So I've been researching everything you've said and concluded that you are the man on the right track for what we want. My dad likes things simple, so I'm gonna have to learn how to do this from scratch, which sound like a good project and learning experience. Anything you can help me with to make it easier will help though. Like should I put each unit together from scratch using individual parts or should I take an old machine and rip out stuff that's not needed and add what I do need?
One more question: Is the server seperate from the computer used to actually hook into the displays? I couldn't quite understand that and thought we should be able to fit everything into one box. I think the most expensive component is going to be the graphics card. I don't want to deal with the daisy chain route and would rather get a nice graphics card that has 3 display ports, or two cards with 4 ports. What would you use if this were your project?
The final thing I want your help with is the software. There's a ton out there and i've tried several of them, but none of them do what I want. Just to clarify I want: Each picture to show up as it's intended size (4x6, 8x10) which I've already formatted. I want them to show up randomly and stay on screen for 7-8seconds before they fade away. In that 8 seconds though, I want a new photo to pop up randomly every .25-.5 seconds and not cover any current image by more than a tiny bit. Some collages stack images on top of a pile. I don't want that. But I also want it to have that effect so everything isn't straight up and down and there's some realistic chaos to it.
This software needs to be able to do this for each monitor individually as it's pointless to have 3 monitors that are duplicates.
I honestly think this is the hardest part. I don't want or need frames/borders/effect for the images. The transition can be fade to black in and out. After about 10 minutes there should be 3 screens filled with pictures that are all visible, random, and around long enough to see. The ability to add captions or info would be nice to, but more as an option that can be turned on or off at will.
I hope I was clear enough, I really appreciate your help and would like to compensate you some how for your time. But I know what you mean... I do a lot of paid work and every now and then something comes along I decide to just do for free, to help, or cause it's different. But, if you'll accept, I'll compensate you.