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[Jr James]

Hi everyone, great place you have here. Very informative and great participation from all. As you can tell I'm new and this is my first post.

I'm in the process of adding some hardware to our church as we are under renovations. What I would like to do is run 2 projectors from  1 PC. Seems simple enough. We are already running 1 projector thru a splitter box (a,b,c,d switches). I want to change that so that we can have 2 projectors running at the same time (1 for the congregation and the 2nd for our choir, band and ministers to see).

From what I see a splitter should suffice. We may run DVD's from time to time but it will mainly be Powerpoint and the program EZ Worship. I believe you can run 2 computer monitors as well, not as a extension but as a 2nd monitor in addition to the projectors, is this true?

I see that certain things become a factor i.e. distance from the computer, power from the splitter to power each screen your using, cables etc.

I see the layout as such;

1.CPU - video card VGA to spliter & DVI to main computer screen

2.Splitter (4 connections)

3.2nd computer screen

4.Projector 1

5.Projector 2

6.Projector 3(future addition).


Any input would be great. As one person had stated in another thread, if it was MY money I would buy any and everything, but since it belongs to the church, I will play caution and make a informative choice.

Thanks and I look forward to learning more from you guys and gals around here.

Cheers,

JR.

[Guest]

JR
you pretty much have it right. As long as you use good quality VGA cables your good to at least 100' much more than that and you should consider RGBHV. If you can afford to you should consider getting a VGA switcher at this time. There are many of them available and a little research will prove well worth it. I use Switchers by FSR, Analog Way, Kramer, and Folsom. Not knowing your budget two that are on the lower end
(but still good) are the FSR MAS-4100 and the Kramer VP-719. They both work good and the Kramer piece has a VGA Splitter biult into it. Purchasing a switcher will allow you to switch between your computer and DVD or even go to Black if necessary without using the projector remote to do so and getting that annoying message "detecting Sources". You might still need a video splitter as well but the switcher does have two VGA outs.

Hope this helps

Thomas Lamb
TD
www.journeychristianchuch.com
Apopka, FL

[Brad Weber]

Actually, a splitter is not the correct terminology as that is usually applied to a hardwired direct split.  What you really want is a distribution amplifier or DA.  Look at VGA or RGBHV DA's from Kramer, Extron, FSR, etc.  With the potential for significantly different length runs involved (e.g. long runs to the projectors and a very short run to the monitor) you may want to look at units that let you adjust peaking and/or gain for the individual outputs, or at least for outputs serving the longer runs.  You don't really gain much from using a switcher or seamless switcher if the computer is your only source.

The comment about running DVDs from time to time could add a twist to this if you are running them from a source other than the computer as you would then likely be dealing with two different video signal format sources.

[Gary Creely]

James,

2 Things-

1. Rather than going straight VGA cable for the long runs I would suggest the possibility of doing vga over cat 5. They cost a little more than than standard vga cable (depending on the length of run and brand of cable), but not much (they cost about $250 per run plus the cat5, but that is penies per foot). Then just use a standard vga da (no amplification), for the second monitor and to feed the cat5 units.

2. Consider media shout, it will play dvds and load them as cues, you can also mark in and out points. You can run you whole service never leaving media shout.

check out kramer pico tools for the vga over cat5, I have found them to produce a clearer image than boosted vga over long distances 75+.

[Kelsen Depp]

Gary Creely wrote on Mon, 23 July 2007 16:17

James, 2. Consider media shout, it will play dvds and load them as cues, you can also mark in and out points. You can run you whole service never leaving media shout.

EZ Worship does this as well.  

[Guest]

Thats great until VBS when the person who runs Media Shout, Easy Worship, Song show Plus or whatever else one you can find is not available and they just need to play a DVD. Most people you can teach to run a DVD player in five minutes but a new computer program is gonna take a little longer.


Thomas Lamb
TD
www.journeychristianchurch.com
Apopka, Fl

[Gary Creely]

I can't speak on other programs, but to have someone play a dvd from media shout that is already entered takes about 60 seconds to learn, and is very easy. (you do not need to know a new program, just how to double click.

To play a dvd straight from a dvd player can be more difficult, particularly if you are using different parts of the dvd in the same session.

[Jr James]

Hello Gentleman,

I meant to come back sooner and reply. I thank you all for your input. Great information. You have given me more things to look into like the DA's, and good cabling. Also the softwares that were mentioned. I can spend more time in depth later and then choose one. Great selection.

I would rather take the time to make a purchase that will last a few years, and not have to replace in a few months.

I saw this picture which fits my application.
http://www.extron.com/product/prodtype04.asp?step=2

After seeing that, I saw these 2 devices. what are the differences between these two? Is it just about the cable connectivity and/or quality features?

http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=p2da4xi&su btype=32

&

http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=da4rgbhv&s ubtype=32

The P2DA4 seems straight forward with the use of a video card like this;
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-deta ils.asp?EdpNo=2490726&CatId=1560

However with the DA4, what kind of card would you use to make the connections from the computer to the DA4 or would I use a regular video card w/VGA & DVI output and use VGA to BNC cabling the same way I would with the P2DA4?

It's like a puzzle, fun at times and challenging on the other.

Thanks for your feedback.

JR.

[Tom Young]

Please edit your profile and use your real, full name when posting.

Thanks

[Brad Weber]

The major differences are the connectors (5 BNC versus HD15 VGA), the physical format (direct rack mount versus requiring a shelf or kit), the bandwidth (350MHz versus 300MHz, which may not be significant for many applications), the amount of gain/peaking (+6dB versus +3dB, so capable of longer lines but likely not significant for runs under 100') and the inclusion of some remote control capability to mute individual outputs.

Whether the DA has BNC or HD15 connectors is simply a form factor.  You can use HD-15 to (5) BNC adapters to go between the two connector formats.

Something like this, http://www.fsrinc.com/products/rgb-4.htm, might be a good fit for your application.  What I really like about these devices is that while many DA's have fixed gain/peaking that when selected is applied to all of the outputs, these devices instead have variable adjustment for two of the outputs, so they are great for driving two different longer runs and 2 or 4 shorter runs.

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