ProSoundWeb Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Video transport for HOW  (Read 4377 times)

Doug Hammel

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 110
Video transport for HOW
« on: November 06, 2012, 03:54:00 PM »

Since VGA is officially going away at the end of the year and I have heard DVI will be sunseting shortly as well, what will replace them? Can thunderbolt or display port do the distances that vga can do? Our church is talking about expanding/redoing our video screen systems. I had a plan set with vga distribution ready to go but now it is "obsolete". Short of switching everything over to SD or HDSD I am a little lost on what I should look at. What are your guys thoughts on this? Thanks

Doug Hammel
Tech Director
South Lake Wales Church Of God   
Logged

Jordan Wolf

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1483
  • Location: Collingswood, NJ
Re: Video transport for HOW
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2012, 09:39:11 PM »

Doug,

There are many options from various manufacturers.  The most common I see are converters that use one or more unshielded or shielded Cat5/6/7 cable(s).  I've also seen/used fiber optic versions (my preference for an extender option).  Various I/O types are available - anything you want, really.  BlackMagic, Magenta Research, AJA Video Systems, Extron, Monoprice…they all have options.

SDI, HD-SDI and 3G-SDI are the pro standard in longer-distance digital video transmission formats.  RGBHV/5-wire may be viable for some time in the corporate AV world (you know how long it takes for companies to transition to "recent models"…certainly not as long as it used to, but it all takes time to matriculate), but many clients and organizations are wanting the HD options that the new gear affords, though not always at the price point we would like to see.
Logged
Jordan Wolf
<><

"We want our sound to go into the soul of the audience, and see if it can awaken some little thing in their minds... Cause there are so many sleeping people." - Jimi Hendrix

Bojan Bajsic

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 28
Re: Video transport for HOW
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2012, 01:30:36 AM »

Can you please provide a source for your statement "VGA is officially going away at the end of the year"?

But to help you out, there are a couple things one can do to be better prepared for the future instead of using VGA or RGBHV.

Cat5e/6 network
+ probably already installed in some form or the other
+ cable doesn't have large diameter
+ many manufacturers
+ relatively cheap
+ scalable and customizable (you can use DVI/VGA/HDSDI/Audio on the same line)
+ range of options
+ easily add extenders for more range if needed
+ proven technology

- standard UTP cables sometimes not enough for the video bandwidth
- standard UTP cables sometimes prone to interference
- ?


Optical Fiber network
+ cable doesn't have large diameter
+ many manufacturers
+ scalable and customizable (you can use DVI/VGA/HDSDI/Audio on the same line)
+ range of options
+ easily add extenders for more range if needed
+ more bandwidth, more suitable for HD video transmission

- pricier cost of units
- new cable runs
- ?


RG59 coax
+ 3G & HDSDI!
+ without much compromise to quality

- running a lot of new, thick cable
- almost exclusively for (x)SDI runs
- devices are very pricey
- might have to change almost all gear
- ...


There are also some options from ie. Kramer who offer transmitters/receivers for DVI/HDMI/HDSDI over the existing RGBHV network, but have no idea how good those function.

Hope it helps.
Logged

Brad Weber

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2208
  • Marietta, GA
Re: Video transport for HOW
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2012, 06:57:42 PM »

Can you please provide a source for your statement "VGA is officially going away at the end of the year"?
+1, you may see it as an output on fewer new laptops and such but VGA/RGBHV will still be around for some time.
 
SDI (SD, HD and 3G) is pretty much the standard now in production and broadcast applicatrions.  It does use RG-59 and RG-6 but much like AES/EBU audio cable, you may be able to run analog signals on cable designed for digital signals but could have less success with digital signals run on cable that worked fine for analog.
 
HDMI is also greatly the standard in the presentation/computer world.  DVI is definitely still around in DVI-A, DVI-D and DVI-I forms although DVI-A does seem to be less common that it was.  And VGA still very often has to be supported.
 
AVB, HDBaseT, HDMI over IP, etc. are sort of the current and near future 'best practice' for multimedia routing and distribution.  All three use UPT/STP/CAT cable or fiber and either proprietary (HDBaseT), special (AVB) or standard (HDMI over IP) switches.  Each has pros and cons depending on the situation.
 
Just be aware that once you enter the digital world that issues such as HDCP and EDID may becomes factors in either in the system itself or in what the system cannot do or support.  For example, HDCP and EDID are not factors with SDI but that is because SDI does not support either, which then means that SDI also cannot support HDCP encrypted content or sources that automatically enable HDCP.
Logged

Jason Lucas

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 806
  • Hillsboro, OR, USA
Re: Video transport for HOW
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2012, 07:58:57 PM »

I see 1000s of devices at my work place that use VGA, a lot of them brand new and some of them pre-production. I highly doubt it will be going anywhere soon. Thunderbolt is still practically brand new and is undergoing a lot of testing and Displayport hasn't really caught on yet. I still only see it come through occassionally.
Logged
There are three things I hate: Harsh highs, hollow mids, and woofy bass.

Eric Eskam

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 17
Re: Video transport for HOW
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2013, 11:47:49 AM »

Just be aware that once you enter the digital world that issues such as HDCP and EDID may becomes factors in either in the system itself or in what the system cannot do or support.  For example, HDCP and EDID are not factors with SDI but that is because SDI does not support either, which then means that SDI also cannot support HDCP encrypted content or sources that automatically enable HDCP.

I have been struggling with this too - I was set to start looking at migrating to SDI (especially since we are probably going to upgrade our projectors in the next year) but the whole HDCP thing was always in the back of my mind.  Then I came across an HDMI Extender/Switcher product from Just Add Power that seems to do HDMI "right" - I just posted about it in this thread:  http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,142559.0.html

I'd love to know if anyone has experience with them.  I need to change out some VGA extenders and I may just bite the bullet and get a couple of their boxes to see if they really do work as well as they claim - if so I can see is switching to HDMI as our "backbone" - almost everything these days speaks HDMI so it could really be a nice solution.  The practically unlimited matrix switch capabilities are just icing on the cake!  And they deal with the HDCP very nicely as well.
Logged

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Video transport for HOW
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2013, 11:47:49 AM »


Pages: [1]   Go Up
 



Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.052 seconds with 24 queries.