[ardchoille13]

Hello all, I have been a loyal reader for years but have never actually posted for help.....until now. Hoping you guys can point me in the right direction


Here is the scenario:

I am a nightclub owner and I want my DJ's to be able to send music video mixes to 4 TV's surrounding the dance floor. The DJ booth has a PC dedicated to mixing audio and music videos. It is eqiupped with a video card that supports multi-monitor out in the form of VGA, DVI, and HDMI. I need to send the second monitor video signal to those 4 TV's at varying distances from the source, 30ft, 60ft, 75ft, and 100ft respectively. I don't need the TV's to display anything other than a clone of the second monitor output.

In short, the first monitor output from the PC will drive the DJ booth PC screen for the DJ and the second monitor output will be the source for the other 4 TV's displaying the video mixes, ads, etc...


Top notch video quality isn't really a concern........to an extent. As long as the picture quality on the TV's is capable of displaying music videos, advertisements, and music visualizations effectively.


Budget IS a concern, though. I assume the most direct route would be just to pick up a 1x4 HDMI splitter and send the signal through varying lengths of HDMI cable.


So far I have the following as a tentative solution:


Send the second monitor output to something like this 1x4 splitter .

Then send the 4 outs to the TV's over either standard HDMI cables or use some combination of HDMI over Cat6 connections .




1 - Are the lengths I am trying to run too long for HDMI? (Keep in mind that this is in an environment strewn with other electronic devices that may cause signal interference, including nightclub lighting on DMX cables and Pro-Audio equipment with speaker cable ran everywhere.)


2 - If I can get away with the cable run lengths, what is my best option for cabling? (HDMI over Cat6 sounds promising but there are so many options out there it starts to get confusing, lol)



3 - If there's any other route I could take that would simplify this and still keep the budget low, by all means, shout it out.


Thanks for your time. There's a free drink on me for anyone who helps me solve this, lol. I just want it done.

 

[AV Doogie]

1) Some of those run lengths will probably be problematic.


2) HDMI over cat 6 can work well. There are many products out there. I use a Laird Telemedia system (active). These units use only one cat6 cable per feed. This system would cost you about 1500 without labor.


3) Some folks here may recommend use VGA or component with audio. There are baluns for those options as well. I have no experience with them.

 

[nded]

Check out HDMI over IP - that will give you the flexibility to easily expand to more screens in the future if needed.

 

[ChrisWiggles]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ardchoille13 /forum/post/18244199


Hello all, I have been a loyal reader for years but have never actually posted for help.....until now. Hoping you guys can point me in the right direction


Here is the scenario:

I am a nightclub owner and I want my DJ's to be able to send music video mixes to 4 TV's surrounding the dance floor. The DJ booth has a PC dedicated to mixing audio and music videos. It is eqiupped with a video card that supports multi-monitor out in the form of VGA, DVI, and HDMI. I need to send the second monitor video signal to those 4 TV's at varying distances from the source, 30ft, 60ft, 75ft, and 100ft respectively. I don't need the TV's to display anything other than a clone of the second monitor output.

In short, the first monitor output from the PC will drive the DJ booth PC screen for the DJ and the second monitor output will be the source for the other 4 TV's displaying the video mixes, ads, etc...


Top notch video quality isn't really a concern........to an extent. As long as the picture quality on the TV's is capable of displaying music videos, advertisements, and music visualizations effectively.

Then ditch HDMI. HDMI is a nightmare for distribution, and unless you have 4 of the exact same displays, AND you get HDMI over those distances really tested out properly you should expect a headache. HDMI is just not used in the professional arena for distribution because the PRIMARY concern is bulletproof reliability, physical robustness, etc, and HDMI is horrendous at that.

Quote:
Budget IS a concern, though. I assume the most direct route would be just to pick up a 1x4 HDMI splitter and send the signal through varying lengths of HDMI cable.


So far I have the following as a tentative solution:


Send the second monitor output to something like this 1x4 splitter .

Then send the 4 outs to the TV's over either standard HDMI cables or use some combination of HDMI over Cat6 connections .




1 - Are the lengths I am trying to run too long for HDMI? (Keep in mind that this is in an environment strewn with other electronic devices that may cause signal interference, including nightclub lighting on DMX cables and Pro-Audio equipment with speaker cable ran everywhere.)

Not impossible, but you will likely need to be using HDMI baluns with cat6. Baluns are another source of nightmare.


