Matrix Video Switcher

urban79

Active Member
I'm a little out of my element here, but I'm wondering what people are using at this point for a video matrix switcher? I potentially have a scenario where I might be able to add two additional flat panel screens to either side of the proscenium. I could see a use case where one or both of those displays unique content from our main stage projector, while at other times displays the same content as the main screen. Atlona is often my go-to when it comes to this type of video equipment but their switchers only appear to have two outputs, right? Am I missing another option completely? It seems like the kind of thing I see often in pictures of mega-churches...

Thanks!

Chris
 
Could be something as simple as outputs on the Aux bus of a regular switcher (Ross Carbonite Solo, or Blackmagic ATEM's, etc...)
Or could also be done on an SDI router.
 
Without knowing your full system and infrastructure we can sort of only point to catalogs and go I like this one...

That being said we need to separate some terminology... You have switchers, Matrix Switchers, routers and matrix routers. Related, can work together, but all separate. You mention a matrix switcher specifically, but then go on to talk about a production switcher. It sounds like you do want a Source to X destination(s) router. In which case for smaller non live switching scenarios, that are non commercial and non classroom/conference room based I like the Blackmagic Matrix switchers. They have several sizes but are only SDI. See what works best for your application.

 
I'm sure there are some terminology errors in my thinking - I remember using years ago what was at that time called a presentation switcher allowing for a single output to have multiple sources. What is the difference between a matrix switcher and a matrix router?
 
You are typically correct in a presentation/production switching being many to 1, but typically has added features of at least program/preview, if not some graphics, mix effects and some of the fun stuff for signal processing.

A matrix switcher is typically a many-many solution. Where a matrix router is typically a 1-1.

No what's not helpful, is that a lot of that terminology is used to label a lot of things interchangeably. For instance.... we have a Video Router capable of taking 1152 sources and sending them to 576 destinations. Within that router we have matrix switchers and both of those can feed our production switchers which can then send out multiple signals themselves most of which come back to the video router 🙃 ....enterprise broadcast A/V is fun for you and me!
 
You are typically correct in a presentation/production switching being many to 1, but typically has added features of at least program/preview, if not some graphics, mix effects and some of the fun stuff for signal processing.

A matrix switcher is typically a many-many solution. Where a matrix router is typically a 1-1.

No what's not helpful, is that a lot of that terminology is used to label a lot of things interchangeably. For instance.... we have a Video Router capable of taking 1152 sources and sending them to 576 destinations. Within that router we have matrix switchers and both of those can feed our production switchers which can then send out multiple signals themselves most of which come back to the video router 🙃 ....enterprise broadcast A/V is fun for you and me!
One consideration about matrix switchers is that they do not have transition capability. So upon a change it's "blink" to black, pause(varies between half-second to instant) then "blink" to the new image. They are also quite often not capable of scaling so different displays with different resolutions can cause an even longer switching delay after a take. (due to the display having to adjust itself for the new input source)
I'm involved in AV installations and we generally put in a few hundred every year so having easy access to them I have tried them in live productions (Crestron DM or NVX) While they suck for live transitions, they are excellent at distribution to multiple outputs and very good at routing sources into multiple video mixers. Many of the large "AV Installation" grade of units don't really care about latency and have high frame-lag which makes them awful for I-mag applications. However there are broadcast-grade systems that do really well but are considerably more expensive.
One other issue is HDCP management for HDMI sources and this is what separates the seemingly more expensive "name brand" products from the cheap chinese ones you find all over amazon and ebay.
 
You may want to consider doing this with software such as ProPresenter. This is what many churches use to get different content on different displays. We do this in our theater. We have four output from our computer: Computer Display, Center Projector, Two side projectors that use a splitter and a Confidence display on the back wall. I can make all the same or have different content on all of them. ProPresenter has a free, fully functional download that adds a watermark to the main output until it is licensed.
 

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