Dataton WATCHOUT User's Guide

Optimizing Playback of Large
Videos
When using overlapping display areas, you may want to play a video that fits
within one display but also intrudes into adjacent, overlapping displays. Even
though the video fits entirely within one display, it normally also plays on those
other, intersecting displays. While this is generally not a problem, it places
unnecessary burdens on those display computers by using two or more
computers to play a video that could actually be handled by just one. In particular,
this can be an issue if you want to play other videos on those display
computers at the same time, as a single display computer may not be capable
of sustaining more than one large video at a time.
This can all be avoided by compositing the video onto the display after the
edge-blend has been applied. This avoids the edges of the video becoming
feathered by the edge blend, allowing it to play entirely within one display
computer. To do this, specify the edge blend layer in the Timeline Settings
dialog box (see “No Edge-blend Past Layer” on page 130), then put the video
below the last edge blended layer of the Timeline (as indicated by a heavy,
black line).
◆ HINT: Depending on the image shown on adjacent displays, you may
have to add a black box behind the video, since adjacent displays may
otherwise superimpose their part of the overlap on the video.
94 Chapter 7: Production