Resolume Forum

I apologize in advance for the number of questions, but I'm new to this and trying to get stuff straight in my head. I'm a musician and have been thinking lately of adding a visual element to shows. I started reading up on all the VJ stuff just this weekend, and found myself drawn to this software because of the simplicity of the interface. But even after looking at the manual, I'm still a little unclear about how it would actually work in practice.

I'm on the verge of getting a Dell Inspiron laptop to use as an audio sampler, and for minor audio sequencing tasks. So I suppose another laptop would be needed for the VJ thing. But it wouldn't be necessary for TWO more laptops, would it? The best I can tell, it's one laptop with dual video capability; the laptop screen would be used to monitor the application, and a separate monitor (not another pc, right, just a monitor?) to monitor what the audience would see. Then somehow that signal also gets sent to a projector, right? Could anyone flesh out the details, or let me know if I'm totally wrong?

Also, the Dell I'm thinking of getting has an ATI Radeon Mobility video card -- does anyone know if this would do the trick? Are there other laptops/video combinations that are recommended?

And finally, it seems like video codecs (which I know next to nothing about) are at the heart of this software. Is there some recommended, inexpensive, software that would handle all the codecs I've been reading about, and would allow me to do whatever conversions are necessary to optimize source material?

Thanks much for any info.

Hi Dan

- a radeon mobility should be OK to get resolume running
- the Dell should be OK for running resolume as well as audio work (just don't try to do them at the same time) - you may need an external hard-drive (USB 2 or firewire) to achieve good play back speeds for your video content (laptop harddrives tend to be a little slow)
- try

http://www.riverpast.com/en/prod/videocleaner/

for a cheap conversion app

personally i use PIC mjpeg codec for avi's in resolume

feel free to mail me for more info

Tim

Thanks for the info, Tim. That conversion app looks perfect. I'm going to pick up a copy.

Dan