HELP Please. . . ATEM to VGA (sort of - maybe)

Hello,

Before I start, please know I'm not a professional - only an amateur trying hard to help a non-profit save money and put on a good show.

I have a ATEM Production Studio 4K Live Switcher (wonderful piece of kit - that). I have been using it in a portable environment for non-profit conferences for two years - with no problems. I have been feeding it with three HDMI computers running various software programs and one Apple TV (in computer). Output has been via HDMI to one video projector. The ability to mix, add lower thirds, and to generally upscale the presentation has been fantastic.

I recently had to hold the conference in a new environment - an ancient hotel (and we'll be back there again next year - not my choice). They have two video projectors - VGA only - in their ballroom. I was able to make the presentation work by going to an old laptop, with one VGA cable connecting to their wall plug, which gave me the two overhead projectors. Using the ATEM resulted in bad color to one projector. Using HDMI from ATEM to one projector worked, but the other could not pick up the signal (cable run in excess of 100'). So, the entire presentation was run off of one laptop - poorly.

I need to be able to take the output from the ATEM (either SDI or HDMI - no audio needed) and get it to a total of four video projectors with VGA input with the longest cable run being about 200'. Any ideas on how I might do that and make it work? Thank you for your thoughts in advance.

James

How you tried using the Datavideo DAC-70?

Forget that suggestion, it does not have VGA out.

SDI to VGA converters are easy enough to find; that should be the easy part. What's got me worried is that 200 foot VGA run. I'm going to guess you need a good distribution amp for that. Does the venue not already have a splitter & distribution amp for their projectors?

If cables are already in place, then you're going to be kind of limited in what you can do. If you are running your own cables, then you'll probably want to use a balun & cat6 cables for the long runs.

VGA to SDI converters are easy enough to find

I think, he needs the opposite way: SDI (or HDMI) to VGA....

I have two ideas:

1.) rent a scaler with the needed connections.

2.) Use a PC for caturing/streaming the video from ATEM (e.g. with a cheep Decklink Mini Recorder) and send a fullscreen preview to PCs VGA-out (mybe use free OBS for this).

That's correct, I need to take the SDI or (less desirable) HDMI signal from the "program out" of the ATEM, and down convert to VGA to feed two overhead video projectors in a hotel ballroom.

I suspect there are no amplifiers in their system. Their system has VGA only input on the front wall. Then, the master projector feeds the slave with Composite Video cable. The system (wiring) is old enough that I don't believe there is an amplifier of any kind in line between the wall and the projectors, or the two projectors. The projectors were replaced about five years ago, so they have HDMI inputs, but they are not used.

What kind of scaler would you recommend?

Thank you.

James

The bad color was on one projector but not the other, using the same source? Odd. You're likely running into colorspace problems.

You could try one of the inexpensive HDMI to VGA adaptors. This works pretty well.

SDI -> MD-HX doing frame rate and color conversion -> HDMI to VGA adaptor.

You have some time, have a look on eBay for some hardware.

Extron DVS605 is a good start. Kramer VP-728 is another.

Hi Roger,

Thank you for the ideas. I truly appreciate it.

Sorry if I was not clear - the bad color was on one projector (as you said, likely color space issues), but only because the other (slave) could not display anything. I suspect, had the second projector been able to display, it would have had color space issues as well.

When I tried to run a HDMI cable to the master projector (instead of the VGA built into the hotel walls), I got a good picture on the master projector, but the slave projector (wired between master and slave with Component cables) got nothing. It seemed to want to pick up the signal, but could not.

I suspected there was not enough signal strength to allow two units to run after a 100' HDMI cable run to the projector and no amplifier in-line.

But I suspect a scaler is the way to go; take the output from the ATEM Production Studio 4K via HDMI to a scaler and output VGA to the wall. I noticed that both of the scalers you mentioned also have HDMI out as well, so we could also drive additional HDMI projectors or screens as well.

I'll look into the units you mentioned. Thank you.

James

I'm starting to think you should get two SDI to HDMI boxes and run SDI to the projectors. Forget about the venue's wiring; just utilize the HDMI ports.

Humm...that makes a lot of sense. If I do that, I'll need to drive a total of four video projectors. Will I run into line loss issues with SDI the way I do with HDMI? The longest run will be about 200' after coming from some kind of splitter. Perhaps a splitter amplifier?

Not at that length, provided you are using good cable. 3G-SDI can go over 100m.

Humm...that makes a lot of sense. If I do that, I'll need to drive a total of four video projectors. Will I run into line loss issues with SDI the way I do with HDMI? The longest run will be about 200' after coming from some kind of splitter. Perhaps a splitter amplifier?

Good splitters will re-clock the signal. I've run 200+ feet without an amplifier, and when I ran 300 feet, I used a splitter at the receiving end to re-clock the signal and get a good image.

I've been flogging the Decimator a lot, and it will work here, too: run the TVS into the Decimator and use its 4 SDI outs for your projectors. You can use the HDMI out for your local Program monitor.