markeyro Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 hello there, will be running the video for an event/conference for roughly 750-1000 college age folks, here next christmas, and we're doing some planning etc. essentially we'd like to be able to switch video signal from multiple sources, primarily computers and some straight video sources then fire them out to approx. 6 screens located in different places in our venue (low ceilings making our lives tough) so I was looking at the Kramer VP724XL based on some of the posts I've seen here, and was curious if someone could suggest a good Video Distribution Amp that we could use to "drive" those 6 displays??? any help or suggestions would be great! thanks a ton,mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Something like the Kramer VP6xl would do the job. 1U high 1 in 6 out VGA-UXGA DA on 15 pin DSub's. One issue might be the cable run distance. DA's are generally only unity gain, so if you need to compensate for long runs you might need a line driver or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markeyro Posted December 19, 2006 Author Share Posted December 19, 2006 Thanks a ton for the info... I'm a little unfamiliar with the line run type lengths, that would require an inline type line amp?? is that right? we'd probably be talking about 4 runs of 50-75 feet and 2 runs of 100 feet??? any thoughts there??? thanks again! super helpful!mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 PM sent r.e. the VP6xl..... As to the cable distances, Upto about 30m (about 100') is usually ok on decent cable. Line Amps aren't too expensive (1:2 Line Amp from Kramer in the region of £109 list), so can be added if the situation requires. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stebee Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 hi mark and welcome to the blue room IMO the kramer kit can be fine for distribution but you really need to spend some cash if you want good seamless switching.I'm not saying that kramer dont make good switchers but , like everything else in life you get what you pay for... low end kit will give you a 'crash' switch but spend a few more (hundred) quid and you can get some ok seamless switchers. if you cant afford, or dont want to, spend too much you could get some smaller (2 or 3 input) crash switchers and a smaller (3 or 4 input) seamless switchers then just put the crashes in front of the seamless.... at my place we use OCTO or even cheaper still, get all your presenters to hand in thier presentations beforehand, then all you need is a laptop, and a 6 way DA. tell the presenters that the content needs to be checked for legal reasons and changes are not encouraged .... ste Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markeyro Posted December 20, 2006 Author Share Posted December 20, 2006 ste thanks for the advice. could you help me understand a "crash switch". basically we'd like to be able to connect 2 computers and say 2 video sources to this guy. we don't need 6 or 8 inputs, but it would be nice to have some variety with connections so we wouldn't need a bunch of hd15 adapters to our non computer video sources. also could you help me understand: "if you cant afford, or dont want to, spend too much you could get some smaller (2 or 3 input) crash switchers and a smaller (3 or 4 input) seamless switchers then just put the crashes in front of the seamless.... " our issue is using video clips and switching from computer to video, it's SO helpful to not have to worry about ripping a dvd, etc. so that you can use it from the laptop, much better just to play it from a dedicated dvd player. thanks for the help, I really do appreciate it mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Yes, the Kramer VP-724XL would be fine for this application, assuming it has sufficient inputs of each type. It supports 2x VGA, 1x DVI (digital ONLY), 2x composite, 2x S-Video (Y/C) and one Component video input. Output is 2x VGA. It does seamless switching by fading to black and back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 Beaten to that by Tomo. The Kramer does go through black for the 'seamless switch', so isn't truely seamless. Extron do the DVS304 and DVS406, which do a truely seamless fade when locked to the input on channel 1. When running a PC on IP1 at 50Hz refresh then cameras/DVD sources look really good. Run it at 60Hz and you get a slight strobing due to the way the frames get scaled. The DVS range is simillar to the octo's, but from memory the Octos are a bit more expensive. For more inputs, PIPs and effects there is the Kramer 727 at around £3k, or then you can look higher to the Analog Way Eventix/Barco Screen Pro II, but they RRP around the £8k mark... I would agree that to get a good seamless switcher might cost a bit more than the VP724xl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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