Options... conference room... multiple inputs... one projector

[rooftop]

Suggestions please...

 

We are kitting out a conference room.

 

Projector is ceiling mounted. There is a 1 gang face plate in the room with connections for VGA, Composite, audio. Obviously, a laptop and/or DVD player can be plugged in here.

 

Back at the equipment rack, we will install a DVD player, maybe a VHS player.

 

We need a device to control these three signals, scale them, and present them to the projector in it's native 800x600 SVGA format. The ability to take audio from the three sources and switch them with the video would be a bonus also.

 

I've been doing some research and have come up with the Kramer VP-719XL, which looks perfect, although blows the meagre budget a little (not criticising it's cost per se, it's a 7-input device after all).

 

Really what I'm after is something similar - I only need 3 or 4 sources. Any other suggestions?

 

I have briefly considered buying a scaler for each input, and then running them all through a VGA switcher. However my problem is when people turn up with laptops with native resolutions of anything above 800x600.... the projector won't play ball. Is there such thing as a VGA to SVGA scaler which auto detects the input and scales to a preset output resolution?

[slim_mcslim]

and present them to the projector in it's native 800x600 SVGA

 

incase you hadn't noticed its 2009 not 1999 and HD resolution is the current technology... if your system can't cope with anyone turning up with a modern XGA laptop, let alone anything modern like 1280x720 or 1960x1080 then it is hardly future proof, however if you are building a time machine and kitting out a room in the past then persist with your SVGA projector and VHS player.

 

the traditional way that old conference room setup's used to work before scalers cost less than £3000 each was to run each of the signals to the projector, one or two vga lines, composite, componant, s-video and then use a switcher that could talk RS-232 to the projector and the projector did the switching.

[rooftop]

Get over yourself.

 

I am aware of the "old" way of doing it, hence deciding on the possible use of the Kramer VP-719XL, which IS future proof as the output resolution can be set to VGA, SVGA, XGA, UXGA...... so when the projector is eventually upgraded, the unit can be configured to match.

 

have you got any better suggestions?

 

for the avoidance of future silly answers, the projector is already existing, and budget does not allow it's replacement at the present time. However, the rest of the install is new.

[slim_mcslim]

budget does not allow it's replacement

 

the budget didn't stretch as far as a kramer switcher either, which would be a fairly futureproof switcher, however they have been on the market for quite some time and are probably due to retire fairly soon, an alternative solution would be a tv-one cs-1200 which has less inputs than the kramer but again you might find it outside your budget at £750ish

[rooftop]

The Kramer can be stretched to if needed...... but the whole reason for writing was to enquire whether there were any cheaper/better options.

[Nick Mawer]

Dear Slim McSlim - do you know something that I don't?

 

I think anybody posting on a Forum would do well to remember that their opinions are opinions, and that facts are backed up with some validation. Of course all products have a life cycle, and in due course the VP-719xl will be replaced. However, I believe that, as the product is firmware upgradeable, and is backed with a seven year warranty, the OP could purchase such a product with confidence. I believe that you introduced the subject of future proofing - not the OP.

 

Terms like HD are bandied about with out much thought. Do you mean analogue HD? or HDMI - or even HD-SDI. I am struggling to understand why you think that RGBHV colourspace resolutions are 1999 not 2009. When were 1440 x 900 and 1680 x 1050 adopted as resolutions? Please correct me if I am wrong but they are more modern than 720p or 1080i, and all the highest currently available resolutions like WQXGA are not HD. Anyway I am keen to learn - I haven't come across a resolution of 1960x1080 where can I find out more about it?

 

If I was to peer into a crystal ball, and ask where the future of connectivity lies, I would not say HDMI, nor even DVI. It would have to be DisplayPort. Last year's CES show and this years ISE will show a growing number of manufacturers getting behind the technology.

 

Rooftop, if you want some advice from a manufacturer - then please pm me. We don't sell direct, but my advice is free.

[slim_mcslim]

Mr Mawer I know many things that you don't, and one would hazard a guess you know a fair few things that I don't, however, I wasn't under the impression that I was being negative about Kramer

 

I don't believe that I poo poo'd the VP719xl, and at no point did I suggest the Kramer products weren't future proof, I was dismissing the OP's projector specification as not particularly future proof. One would have assumed that a switching product such as the VP719 which has been on the market as the DS variant since around 2002 and I am not sure when the XL came into being, but if I remember correctly it pretty swiftly followed the 719DS. So it would be a natural assumption that it was nearing the end of its life cycle, and would be naturally superceded.

 

Obviously when referencing HD I was referencing analog HD however equally I could mean HDMI, as this is not really any different to DVI. My reference to 1999 RGBHV colourspace resolutions was in particular reference the OP's insistence on scaling to 800x600, however as you requested further clarification 1440 x 900 is commonly accepted as WXGA+ and 1680 x 1050 is WSXGA+ (reference)

 

Indeed as you well know and state the resolutions you mentioned are more modern than the traditional named HD resolutions of 720p and 1080i/p. It may take a while to learn about the 1960x1080 as that was nothing more than a simple typing error. I am not sure why you are talking about connectors however the display port is the way forward, but I would like to have seen some kind of latching mechanism as part of the original spec. Another interesting thing to see as the industry marches forward and clients demand resolutions of WQXGA as you stated how it will be possible to implement these in temporary or fixed installs where the cable runs exceed 20m.

 

But that’s a discussion for another day...

[TomM]

Indeed as you well know and state the resolutions you mentioned are more modern than the traditional named HD resolutions of 720p and 1080i/p. It may take a while to learn about the 1960x1080 as that was nothing more than a simple typing error. I am not sure why you are talking about connectors however the display port is the way forward, but I would like to have seen some kind of latching mechanism as part of the original spec. Another interesting thing to see as the industry marches forward and clients demand resolutions of WQXGA as you stated how it will be possible to implement these in temporary or fixed installs where the cable runs exceed 20m.

 

I know its an aside, but we use 1920x1080 resolution regularly, at distances much over 20m, using fibre optic systems. This is a fairly standard solution to the problem.

 

T

[Nick Mawer]

I wasn't under the impression that I was being negative about Kramer

 

Nor was I