Long HDMI cable

[Steve Guttag]

If you use the no-name transceivers, then no switch manufacturer will guarantee that they work at all. It is normally a given that one uses the same brand SFP as the maker of the switch.

However, I was even talking about traditional HDBaseT stuff or their Extron and Crestron equivalent boxes...those end points are very pricey even if the fiber itself is getting pretty cheap and not as easily damaged. In fact, I recommend putting in "dark fiber" on new installs if there are sufficient wire ways as fiber is the future. Lots of bandwidth and essentially unlimited distance.

We recently did a Q-SYS installation in a non-cinema where we needed things like 2-way microphones between two rooms. Dark Fiber was available and we used some pretty inexpensive Ethernet to Fiber converters (under $100, for sure) so we could put an IO-22 at the far end...worked like a charm and hasn't hiccuped since and that is with Q-LAN audio/control.

[Leo Enticknap]

If you use the no-name transceivers, then no switch manufacturer will guarantee that they work at all. It is normally a given that one uses the same brand SFP as the maker of the switch.

Sometimes the customer doesn't want to do that. About this time last year we did a Q-Sys installation using the QSC-approved and customized Dell switches. The genuine Dell transceivers are $450 each: cheap Chinese ones start at about $30. The installation required 16 transceivers. At the customer's request, we did some testing using a pair of generic ones. I think they were FS, but can't remember for sure. This testing was completely successful, and we used them for the install. The customer reasoned that even if a couple succumbed to infant mortality, he would still be saving thousands. As it was a dual, redundant Q-LAN system, one fiber link on one LAN going out won't take any screens down. The system has operated without any problems or issues ever since. All the transceivers are still good, as far as I'm aware. We left a spare at the site.

If this hadn't been a dual Q-LAN installation, I would have been more worried about using cheap generic transceivers.

[Steve Guttag]

And they were good with the Dell switches? Those QSC Dell switches are anything but cheap! Seriously, if I had to use them on all installs, it would likely cut down on my Q-SYS systems. I did a price comparison on a 10-plex we did past summer...the price difference would have been HUGE. Like your customer, I could buy spare switches...heck I could have bought entire COREs (510s) and left them on the ground as extra-extra spares (it is a dual-core redundant system with dual networks for Q-LAN).

Thus far, what little interaction I've had with FS has been good.

[Leo Enticknap]

They all worked without problems or issues until the place was forced to close because of C19 in April. Since then I have occasionally powered up the racks remotely via the IS-20Ds and tried pinging through the fiber backbones: as far as I can tell, those transceivers are all still good.

I'd feel significantly more reluctant about using them in systems that didn't have dual, redundant Q-LANs, though.

[Kris Verhanneman]

We have been working with some of these:
https://jtechdigital.com/product-cat...hdmi-extender/

Works great and no need for cabling. There is just a few milli sec of delay but nothing that bothers the clients.
What is great is the no need for running wires. Some of our theaters are to big to run a CAT 6 solution.
And it saves us time on installing.
We have a flightcase with the reciever in the projection and a second flightcase that holds the transmitter and a video mixer ( https://proav.roland.com/global/products/vr-4hd/ ).

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I second Armand's reccomendation. I have used similar devices before and they work fine. You can also follow the CAT 6 cable roiute that goes fomr the projector to the ticket office if you want to. Just be sure to use CAT 6 cable with the converter.
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