Technology Update for the 2012 Film & History Conference at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee (Sept. 26–30)

Instead of a standalone Blu-ray/DVD player, an Internet-enabled Windows 7 PC with Blu-ray/DVD will be available in each presentation room. The PC will have Office 2007 (Word, PowerPoint, etc.) and PowerDVD playback software for DVD/Blu-ray presentation on 50” HD plasma monitors. Presenters can bring just their A/V media (on a USB key, a CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc, or an external SATA drive).

If presenters have a non-“Region 1” DVD or non -“Region A” Blu-ray, then they should

• ○ use a Region 1 DVD or Region A Blu-ray instead – or –

• ○ burn the necessary video clips to a personal DVD/Blu-ray disc (which is not Region coded) or to a USB key – or –

• ○ present the media using their own laptop computers.

Presenters choosing to use their own laptops may connect to the 50-inch HD monitors through

• ○ the supplied standard HDMI cable attached to the monitor – or –

• ○ the supplied standard HD15/VGA cable and 3.5mm stereo audio/headphone cable attached to the monitor.

Caveats:

• ○ Some adapters (e.g., from HDMI to mini-HDMI, to mini-DisplayPort/DisplayPort, and to DVI-D) will be available for checkout at the registration desk, but adapter compatibility cannot be guaranteed. A/V presenters using their own laptops should plan for an alternative means of presenting their media if the HDMI or VGA video connection cannot be established with their laptop computers;

• ○ HDCP-protected DVDs or Blu-rays generally will not play through the analog HD15/VGA port (or DVI-A port) on any computer (or through the HD15/VGA port on the monitor). Microsoft Windows 7(like Mac OS X v10.5 or later with iTunes 10 or later) supports HDCP-protected content only through digital connections(e.g., HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI-D);

• ○ Presenters wishing to use their own laptops to display HDCP-protected content through a VGA port will require software on their computers that bypasses the security encryption on that disc. (DVDFab.com and SlySoft.com supply downloadable packages, but, although Film & History supports the Fair Use clause for the academic purpose of illustration, the journal assumes no responsibility for any copyright violations that might arise from a presenter’s use of this publicly available software.)

See www.filmandhistory.org for registration rates and deadlines.