SURPRISE! This ISN 'T Quadcopter related Ok, maybe a little One of the things that has i...

[G+_T Burns]

SURPRISE! This ISN'T Quadcopter related . . . Ok, maybe a little. One of the things that has interested me recently is the possibility of using FPV technology to benefit my chapel. I run the Audio Visual side of our worship service and at the moment we're using an HDMI over Cat5 Extension (thanks Monoprice) to send a video feed to a cry room. The trouble is that the cry room is almost at the limit of the Cat5 cable (280 feet) which causes intermittent drop-out of video (blue screen with HDMI). I have considered cutting the little bit of excess CAT5 that is coiled in the ceiling designed to give a little tug-&-pull leeway at either end just to see if trimming down the length will help. 

So here's my question:

Is there another solution that might work better to send the video feed from our camera (HDMI output) back to the cry room, keeping in mind that I can't make permanent modifications to the building. Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, you said a 500mW transmitter was illegal and going through walls (especially a metal framed building) can cause a drop in quality. I'd love to hear about any innovative ideas that could solve our challenge.

[G+_Nick Whitworth]

With the FPV transmitter, you are stuck at NTSC video.

 

The ideal solution would be to convert the signal to HD-SDI and run over coax, or even better, optical fiber.

 

What type of cable is in your wall? People often say CAT5 when it's actually CAT5e. If it's possible, use the installed cable to pull new shielded CAT6a. I'm willing to bet that will fix your problem.

 

Also, you may want to ditch the Monoprice HDMI extenders. You really get what you pay for with HDMI extenders. Also make sure that there are no splices or patch panels in the line. HDMI extenders want one continuous piece of wire.

[G+_Travis Hershberger]

Have you thought about setting up a video server instead of doing a direct feed?  A Raspberry Pi with a HDMI to USB adapter for a "server" and another one to play the video back.  Might be a lot of "Know How" going into that solution.  The cable length may be a bit long for HDMI baluns, but it's easily within network range.

[G+_Nick Whitworth]

Ah, good idea, Travis Hershberger?. I really doubt that a Pi could capture and encode HDMI video in real time, though. You would also be introducing delay. The audio for the room is likely fed from the audio console in the sanctuary over a 70v speaker system. The audio for the room would have to come from the Pi on the receiving end, now.

 

I do like the network idea, though. It would make it really easy to add more rooms later if you wanted to. I know of professional grade systems that would do that, but they are really expensive.

[G+_Nick Whitworth]

Some HDBaseT baluns have boosters that can be placed in the middle of a long run. I don't know of they need to be powered, or if they can be powered over the data line. If you can access the run somewhere in the middle, you might try dropping one in. HDBaseT is a bit of a mess, though. Pick one manufacturer and stick with it.

[G+_Travis Hershberger]

Yeah, the cost is why I suggest a Pi.  They really are quite anemic processors.  Depending on what the encoding format being spit out of the camera, a Pi may surprise you.  It's graphics processor handles certain video formats.  So, while I'd never use one as a general use computer, they do surprisingly well with video encoding/decoding.

[G+_Ben Reese]

I've got a very similar job at Church, but haven't tried feeding video yet - probably my next project. I'm now capturing SD video using a USB dongle and it works well. Using VLC Media Player you can easily create a network stream that can be picked up by the Pi, but I'm looking into other alternatives too.

 

I like the Pi idea, but you HDMI to USB 2.0 would probably be a bad experience. The Pi would be great on the receiving end though. Because of the delay you'll probably want to package the audio with the stream, but I'd also guess you're already doing that with the HDMI.

 

The HDMI amplifier might be your best option at this point unless you want to try the network stream thing.

[G+_T Burns]

Nick Whitworth is correct, I'm sending audio from the console over a a 70v speaker system. I don't have permission to access the network in the building since it is a secure network so I ran my own Cat5e directly from the camera location to the family room (through the ceiling). The other part of the equation is that I have tried a wireless network solution but the signal drops out pretty steeply around the 200ft range (a lot of walls in a steel frame building).

[G+_Ben Reese]

Yeah, if your audio is coming from the mixer/amps, you won't want to use a network stream anyhow. It sounds like your best option is probably a powered HDMI booster or something. A shielded Cat6 might help as well depending on whether it's voltage drop or signal noise that's causing problems. If you're running 200 feet, you're probably toward the end of that extender's range.

[G+_Schwarz Michael]

Have you considered to put a little 4/5-Port Switch as "Amplifier/Repeater" in the middle? If you have a poweroutlet near your networkcable somewhere.