DanSteely Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hi All, For a school production I need to send a FOH viewing, composite camera feed (on BNC) to the MD and the green room. For the GR I'm using a projector with suitable input. For the MD I'd like to give her a standard computer TFT (input via a SVGA D-type connector). What is the cheapest (i.e. CPC/eBay) way of turning a composite video signal into something the TFT screen would like... Sorry if this is a bit of a muppetry question, but I'm a bit snow blinded/confused on this... A part number or URL would be great... Many thanks in anticipation.. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Something like this... just google "composite video to VGA" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Composite-Video-to-VGA-Converter/dp/B000NVSRXI However... the conversion quality of these units is often not great, and there is usually a time lag on the video.I would suggest buying an LCD CCTV monitor from Ebay or somewhere, which already has a composite video input, rather than using a VGA monitor. I have got 15" CCTV monitors for about £50 before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanSteely Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hi Tim, Thanks for your quick reply. What kind of of latency do you envisage with your suggested Skytronic hardware? Budget is very tight .. Is the this then most economical solution? (I don't think the MD monitor will be used for time specific cues) Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter F Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Just buy a composite monitor. You can pick up an ex broadcast one for peanuts.No latency, no messing about with converters, a doddle to get your video signal distributed. It's the future! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-PVM-6041QM-Professional-CRT-Video-Monitor-Comp-RGB-Composite-Inputs-/261361790807?pt=UK_Video_Broadcasting_Equipment&hash=item3cda606f57 Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 For MD use, I like old CRT based displays, so as latency is a non-issue. Pick up the yellow pages, and phone around the local CCTV installers, they probably have a cupboard full of CRT CCTV monitors, CV input, that will cost them money to recycle, and thus they will be very willing to give you one (or several, get a few while you can). Ok, they are bigger than little LCDs, but for an MD it is usually possible to find a usable place, and being in a school, your metalwork shop will be able to make any necessary stands etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 You haven't been in a UK secondary school for a while have you?... Metalwork? Completely agree on using a small CCTV screen though!I picked up two 7" flat screen composite video screens for £40 ea on eBay. They're native PAL resolution, so the delay is pretty low as there is no scaling, and sit quite nicely on a rat stand or similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter F Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 You haven't been in a UK secondary school for a while have you?... Metalwork? Completely agree on using a small CCTV screen though!I picked up two 7" flat screen composite video screens for £40 ea on eBay. They're native PAL resolution, so the delay is pretty low as there is no scaling, and sit quite nicely on a rat stand or similar.CRT, not flat screen for no noticeable latency.You're right about the lack of metalwork departments though. My school was the local competition for your last one,when I was there they had a workshop full of metal lathes and hot work equipment that you would struggle to get permits to use in the engineering departments of many universities nowadays. Cheers,Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 The cheap flat screens I have are better than most TVs, though not quite as good as a CRT. They're almost good enough to follow a conductor from, which isn't bad for a small package and £40. We had all that at the Floyd, but it got ripped out in my first summer there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 You haven't been in a UK secondary school for a while have you?... Metalwork? No, not for very many years. Thank f**k. Have such things ceased to exist? When I was a teenager there was a lighting rig for hire in the Merseyside region, it was the out-of-hours project of a school technican. It was entirely self constructed, control desk (complete with a pin patch panel), dimmers (looked like a mic flight case on wheels), stands and parcans. The stands and (square!!!) parcans were made in the school metalwork shop. At the semi-pro band level, it was the second best rig available, great bang for the buck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanSteely Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Many thanks for all your responses. The ex CCTV monitor idea is great and I'll be on the phone tomorrow.. The Ebay route also looks interesting. On the BNC>VGA converter: It appears that the converter mentioned above is active - is this the case? If this is the case, can I assume its not as simple as matching the center of the BNC to the right pin on the VGA cable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 On the BNC>VGA converter: It appears that the converter mentioned above is active - is this the case? If this is the case, can I assume its not as simple as matching the center of the BNC to the right pin on the VGA cable? That is correct. Another option would be to find a telly which has either a SCART or composite (usually yellow phono) input. It might have a little more latency than a dedicated video monitor - whether this matters depends on exactly what you're using it for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelgrian Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Another option would be to find a telly which has either a SCART or composite (usually yellow phono) input. It might have a little more latency than a dedicated video monitor - whether this matters depends on exactly what you're using it for! See this topic http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=57949 From experience you can just about live with the input lag from a good LCD for stage to conductor as long as the MD can't see the mouths of the singers. For the purposes of this 'Good' is anything under about 30ms. Many TVs can achieve this when in 'game' mode with minimal processing. The problem is displaying SD pictures with minimal processing on an HD device looks horrendous. For conductor to stage relay I still use analogue cameras and CRTs and am in good company, GridGirl of this parish says "Sydney Opera House still uses CCTV cameras and CRTs for all mission-critical conductor cam" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 From experience you can just about live with the input lag from a good LCD for stage to conductor as long as the MD can't see the mouths of the singers... which is why I suggested a telly. Remember, this is a school environment, with allegedly no budget, and the original poster says "I don't think the MD monitor will be used for time specific cues" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanSteely Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 A good friend has offered the loan of a TFT that looks like it might do the job: http://www.dell.com/downloads/emea/products/snp/UltraSharp%202007FP_EN.pdf ...but I do still like the idea of an ex-broadcast type CRT... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 That does say it has s-video and composite connections, so maybe check with them 1st and all you need is a £1 connector from bnc to composite or s-video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.