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Author Topic: Alternate Content set up advice Michael Sharples Film Handler Posts: 12 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, England Registered: Jun 2015 posted 07-05-2015 03:30 PM                        Up until recently all our alternative content went through an Octo Value analogue switcher into a Kinoton DMS HD scaler and then into the projector. The octo value was a throwback to the days when we were showing a fair bit of digi Beta and Computers were VGA. It came in useful for picture adjustments, switching between inputs and previewing content. The DVI out wouldn’t work going straight into the projector which is why we had the Kinoton Scaler sat between the two. This set up worked ok, though we did have some issues with bouncing from the DVD’s and Blurays (annoyingly inconsistent) and the quality wasn’t amazing. Then the Kinoton gave up the ghost and stopped working. As a stop gap we resorted to sending HDMI direct from the Bluray Player or PC into the projector, it worked a treat, the picture quality had never been better and the image was steady as a rock. So much so that i figured rather than replace or repair the kinoton i could send all our alt via HDMI into a splitter and send that into the projector, also splitting the signal from the sources and using the Octo value to preview and for Digi Beta. Obviously it was never going to be that simple. The HDMI splitter i tried was erratic and the projector wouldn’t output the PC signal though it had done so direct. I am just wondering if i am barking up the wrong tree trying to do it this way or if a different HDMI splitter may work. What i need is a cost effective way of feeding two HDMI bluray players, 3 HDMI Computer sources(one is HDMI over Cat5e), one analogue computer source and a digi beta player into the Barco DP2K 12C projector, With the ability to switch between sources and preview.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 07-05-2015 04:10 PM                        For the first 2 years of digital, we did our preshow by outputting from a Popcorn Hour box which went into an HDMI splitter,then out to each projector. We use all MonoPrice equipment and have a home run HDMI cable to a central media rack. On the odd occasion when we ran some other content - BluRay or other, we used this same system and it worked fine. We also have a toslink home run from each processor to the central media rack, with a splitter. One thing we did was create a rack mounted patch panel for both hdmi and toslink. The home run goes into the back of this patch panel, then we just have a 12-18" cable from the front to the splitter. The issue is probably about having the right HDMI splitter.  |  IP: Logged David Buckley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 525 From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2004 posted 07-05-2015 05:16 PM                        quote: Justin Hamaker The issue is probably about having the right HDMI splitter. Yep, because it's probably about keeping the HDCP copy protection stuff happy for Blu-ray to work. I don't know of a "cost effective" solution that does all that Michael wants. But Kramer and Extron are the two names I'd be looking at. Edited to add - I noted the word "preview", and assumed (yeah, I know) that the preview output was independent of the main output, which makes everything much more expensive. If the preview is the same source as the main out, then everything gets cheaper, as this is one conversion and scaling with multiple outputs. The Extron IN1608 might be the right answer, and is "cost effective" as these things go.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-05-2015 05:30 PM                     The problem here is what you define as cost effective. You have some devices that are HDCP (BluRay and any Apple video device like an iPad). There are two foes in your way that will often preclude cheap. One is EDID which is the table each device uses to handshake with each other to compare what each is capable of and what they will use as THE format. It is supposed to be the BEST of the least common denominator format such that your worst thing can drive everything else down. Naturally, in a Cinema you want the best video and audio quality possible on any given format (at this point 1080p/60 video and multi-channel audio either as discrete PCM or Dolby True HD or DTS Master Audio. All of that is contained in the EDID tables. The other foe is HDCP (copy protection). Each device only has but so many "keys" to hand out for each device in the chain between the source and the sink (display). Typically, any device between the sink and the source is classified as a "repeater" and is only responsible for passing the HDCP (and EDID) stuff up/down the chain. When you have multiple outputs (preview and program) you just complicated the problem geometrically. Because each output can muck up everything. Better systems for this will use a matrix switcher that acts as as sink and a source. That is, the switcher satisfies the sources EDID and HDCP requirements such that it never "sees" the projector or the monitor or whatever. It is incumbent on such a switcher to behave just like any other source and supply keys of its own and verify HDCP. Furthermore, the better devices allow one to specify the EDID you want to present to each source. This takes the whole handshake time out of things. You are always asking for 1080p multi-channel. When you switch that source (e.g. Blu-Ray) to the live show, it never knows that the switch happened, it was already outputting the desired resolution and sound. These devices are not cheap though. An example of this class of switcher is Extron's DXP line and they are thousands of dollars. http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=dxphdmi&s=1 The DTP line also incorporate scaler(s) and HDMI over CAT5 technology into them http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=dtpcp84ipcp&subtype=623&s=3 You may complain about the price but they do work well. On the low-cost side for an 8x2 switcher that also acts as a sink and source, Crestron has their HD-MD8x2.  |  IP: Logged

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