[Slightly OT] Eurovision backdrop screens

Firstly, my apologies to our friends over the herring pond for the
Euro/UK-centric nature of this post (although I'm sure you have
similar things in the US).

Watching the Eurovision Song contest on Saturday night, I was
impressed by the LED displays on both the backdrop and stage.

What sort of processing is involved in these massive LED screens? Just
getting them to sync must be a mammoth task. Do they make use of the
commercial chips from Maxim et al, or is there a more esoteric
solution.

I'm not asking for any trade secrets - I'm just interested to hear the
experiences from anyone who has been involved with this type of
project.

Thanks,
Mike

Mike G =ED=E0=EF=E8=F1=E0:
> Firstly, my apologies to our friends over the herring pond for the
> Euro/UK-centric nature of this post (although I'm sure you have
> similar things in the US).
>
> Watching the Eurovision Song contest on Saturday night, I was
> impressed by the LED displays on both the backdrop and stage.

are you sure these were LED displays at all?
I got the impression these were laser projectors

Best regards
Tsvetan
---
PCB prototypes for $26 at http://run.to/pcb (http://www.olimex.com/
pcb)
Development boards for ARM, AVR, PIC, MAXQ2000 and MSP430  (http://
www.olimex.com/dev)

tusunov@my-deja.com wrote:
> Mike G ������:
>> Firstly, my apologies to our friends over the herring pond for the
>> Euro/UK-centric nature of this post (although I'm sure you have
>> similar things in the US).
>>
>> Watching the Eurovision Song contest on Saturday night, I was
>> impressed by the LED displays on both the backdrop and stage.
> 
> are you sure these were LED displays at all?
> I got the impression these were laser projectors
> 
> Best regards
> Tsvetan
> ---
> PCB prototypes for $26 at http://run.to/pcb (http://www.olimex.com/
> pcb)
> Development boards for ARM, AVR, PIC, MAXQ2000 and MSP430  (http://
> www.olimex.com/dev)
> 

The screens were various products made by Barco and driven from several 
media servers called Hippotizer, which is just a powerful PC with some 
clever software.  They would have been run from one of the GrandMA 
lighting control consoles running the show, via DMX512 either over 
ethernet or directly.

I thought it looked amazing, shame about thew music really.

Martin

http://www.barco.com/corporate/en/pressreleases/show.asp?index=1908
www.green-hippo.com
http://www.eurovisiondiary.com/
http://www.lightnetwork.com//?msg=21255.1

On Mon, 14 May 2007 11:45:09 +0100, in comp.arch.embedded Mike G
<no@spam.ta> wrote:

>Firstly, my apologies to our friends over the herring pond for the
>Euro/UK-centric nature of this post (although I'm sure you have
>similar things in the US).
>
>Watching the Eurovision Song contest on Saturday night, I was
>impressed by the LED displays on both the backdrop and stage.
>
>What sort of processing is involved in these massive LED screens? Just
>getting them to sync must be a mammoth task. Do they make use of the
>commercial chips from Maxim et al, or is there a more esoteric
>solution.
>
>I'm not asking for any trade secrets - I'm just interested to hear the
>experiences from anyone who has been involved with this type of
>project.
>
>Thanks,
>Mike
http://www.barco.com/corporate/en/products/product.asp?element=2586
Monster stuff
Fortunately I missed the the Eurosong contest (again)


martin