Hey there. Haven’t seen a thread like this so I thought I’d start it. I work for an AV integrator as a project engineer. As a brief description, I am responsible for the technical side of a project, from signal flow and routing to conduit paths to power requirements. I also do any programming that is needed in the project including DSP and control systems. Ask away!
Og smiles upon me. 
I’m setting up an FPV system for an air model, it turns out that the idea I had to view and record the video downstream (Plan A), using a cheap camcorder is innoperative, the camera on the plane is NTSC and the camcorder only takes PAL as input… grrr.
So, Plan B, I also have a small video recorder that uses SD cards as the storage media, pretty neat, but it turned out that this particular recorder batch has a glitch were recording video at the highest resolution makes the output video feed to go black, with a little REC icon on the top left corner… GRRRR!!!.
So, Plan C is to take the video signal from the ground station receiver, split it with a Y cable into two feeds, one going to the video recorder and the other to the video goggles. Now the question, is it as easy as splicing the video cable into two leads or do I need some sort of amplifying circuitry to make it work well?
I just came back from buying all the plugs and cabling to make the Y harnessing and I just saw this thread, so I thought before getting on with the soldering work I could ask and save me some possible trouble.
Ale,
While you can passively split video and still get a picture, it will be of a much lower quality than if you use an active DA to split the video. We use a lot of Extron gear to distribute and switch video, but there are cheaper alternatives for what you are doing. I would suggest checking out Cables to go for some alternatives.
As an addition, I wanted to mention that the company I work for works on many different types of projects. We do stadiums, arenas, churches, corporate, higher education, government, military, casinos, and pretty much anything you could think of. Any questions are welcome.
Here’s a couple of questions:
How far can you run a component audio/video output? More specifically, can I split a component video from my old DirecTV satellite receiver and run it about 60 feet into a second TV in another room. Currently, I’m using a coax cable output into the antennae input of the second TV. It is very susceptible to interference.
If I decide to upgrade the whole system to a HD DirecTV receiver, can I run an HDMI cable about 60-70 feet to the second TV or am I better off just getting a second receiver? I don’t have any pressing need to watch different shows in different rooms.
Component Video can run a couple of hundred feet without any issues, but again, I wouldn’t suggest passively splitting it. That will cause some quality issues that you wouldn’t like.
You can run HDMI that far, but you have to make sure you have a good quality cable, which will cost you a pretty penny. I personally have successfully run HDMI 200 feet without using a twisted pair transmitter & reciever, but the cable was expensive, around $1200. I also had an equalizer at the end of the run that helped to make sure the signal was good quality.
In your case, I would suggest finding a good component video DA and using that.
Ah, that looks too bulky and expensive; the video equipment I have is meant to be carried around in a backpack so I can use it while out in the sticks.
So simply bought a signal splitter, you know, the a little thingy with three RCA female plugs, one input and two parallel outputs. It seems to work well, but I think I’m getting noise in the signal from the switching voltage regulator that powers the video recorder, just a bit, not much though.
By the way, maybe you know, it’s something I haven’t had any luck finding… I’ve been looking for thin shielded cable, to make the wiring inside the planes (video, audio and antenna extensions), do you know a supplier for that?, I’m thinking at least three or four times smaller than your regular, run of the mill shielded cable. The normal stuff it’s way too heavy and bulky.
But for shorter lengths, is there any difference in cables (say between a six-foot cable from Monster Cable for $80 or a six-foot cable from Monoprice.com for $2)?
No, not really. In shorter lengths you don’t run into the issues you run into in the longer lengths, namely increased capacitance. Although, I have seen a situation where a cheaper 3’ cable wouldn’t work when the more expensive cable did, so just be aware that it might not work. Even then, you don’t have to go spend the $80 to get the Monster cable, just maybe $10 or $20 for a different cable.
How does one tell a good cable from bad? Are there specifications on the product we should be looking for and what are they?
I’ve always heard that you should have your speaker wires in your stereo be the same length, but would it really make any difference if one speaker was on a 20’ wire and the other on a 5’ wire?
In buying large TVs, what are the specs that really matter?
Using Windows Media Center and any combination of additional hardware/software, I’d like to be able to pause a TV recording in one room and resume it in another room. The catch is that it has to have high WAF.
Any suggestions?
This is probably a more software question (and very particular at that) than pure AV, but I’d love some input from a guy in the field nonetheless.
I’ve got my entire movie library (extensive) scanned in and stored on my computer or assorted external harddrives. I’ve also got a 360 and a pretty neat HD tv… Now I’ve got Windows 7, so Windows Media Center is included, and using the 360 as an extender works fine - but I have to set it up each and every time I have to use it. This entails uninstalling and reinstalling the extender, which takes about 5 minutes since I have to go back and forth between the computer and the 360. It’s more of a bother than a problem, but it is a bother.
Now, for reasons I won’t go into, the 360 is on a cable to the computer and I can’t hook the 360 up to the wireless network. However, my PC is also on a cabled connection to the router, but having both connections active at the same time means the internet connection won’t work. So it’s all kinds of screwy from the get go. Oh, and the 360 needs to be on a fixed IP (over cable) while the wired internet connection needs to be on a DHCP.
So, eh, any suggestions on how to unfuck this? I can probably buy some gear for about $50 if you can point out something that would help.