STRONGLY suggest sticking with analog distribution, just distribute RGB to commercial displays or any display with RGB input. It's super reliable, anyone with any kind of proav experience will know how to do this, matrix switching and distribution is very straightforward. Matrix switching with HDMI is a disaster. And splitting to multiple displays can also be a disaster if they're not all the exact same television.

Quote:
2 - If I can get away with the cable run lengths, what is my best option for cabling? (HDMI over Cat6 sounds promising but there are so many options out there it starts to get confusing, lol)

If the wire route is accessible, you could try direct HDMI runs first. Otherwise I would pull everything, a bunch of coax, lots of cat6, etc. You need to be fully prepared to ditch the entire HDMI/DVI idea.

Quote:
3 - If there's any other route I could take that would simplify this and still keep the budget low, by all means, shout it out.


Thanks for your time. There's a free drink on me for anyone who helps me solve this, lol. I just want it done.

If there is no specific reason you want digital video for 1080p from blu-ray or the like, you should avoid HDMI like the plague. Analog is extremely reliable, extremely predictable, wire is easy to deal with and field-terminate, switching and distribution is very straightforward and extremely reliable.


HDMI: horribly unpredictable, can't field-terminate and cabling is crucially important, switching and distribution is NOT straightforward and is a nightmare of unreliability of you can get it to work in the first place. And if you just need PC or 1080i or something for non-critical viewing, there is no reason at all to be going through the nightmare of HDMI.


HDMI is difficult enough when you're dealing with ONE local source to ONE local display, let alone distribution over long distance. If you want to do this, you need to be prepared to invest a ridiculous amount of time and money trying out varieties of splitters, switchers, displays, and baluns to get things to work properly (which may never work).


Is that clear enough?

 

[ardchoille13]

First off, thanks for all the great info. HDMI is now out the window per the fear ChrisWiggles has instilled in me, lol. You are describing the exact scenario I am trying to avoid, so HDMI is now relegated to the trash bin, ha.

The only reason I chose HDMI to begin with was due to the fact that that was the only option that didn't require any sort of signal conversion from the source as only 3 of the TV's have VGA inputs, 2 of them have DVI but ALL of them have HDMI and the PC supports all three. I am by no means an AV Guru, lol, but I am pretty sure that VGA is my only analog choice from those three. So I suppose that's the route I will take. Now I just need to figure out the best way to convert that VGA source into something that all my TV's can accept. Component or Composite are really my only options.


Also, earlier when I said "budget is a concern" I suppose I should clarify a little. Budget is a concern due the fact that I was recently burned pretty badly in an attempt to update the AV equipment and distribution in one of my other locations (Sports Bar, not a Nightclub). The installers quoted what I thought was a fair price for the work and then it ballooned out of control until I was approaching 60k in invoices for features I didn't really need. But alas, this is neither the time nor place for that conversation. Suffice it to say that my current needs are extremely simple compared to the previous job and I would rather not invite the same disaster upon myself if I can accomplish this in house for a fraction of the headache and cost. I mean on paper it seems so simple, 4 TV's displaying exactly the same thing from one source, lol.


So, with that in mind............

What's my best option for converting that VGA(DB15) output to something analog that all my TV's can accept (Component, Composite) at the other end?


What do I need to look for in a converter and cables for a run of that distance?


Once again, thanks for all your help.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

What kinds of resolutions via RGB/VGA do the existing displays support?


I would probably just replace the 4th display with a commercial display that has RGB/VGA inputs and then use a simple RGB distribution amp to feed the TVs, making sure that they all support a common resolution and set the computer to that. Very simple. A basic RGB distribution amp might be a couple hundred dollars, a more robust pro-grade unit from Extron or the like might be several hundred but still not a very large amount. It would be significantly more if you wanted multiple sources switched to the various TVs (matrix switch) which doesn't sound like you want that capability.


One new TV, depending on size, for a couple grand, and then some cabling and a little installation labor (few hundred bucks for cabling & ends, and maybe a day of labor depending on what the runs are like). Easy.


You could also, instead of a new TV, get an RGB to YPbPr converter, but you'd have to do your homework first and figure out what kinds of component resolutions the TV supports, which might be only standard SD and HD formats, not computer formats, so you might run into a little headache there trying to get one thing out to all of them, that's why I just suggested getting a new TV so you can just send RGB directly to all of them and usually you should be able to have plenty of common resolutions supported.


I do recommend testing out the resolutions on RGB with each TV because sometimes they do funny things with computer inputs like cutting off edges or giving you black bars you don't want, etc and figure out what's going on in advance with your existing displays.