I have to agree with Gareth - in the busy production period of a theatre show - the LX programmer usually wants nothing to do with video and having to create cues is a major pain for them. So the easiest solution is not to bug them, use the MSC outputs and to ask for as fewer 'video' cues to be created as possible.

I have also just put a couple of systems together for bands touring their own video system to festivals - a two mac mini server system in a nice little 4u rack. Self contained and easy to use. We have used MIDI over the network, as included as standard in Mac OS. The noise boys send a MIDI note to preset a sequence, another to GO and the third to fade out.

This has worked very nicely, and allowed the band to tour their own playback system that is usable with most screens/projection setups that festivals can provide.

The other benefit from using MIDI over ethernet is, that there are no short cable restrictions and you don't need another interface to go wrong!

Nev.