Here is a question for you guys.

Customer went and bought one of those "warm up DVDs." You know the type it has some computer generated art and titles but ultimatly displays the name of your home theater.

Well they found out they don't like the toil of playing the little warmup disc then getting up and switching the discs to play a dvd. Plus that whole waiting for the DVD player to cue up is "just too long".

Possible solutions... Multi disc changer that would hopp from the warm up disc to the prefered feature?

NOT ON YOUR LIFE. We have had nothing but complaints about multi disc changers... "I don't know what disc I am on. I can't find the disc I want." Slow load times. People not remembering where they left the DVD.... blah blah blah. Plus once the warm up dvd Ended it retunred to a menu screen. So this would be the choice I really want to avoid.

2 DVD players one dedicated to playing that warm up disc. Well we are out of inputs on the receiver and the projector. SO now I need a a compontn switch too. Better include audio... NOT SEXY!

Here is what I think would do the trick the best... don't know if it exists but here goes.

A small device that has a 1 choice interface for the customer... "Play Intro DVD."
Now to make this work well here are the peramaters I can see it needing.

Video Inputs:Composite, S-Video, Component, or DVI/HDMI
Audio Inputs: Analog LR, Coax, Toslink, or on the HDMI if that ever happens.
Outputs to match, but here would be the spec for performance.

2 commmands.
Command one plays the Intro/Warmup from embeded memory, using all outputs. As soon as embedded media finishes, the unit jumps to bypass mode. Passing the output of some A/V component.
Commnad two just forces the unit to bypass mode.

Anyone know of anything that fits the bill? Or do I have to build this myself... (please tell me I don't)

You dont even have a single composite input or S-video left? (Is anyone still using the world's worst connector, S-video?)

If you do, just use two players and a macro.

GOodness.... How bout somemore details onthe system... I cant believe EVERY video input is used up.....

Why would an extra component switch be bad? Is there no universal remote in the system to automate the process?

I'm more curious about these warmup discs. Never heard of such a silly thing. Are these all the rage and I'm under a rock?

These DVDs are all the rage out here in CA. Look for ads in the trade mags or in Electronic House and Home Theater Mag.Great feature that trunckslammers or BB wil not think of adding to an estimate.

Thanks for looking over the post...

S-Video... not run to the projector.

Is there a remote there? Yes. Making a macro to flip from one player to the other. Well the macro could not be fully automated. Once the demo disc is set in motion or heck the poor DVD player that gets this one job is powered on, locates the menu item then sends then gets the select or play command... plays it back...
Durring that time if the whole string was to be automoated you couldn't do things like raise or lower the volume or adjust the lighting or something. SO you would need a button that fires up the "Welcome DVD" then a screen that pretty much says.... "That was lame, now start the show!" Wich would start the automation to make sure that everything was synced up and fired up to start the feature.
I could do this but I was hoping for a sweeter solution.

Recevier is out of component inputs. Its a Marantz 5500 so it could convert C to Component..

Well like I said. I wanted to make it as close to seamless as possible. The macros require little intervention. I was just checking if there was a way to fully automate it.

They advertise these little warm up / "Welcome Discs" in the trade mags.

But everyone just thinks I should just do the macros for a second DVD player, huh? OK.

This is probably way out of the price range ...
Kaleidescape has the ability to do this on their server/player system. They even include an animated startup video. You can customize scripts to run with one button press. You can even play previews/trailers from some of your other discs and get the whole movie theater experience.

What about a networked DVD player that has a USB port -- burn the Welcome DVD to a thumb drive, and queue it up somehow. Haven't checked all the specs, but companies like Kiss (kiss-technology.com), GoVideo ([Link: govideo.com]) and several others make them.

The scripts feature is so understated that it's nearly impossible for most people to get their minds around its potential. It sounds so simple but opens up a huge amount of possibilities. They took the idea of Favorite Scenes and turned it into something much much more.

As you say though, it's not cheap. Certainly hard to recommend just for this purpose. But it is darn cool. :-)

What did you use, a Denon 485? Up-conversion man, its all about the up-conversion.

rgbyhkr
I was looking at Media servers for another job but the Utah based company has had issues with calling back.

Carl
For some reason instal refuses to run S-Video. They run 5 wire RGB and make 3 component and 1 composite. The receivers we use generally upconvert but some times sales get a little zelous and sells a real low end projector.

THats my point though, If the receiver up converts to component, then run S-video from the player to the receivers, and have it output component to the projector.

Are you sure you're thinking of Kaleidescape? They're out of California.

Jeff

Control 4

Gotcha. I was going to say I would be surprised if he was talking about Kaleidescape.