Matt Riley Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Hi guys, We're in the process of looking into going rear projection at my church. My biggest challenge at the moment is looking at the hitherto unknown world of RS-232 control for the projector, as a more reliable alternative to the remote. I was looking at an acer unit initially to replace the current projector (manual here ) In terms of control, it's all being run from a 2 year old laptop, running powerpoint and generic lyrics software, so no big issue there, and I'm comfortable with using serial buttons for it. My main challenge is cabling. I'm expecting to run a 30m VGA cable, with RS-232 loomed along it, but I'm not sure where to start with finding the right cable type, especially given the non-standard connector on the acer unit (I think it uses a 3 pin DIN for the control.) I'm aware that I'm going to have to invest in a usb-rs232 converter for this to work. Does anyone have any good sources or CPC part numbers for the products they have used to achieve this cost effectively? Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 You should find that over that sort of distance, decent shielded twisted pair (i.e. mic Cable) will work fine - at least that's my experience. There may be people out there that will point to tech specs that say the earth will stop revolving if you don't use cable X from Manufacturer X. You should be able to source a 9 pin D Sub and back shell easily from CPC, the Acer connector maybe a little harder to find. Fairly easy to make up the cable assembly once you have the parts assuming you are ok with a soldering iron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjb304 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Having done a fair bit of work with various USB - Serials we've found the devices based on the FTDI chipset to be the most user friendly. An example can be found here. The advantages over the prolific chip set is the drivers are available from windows update, where as the prolific requires the CD be used to install them. Also each FTDI serial converter has a unique serial number so when using multiple devices it's possible to know which one is which, the prolifics do not have any way of uniquely identifying through software. The converter linked also contains 2 LEDs one for TX the other RX which makes debugging simpler ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Riley Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 You should find that over that sort of distance, decent shielded twisted pair (i.e. mic Cable) will work fine - at least that's my experience. There may be people out there that will point to tech specs that say the earth will stop revolving if you don't use cable X from Manufacturer X. [snip]Pete -cool - so projector control only uses 3 cores! That makes life a little bit easier! Phil - thanks for that link and recommendation! And it's a nice and cheap one :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHYoung Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Why not just but a better projector with a network port, then its all plain sailing. no "special" cable, soldering, usb adaptors { which wont work for no reason} , just a network connection . even the cheapest Sanyo units have a port and you can manage everything from a user fiendly web interface rather than using hyperterminal - believe me if you dont understand rs232, dont go there, its 2011 and its all much easier now... The money you save not buying the bits will get a better unit, you wont spend hours not getting it to work everyone wins... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason5d Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 I thinking that, network control can't be beat,RS232 is proper old hat and can be problematic.Most Panasonic projectors come with Ethernet built in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Riley Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 If you can find me an 2500 lumen XGA projector for under £350 with full network control then I'm more than happy to consider it - we're not looking at Panasonic/Barco/Christie territory here. At the moment, total cost for the RS-232 solution is £17 plus the cost of connectors using a reel of mic cable I've already got, it's nowhere near mission critical as it's only a short walk onto the stage to turn the projector on or off! And we're certainly not aiming to be hiring it out in competition against Saville's or SFL group :P Edit: I've just put my napkin on, ready to eat my words! I've just found the PLC XD 2200, which does indeed have all the right features and network control! Sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHYoung Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Network control is pretty standard these days, think about the schools with 127 projectors to manage, its that market that needs simple no cost global control not the high end, so as youve allready found out, its all there for you all you need is move off the absolute bottom rung of the lader and buy a currrent entry level sanyo / hitachi etc. 232 has its place and we use it all the time, but if you want to connect a laptop to a projector Ip is allways going to be first choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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