TV Monitor Network question

[CaptPaul]

Hello Everyone,

I will be rigging up a few Flat Screens around a friend's place of business. Mounting and rigging really not an issue...but the issue is being able to send different images and videos to each monitor independently. Let me give you an example...

Lets say I have 5 TVs in 5 different zones...from a central booth or rack...we'd like to send different video (B roll and Live) along with static images...Zone 1 would have different images than say Zone 2 etc...

So my question is...what type of network would I setup between the monitors and is there a particular switcher that is made for this??

Some one has suggested my sample to be similar to that of a Sports bar that would have multiple TVs with all different sport games on them throughout the bar....Is there a set system like that i can buy?? Names would be big help so I can google.

Thanks
Paul

 

[cpf]

This is really two discrete systems - one to get the video to the displays (such as with video-over-UTP, IPTV, RF-based coax distribution for retro cred...) and a system to decide which video goes where (many, many products, just google video matrix or video switcher).

Names you can google: Extron, Magenta Research, AMX, Crestron, and many more that I'm forgetting now.

 

[chausman]

Two local venues around here both have a large number of flats screens throughout the building, with very different systems. The first is an arena, that has two or three internal channels as well as local cable broadcasting, and they remotely control the TVs to change the channel to whatever they want to broadcast. Usually an internal ad loop and live video from the event on alternating TVs. Another venue (a convention center, run by the same organization) has a Mac Mini mounted behind each of the (150+, IIRC) TVs throughout the space. Then from the main offices (which funnily enough is located in the arena 1.3 miles away across the river) their designer remotely controls each display and loads whatever graphic they want to display. If you want to know specifics, I'm sure I can find out what program they use to display everything. Both are very effective and quite flexible.

 

[ruinexplorer]

A newer technology that might help in this (if you are buying all new equipment and not trying to mix old and new) is HDBaseT. You can do all of what you are asking through this system. Not only can you control the signal by routing it to individual displays, but you can also simplify the installation as many of the products allow you to provide power over the Ethernet cables for the device.

There is a competing standard that escapes me at the moment, but essentially the same.

If you already have some of the equipment (like the monitors) and only need to know how to get the signal to where you want it, then that's a bit more complicated. If you are sending different types of video, you may need a scan converter. For instance, the B-roll I assume is just pre-recorded video coming from a media player. What are the various signal outputs from that player? Do you need audio along with it? For "live", do you mean from a camera on location or something that is broadcast (like from cable/satellite/antenna)? Do you need sound with that? Static images, I assume these are coming from a computer or other media player? What type of output will that have?

 

[museav]

There is a competing standard that escapes me at the moment, but essentially the same.

AVB? Unfortunately, the "V" part of AVB appears to have never really been developed and has greatly been supplanted by other technology such as H.264 streaming, with the result that AVB seems to be heading in the direction of being primarily a standards based digital audio network. There are starting to be more AVB network switches offered and supposedly Cisco will have some models out later this year. I'm happy to see a 'next generation' audio network but also very disappointed that what is coming out of the AVB efforts is not the integrated AV network initially presented as being the goal.

On the OP's question, the content and signal format could be major factors in whether any scaling or conversion may be involved as well as potentially related EDID and HDCP issues. Source devices that determine their output based on communication with the destination devices can involve a much greater level of complexity when you start addressing the sources being routed to multiple devices in different and varying combinations. And even more potential issues if any of the sources potentially involve HDCP encryption for copyright protection.

 

[ruinexplorer]

Audio Video Bridging. Thank you. That is what escaped me. I have not been hearing a buzz about it on the video side lately, so my guess is as you stated, the video end is lacking. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't HDBaseT and AVB handle the EDID and HDCP?

 

[museav]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't HDBaseT and AVB handle the EDID and HDCP?

HDBaseT and AVB are signal transport or interconnectivity standards. They can communicate the EDID and HDCP information, however how that EDID and HDCP information is handled or managed is up to the specific devices and can vary significantly.

 

[hosko]

Just a couple of quick questions so I can help you out a bit better:

- How many independent feeds do you want to send. ie do you want all 5 to be able to have different sources or can some be grouped?

- Do you already have sources to put into these displays or would you also require playback options

- And the most important question, whats the budget?

 

[telmnstr]

Personally I love AMX as a control system but you have to write software to drive the control unit.

Extron and others make what is called a matrix switch. This has inputs and outputs.

Then comes your endpoints.

Most of the venues I see end up hanging cable TV boxes with all of the TVs and then they use some sort of remote control sender. Not really impressive nor how I would do it.

In my experience matrix switching HDMI has been a nightmare. I had endpoints with different resolutions and it was just crappy without converting it to something else. Since this is likely to be where you end up -- I recommend that whatever you use to extend HDMI video signals is "active." This means it uses power and logic chips to buffer the digital signal. Cheap "baluns" will often be a hack that wires over hdmi signal into cat5e or cat6e without any electronics or buffers.
Also -- keep all the displays the same resolution, probably 1080i or p. If sources are all over the place, try to find something that gets it all the same.

The commercial HD-SDI standard is so wonderful, but you don't really find consumer gear or much low end commercial gear that support that as an input (that isn't a professional monitor.) Same with outputs. But for those not familiar with it. This is beautiful. BNC connectors, 200+ feet over a single fairly rugged cable.

 

[museav]

The commercial HD-SDI standard is so wonderful, but you don't really find consumer gear or much low end commercial gear that support that as an input (that isn't a professional monitor.) Same with outputs. But for those not familiar with it. This is beautiful. BNC connectors, 200+ feet over a single fairly rugged cable.

I agree in terms of video production applications but have to disagree otherwise as I have encountered numerous challenges interfacing HD-SDI with other formats. That is at least part a problem of HD-SDI being developed as purely a video format, by which I mean supporting standard 'video' but not computer resolutions, scan/refresh rates, color spaces, standard matrixed multichannel digital audio, etc. Systems than mix HD-SDI with other common media formats, and especially HDMI and DVI, often require numerous converters, scalers, audio extractors/inserters and so on. Then there is HD-SDI/3G-SDI not supporting HDCP, a critical factor in some applications.


To the OP, an aspect that does not appear to have been addressed is how you envision this all being controlled. Do you see someone manually selecting the routing, starting clips, etc. or were you envisioning something you program in advance that then runs on its own?