How to play 1 dvd on 2 tv's

[robertinatlanta]

hi,

sorry if this is a stupid question.

i own a night club. i want to play one dvd on 4 different monitors.

other than the tv's and the single dvd player, what harware do i need? seems like a component cable splitter(s) would work, but i am unfamiliar with component cable splitters.

can someone help?? my grand opening is wednesday, and i want the same promotional dvd to be playing on all 4 tv's at once.

TIA!!!

robert

[MysticEyes]

http://www.home-technology-store.com/structured-wiring/CE-AV501HD.aspx

[robertinatlanta]

[QUOTE=MysticEyes;2220508]http://www.home-technology-store.com/structured-wiring/CE-AV501HD.aspx[/QUOTE]

thx mystic!!

OK, now i am really going to push my luck and ask for the hardware needed for the following setup.

i have 4 dvd players in the club office that play to monitors throughout the club. 4 seperate dvd’s playing to 4 seperate tv’s. that’s fine. however, from the office i cannot see what is playing on each monitor. i.e. i need/want to be able to see that each dvd is playing properly etc, but i need to do it from the office. therefore, i want to hook up a 13" tv in the office to monitor all 4 t.v.'s. i have a 4-way (abcd) switch, but that alone will not do it. do i need to use both the amp you suggested + 4 way switch to accomplish my goal? would that config even work?

i can’t tell you how much this helps. thx again!

[RichMan]

Your 1 13" TV and 4-way (abcd) switch should work. You hook the output of the 4 DVD players to the abcd inputs of the switch and the output of the switch to the 13" tv. You should then be able to see what is coming out of the switch to the TV (only 1 at a time of course).

RM

[robertinatlanta]

[QUOTE=RichMan;2220928]Your 1 13" TV and 4-way (abcd) switch should work. You hook the output of the 4 DVD players to the abcd inputs of the switch and the output of the switch to the 13" tv. You should then be able to see what is coming out of the switch to the TV (only 1 at a time of course).

RM[/QUOTE]

RM,

are you suggesting this could be done without the amplifier? how would i get the signal to the 4 tv’s?

[RichMan]

You can 2-way split the signal from the DVD players before the 4-way switch. One side goes straight to the TV and the other to the switch input. If you click between A-B-C-D inputs on your 4-way switch you will see what is being sent to each of the TVs (one at a time). With this, you can see what is being sent to any of the 4 TVs by any of the 4 players.

Am I missing some details here? I did not click on the link to the amp so I don’t know what it is all about.

RM

[robertinatlanta]

[QUOTE=RichMan;2220955]
Am I missing some details here? I did not click on the link to the amp so I don’t know what it is all about.

RM[/QUOTE]

a sales person at radio shack told me that without the amp, there would be unacceptable signal loss. i’m thinking i should try it your way (y splitters to the abcd switch).

do you think the signal loss without an amp would be an issue?

thx again…

[RichMan]

A 2-way splitter will reduce the signal by 3.5db per output (10db from player would end up 6.5db per splitter output). So, it really depends on how much signal the DVD player sends out to begin with and how far the TVs are from the player(s) (coax cable also causes a certain amount of signal loss per 100ft).

I say you should get a quality 2-way coax splitter and give it a try. Just try and do the test on the TV that is furthest away from the office.

RM

[olyteddy]

do you think the signal loss without an amp would be an issue?

That is correct. Video can’t be simply split. It requires a ‘distribution’ amplifier. If it is an RF signal, a splitter will work.

[RichMan]

olyteddy is likely correct about this. My suggestions are based on you using the RF (round coax cable) inputs and outputs on your devices.

olyteddy, am I confusing terms here perhaps?

RM

[robertinatlanta]

[QUOTE=RichMan;2220976]olyteddy is likely correct about this. My suggestions are based on you using the RF (round coax cable) inputs and outputs on your devices.

olyteddy, am I confusing terms here perhaps?

RM[/QUOTE]

my dvd players don’t have coax inputs.

they have s-video inputs. can you split s-video olyteddy?

[RichMan]

It’s the outputs (not the inputs) that matter. You don’t really need inputs for your DVD player most of the time.

So, are you running s-video over long distances to your TVs? If so, how far are the TVs?

RM

[robertinatlanta]

[QUOTE=RichMan;2220999]It’s the outputs (not the inputs) that matter. You don’t really need inputs for your DVD player most of the time.

So, are you running s-video over long distances to your TVs? If so, how far are the TVs?

RM[/QUOTE]

oops, my bad. i meant there are not outputs of course.

i do not have s-video over long distance and don’t plan on running s-video to the tv’s. was wondering if i could use s-video to the 13" though.

[pipemanid]

S-Video is technically parallel coax connections and splitting the signal to provide for 4 individual signals will degrade it to the point of being unusable…
You need something like this…
http://www.svideo.com/svideoamp1.html
There is no easy/inexpensive way to accomplish what you want to do without utilizing another switch like this…

4-to-1 Selector for S-Video, Composite Video and Audio

If you’re running long distances to the monitors be sure and use a quality S-Video cable for the runs…

[RichMan]

So, your DVD players only have s-video output and you have a 4-way switch that has 4 s-video inputs? What is the output of the 4-way switch?

I’ll have to think about this one for a bit.

RM

[robertinatlanta]

[QUOTE=RichMan;2221004]So, your DVD players only have s-video output and you have a 4-way switch that has 4 s-video inputs? What is the output of the 4-way switch?

I’ll have to think about this one for a bit.

RM[/QUOTE]

the dvd players have both s-video and component outputs.

same thing for the switch.

i appreciate anything you can devise!

[RichMan]

What type of cable/signal are you planning to run from the players to the TVs?

RM

[RichMan]

@ olyteddy and pipemanid,

Can the s-video be split just once for 1 input 2 outputs? If so, then he should be OK with splitting the signal right out of the player to send signal to the switch and the office TV at the same time. I’m not familiar with s-video signal losses.

RM

[pipemanid]

S-Video, because of the coaxial construction, exhibits the exact same signal loss characteristics as standard coax…
EDIT:
Due to the conductor size, S-Video losses will be slightly higher than RG-6…

[RichMan]

If S-Video has the same loss as coax (RG-59 or RG-6 or RG-11 for example) why do you say that you can not split it? It all depends on the input signal strength.

Working over 5 years in the local cable TV company, I have actually used 8-way splitters (10db loss on each output) in houses and still had perfect picture quality at the 8 different TVs in the house. Not always though. But most the time a 2-way split would not be a problem at all.

RM