Rack Relics: Folsom ScreenPro - The Box That Killed "Punch and Pray"

Before seamless switching became something we took for granted, changing video sources during a corporate show could be a nerve-racking experience.

Picture this: The CEO is wrapping up a PowerPoint presentation, and the next presenter needs to switch to a live laptop demo. Sounds simple enough today. But back then, switching sources often meant muting the projector, routing the new signal, and waiting for the projector to recognize and lock onto it. For a few seconds, the audience got a black screen, and the video engineer got to hope everything came back the way it was supposed to.

It was a process affectionately known as “punch and pray.”

Then came the Folsom ScreenPro.

Introduced around 2000 by Sacramento-based Folsom Research, the ScreenPro helped change the way video engineers handled live presentations.

At its core, it was a high-resolution seamless presentation switcher. Rather than sending different computer signals directly to a projector and forcing it to resync every time, ScreenPro handled the scaling and switching internally while maintaining a consistent output signal. That meant operators could transition between sources without the audience watching the projector go through its usual gymnastics.

For corporate events, where a presentation might jump between PowerPoint, video playback, camera feeds, and multiple laptops, that was a pretty big deal. It solved a problem video engineers had been dealing with for years and introduced a level of control that would become standard in live production.

The original ScreenPro offered eight universal inputs supporting everything from composite video to high-resolution computer graphics, with resolutions up to 1600×1200.

Of course, this was well before HDMI and DisplayPort became everyday connections. If you worked with one of these boxes, you probably remember the five-wire RGBHV connections and the seemingly endless collection of BNC cables that came along with them.

Inside the unit were two video scalers, allowing an operator to prepare the next source while another was on screen. With Main and Preview outputs, you could check your next look before taking it to the audience.

Cuts, dissolves, wipes, picture-in-picture, and keying capabilities gave operators considerably more flexibility than simply switching between projector inputs. Stored presets and programmable steps also helped make transitions more repeatable throughout a show.

It wasn't just about eliminating the black screen. ScreenPro gave the person behind the switcher more control over what the audience actually saw.

For the video engineer running a general session, ScreenPro introduced a workflow that would become familiar to generations of V1s: select your next source, check it on Preview, make your adjustments, and take it to the screen.

That sounds pretty ordinary today. But in an era when laptops could arrive with wildly different resolutions, refresh rates, and signal formats, having a switcher manage those differences was a welcome improvement.

It didn't eliminate every headache. You still had to deal with source compatibility, analog signal quality, timing, and the occasional laptop that refused to cooperate. And, of course, there was still plenty of opportunity for operator error.

But having a dedicated presentation switcher between your sources and projector made the process considerably more predictable. In an industry where a few seconds of black during a keynote can feel like an eternity, predictability is worth a lot.

Folsom's success didn't go unnoticed. Barco acquired the company in 2004, and the ScreenPro family continued to evolve.

The ScreenPRO-II arrived in 2005, bringing more advanced layering, picture-in-picture capabilities, keying, additional input options, and integration with Barco's growing Encore presentation system.

Encore would take many of these concepts into larger, more complicated multi-screen productions, and eventually the industry would move toward powerful systems like Barco's E2 and the Event Master family.

The technology advanced, resolutions increased, and control surfaces became considerably more sophisticated. But the basic workflow remained familiar: get the next source ready, preview it, and make a clean transition to program.

By today's standards, the original ScreenPro is a relic. Its analog connections, limited resolutions, and processing capabilities don't hold a candle to modern presentation systems.

But there was a time when having a ScreenPro in your video rack meant you had a powerful tool for getting through a corporate general session without making the audience stare at a black screen between presentations.

For the engineers who spent years behind one, it represents an important chapter in the evolution of live event video. We may have traded the BNC cables for fiber, HDMI, and SDI, and moved on to much more capable systems, but we're still trying to accomplish the same thing.

Make the transition clean, keep the screens looking good, and don't give the audience a reason to notice the video guy.

And for that, the Folsom ScreenPro deserves a little recognition.