What are projection control consoles for outdoor theater systems?
You might have ended up here while googling what the essential components of outdoor movie systems are. One would normally think of a screen, projector and -- maybe -- an audio system. A less known and neglected component is a movie projection control console.
4 Features to take a note of in a movie projection control console
A movie projection control console is a travel-ready case with rack-mounted audio-visual components that cover a specific function.
1- Media playback
The main and most important role of your movie projection control console is content playback. In other words, it's about transferring the audio-video signal to a projector and speakers. In some extremely minimalist outdoor movie setups you could use a laptop as a media control console.
What if your venue doesn't have WiFi? Or your friends feel like watching a movie on a Blu-ray disc?
In such cases, just having a laptop won't solve the problem for you. Any movie projection control console of quality has a reliable, multiformat Blu-ray player integrated, with WiFi for streaming and even a USB media playback.
2- Volume control and audio mixing
Before your outdoor screening you might want to play some background music to get your audience into the right mood for the evening.
During the show, there will be loud and silent scenes throughout the content screened. You certainly will want to equalize them.
Having a mike on hand for possible announcements or the intro session is also more than convenient.
To check all the boxes, an audio player is included in a movie projection control console.
3- Specialized components and safety features
A projection control console is also used to distribute power throughout your outdoor movie setup: Blu-ray player, audio mixer, wireless mike and projector are all wired to electricity supply through a power conditioner in the console.
In addition to apparent convenience (each time you launch the show, you will need to plug in a single power cable instead of four), the power conditioner helps protect your precious equipment from power surges and improves sound quality by reducing electricity interference with the audio signal.
Your movie projection control console may be customized with individual specialized components. Think, audio delay for multi-speaker systems or video-mixing monitors for live mixing of multiple video sources.
4- Convenience at your event
A well-designed movie projection control console will have useful components that make any event producer's life easier. Dimmable shop lights allow you to comfortably work in the dark. A lockable rack-mounted drawer will let you safely store all kinds of movie event producer's essentials.
We at Big Screen Pro suggest you include at least the simplest projection control console within your outdoor movie setup. Later, when you have more outdoor screening event experience you'll want to add more complex components, tailored to your individual event production needs.
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