? Mac Pros are not very road worthy and are very expensive for the level of performance offered. If the machines will be dedicated Arena servers then quality rackmount PCs would be my choice as they are much more affordable, lots more ergonomically suited to touring and even possible to repair on the road.

[dRead]

I built a system for a club in Vancouver, BC that does 6 outputs at once, you will need 2 GFX cards(one must be a dual head card), the more powerful one should be for your preview monitor apparently and the other will need to go to two Matrox TripleHead2Gos. With a decent GFX card your output should be pretty solid. I'm using two Nvidia GTX 285s on a Core i7 950 with a few SSD drives, I did a test running 4x 4k clips and a half dozen effects while still maintaining 50+fps. Good luck and enjoy making content in 8:1 aspect ratio

P.S. the aforementioned rig is actually made up of 6 servers capable of outputting 9 outputs each simultaneously and a bad ass RGBHV matrix, fun times.

[strangefamilia]

I'm using two Nvidia GTX 285s on a Core i7 950 with a few SSD drives, I did a test running 4x 4k clips and a half dozen effects while still maintaining 50+fps. Good luck and enjoy making content in 8:1 aspect ratio

P.S. the aforementioned rig is actually made up of 6 servers capable of outputting 9 outputs each simultaneously and a bad ass RGBHV matrix, fun times.

Thanks dRead,

I look at the PC solution you re proposing, and it seems the way to go. The GTX285s give a nice 512 bit on DDR3 witch i understood are superior to 256bit cards on DDR5.

Do you think that i can run the UI on one card while having the 2 Dual link DVI outputs on the other outputing each one a 3840x1400 feed ? Witch could be breakdown via the solution of sleepytom (being 2 datapath X4 chained on each outputs) giving 12 outputs of 720P ? If i look at the specification of the GTX285 ( http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop ... ifications ), i see max output of 2560x1600. So maybe i need to rethink a bit my screen arrangement. If i remenber well 2560x1600 is the max output for dvi, so it ll make sense to have each Dual link DVI output delivering each one 2560x1600. Hope they can do that in the same time. Then i ll just play with the sizes of my content.

Anyway, some more questions to come ! Thanks