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Author Topic: HDMI from Stage to Booth Advice Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 06-28-2019 04:48 PM                       Altona HD Base T hardware has worked quite well for me in the past. It is wired Cat. 6 system. It's used every day at a couple of very demanding venues and has not missed a beat. I don't recall the maximum distance but have used it as far as 150 Ft. Not cheap at about $1,200 but seems foolproof.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-28-2019 07:27 PM                     Atlona isn't riding high with me right now. I had a site that insisted on 4K HDMI 2.0/HDCP 2.2 and they wanted everything. So much so, the only choice of servers at the time was the ICMP because they had an input that could handle it. One of the sources, an Oppo UDP205. Plug it straight into the server...no problems...pretty awesome picture too. Plug it into an Atlona JUNO 451 so they can switch between four sources, an Atlona extender...BAM...doesn't work. Or i should say it normally doesn't work. Change sources, doesn't work or takes over 15 seconds to make a switch. Unplug the extender and plug in direct, it does much better. Unplug the Atlona switcher it does better but still very sluggish and unreliable. The cable run was about 100-feet. Atlona traded me out to a "better and more powerful extender" It was better...but still unreliable. Swapped out the Atlona JUNO for an Extron 4x1 switcher that had since become available...it has status LEDs to let you know when you have good signal and HDCP sync...that greatly increased reliability but the extender still will cause a delay or no picture/sound. A straight connection to the projector from the switcher was very good quality switches. So, in the end, I had to lower the bandwidth by restricting the color depth and chroma subsampling to ensure the Atlona wouldn't choke. So no, Atlona is not a bulletproof company, in my book. Their stuff says it should do what it doesn't do. Now for HDMI 1.4 stuff, I have not had Atlona issues. They pretty much do as advertised. In August, Extron is coming out with their DTP2 system and that is stated to handle 18Gbps content. When that is out (for a couple of months, I don't want to be the first), I'll recommend to the client to change it out...that the "State of the art" got better.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 06-29-2019 09:01 AM                        I wish I was a crestron programmer Steve! No, I can do like you and use Q-Sys to switch inputs and parse some feedback that's about it. My opinion is that for the time and money it takes to program crestron that its place is in the large corporate complex environment as a control system. In cinema projects I am only using it for its video products. Does the Exteon XTP line support different input and output types like SDI, composite video, etc any support for video over fiber? Does the Extron  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-29-2019 09:56 AM                     Oh yeah. Extron's XTP absolutely has choices for input and output and also absolutely does the fiber thing. https://www.extron.com/product/listbytype.aspx?subtype=486 However, where Crestron lets you choose your input/output types on an input/output basis, Extron has you move in 4 input/output hunks. Crestron gives you an HDMI output on each input (whatever input) and a stereo audio, Extron does not. So I absolutely get the desire to use Crestron in an HDMI intensive environment or even mixed use. Their model structure fits better. It just sucks that they don't allow their switchers/end points to be controlled "by others" officially and embrace that. Rather than let things like Q-SYS be the control system, they would rather you use one of their audio "things" and buy their control system. Extron would like you do that too but realistically, for us, unless something dramatically changes, QSC's Q-SYS is likely going to be the bulk of our control systems going forward if we need to put in any sort of DSP audio. And if it is just a simple control system in an existing environment, probably Extron's Touchlink Pro (cheaper, easier, faster...oh...and I'm certified on that one!). Unfortunately, due to the Crestron, "we don't support others controlling our stuff" attitude, Extron won't make drivers for Crestron equipment.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 06-29-2019 08:45 PM                        My colleague who went to infocomm attended a lecture about how open source is the direction of the industry and how they have shown that everyone makes more money (somehow?) over proprietary protocols. It is too bad that Crestron doesn't see it that way. It seems they have built their business on a large barrier to entry (cost to become a certified programmer, time, and complexity). I know people who make an easy six figures plus as freelance crestron programmers people like that are going to want to protect their investment and crestron is able to profit from and maintain some type of control (quality or otherwise) through this system. I prefer the QSC model. Sure they manufacture amplifiers and loudspeakers and I think there is an advantage to using their products on a q-says system but they have made their protocols public and adopted open source type control and programming platforms (Lua, Json)  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-30-2019 07:20 AM                     Hey, if one is a "Master" programmer for Crestron, odds are, they are a talented individual that probably deserves 6-figures. I HATE making GUIs and some of these guys can really hit the nail on the head. I still hold up the AFI/Silver's Crestron GUI as the standard by which I judge all others. It was done by a talented individual (Don Getz). It is just so intuitive that most anyone walking up to use it, doesn't need a manual to figure it out. As it has evolved and others have taken over the Crestron part, it has lost some of that, in my opinion. There was an elegance in its user simplicity despite a complex control system. If you haven't seen it, check out the pictures in the Warehouse here.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 07-02-2019 07:49 AM                        I will check that out. I don't. Begrudge anyone the ability to make six figures as a freelance master Crestron programmer at all its just not my cup of tea right now from a control standpoint.  |  IP: Logged Ben Schulz Film Handler Posts: 12 From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Registered: Jan 2017 posted 07-04-2019 06:55 PM                     Hey OP We use Kramer Cinema Scalers and they are really good. They are a little pricey but worth the money. They have the scaler at the front of the cinema (or wherever you put it), then runs the signal up to bio via a cat6e cable using HDBT. Then into the Kramer break out boxes.  |  IP: Logged

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