Webcast to multiple rooms in a building

Using the Church Webcasting System, YouTube, etc. Including cameras and mixers.
nathangg
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#31

Post by nathangg »

aebrown wrote:"Crab" is the common term for the EJ-10 or EJ-8 Multi-Input Adapter. As far as I know, each building should have one. They are supplied by the FM Group.

Ah yes... unfortunately the one in our building has gone missing. Hmmm... I hate having to borrow one (that is probably why ours is missing... it is still being "borrowed")... but we may have to given the short amount of time we have to put things together.

THANK YOU!
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barkeraj
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#32

Post by barkeraj »

I'll try to get a list together. May take a while as Amazon broke my two big orders into multiple orders and they don't have an easy way of just sharing them. I'm guessing the cables are pretty obvious, so I'll focus on the other stuff.
Aaron Barker
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michaelfish
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#33

Post by michaelfish »


Ah yes... unfortunately the one in our building has gone missing. Hmmm...
If you cannot locate a Crab to borrow, you may want to purchase an Audio Direct Box like this one from Pyle (link). I have never had success using the Crab boxes because they attenuate audio to the point that the gain of the building's microphone input must be turned up all the way (which only our FM group can change).

These direct boxes are sold under a variety of brands and have 2>1/4 inch phone style line level inputs (paralleled) and a balanced XLR microphone level output. There is also a 3 position attenuation switch allowing 0, 20 and 40 db of attenuation so it is easy to match various levels of outputs from different devices.

We use the Audio Direct Box any time we need to plug a headphone level output (laptop, iPod, boombox, cell phone, etc.) in to the building audio system through a microphone jack.

At only $15, we purchased one for each of our buildings and they've worked out GREAT, the crab now just sits in the closet. Note: you will probably need a couple of RCA to 1/4 inch adapters (link).
russellhltn
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#34

Post by russellhltn »

michaelfish wrote:I have never had success using the Crab boxes because they attenuate audio to the point that the gain of the building's microphone input must be turned up all the way (which only our FM group can change).

The EJ-10 can be like that, but I find the EJ-8 works just fine.
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nathangg
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#35

Post by nathangg »

I'm so excited to get this working I ended up spending $75 last night for everything I needed. Here's my shopping List:

monoprice.jpg
monoprice.jpg (26.15 KiB) Viewed 1473 times
7209 3.5mm Stereo Plug to 2 x 6.35mm (1/4 Inch) Mono Jack Splitter Adaptor
4126 BNC Female to RCA Female Adaptor - Gold Plated
6879 1 Channel Passive CCTV BALUN - Video/Audio/Power over Cat5
2008 2 RCA Plug/2 RCA Plug M/M Cable - Black
4724 VGA to RCA | S-VIDEO | VGA Converter
2009 25ft 2 RCA Plug/2 RCA Plug M/M Cable - Black
665 6ft 3.5mm Stereo Plug/2 RCA Plug Cable - Black


I also bought a Radio Shack 15-1172 4 Way Distribution Amplifier for $15 on ebay, AND I already have a big spool of ethernet cable, so we'll see how this goes ($75 doesn't seem so bad).

One thing to note that makes my shopping list cheaper is the Baluns. These audio/video ones on monoprice were $9 for a pair (so about $4.50 each). I'll let everyone know if they work :-)
nathangg
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#36

Post by nathangg »

michaelfish wrote:If you cannot locate a Crab to borrow, you may want to purchase an Audio Direct Box like this one from Pyle (link
Is the PYLE PDC21 okay for this? Or did you buy the bigger PDC22?
michaelfish
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#37

Post by michaelfish »

The Pyle PDC21 is what we use.
KeithWilson
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#38

Post by KeithWilson »

This is the one we got from the local Radio Shack, and it worked pretty well. We split the signal at the chapel projector, and ran a composite line to the cultural hall and split it there. It worked perfect. I guess in theory you could split it yet again for the RS and Primary rooms, but it would require significant testing and creative cable hiding methods.
natet
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#39

Post by natet »

I thought I'd chime in and go over what we have done in our Stake Center. Like some others have mentioned in this thread, we are doing HDMI over cat-6. We are using converters from Kanex. It takes in a single HDMI signal, and splits it to 4 ethernet runs. In our building, we feed output from our video switcher to an HDMI splitter, which feeds two of these Kanex transmitters, and the webcast box. In the building, we have run cat-6 to a number of overflow locations, including 1 to the pulpit (more on this in a minute), one at the back of the chapel (feeds to a projector in the center of the cultural hall), 2 to the cultural hall (for projectors on the sides of the cultural hall), the Relief Society Room, Primary room, and another overflow location. The run to the pulpit is fed to a smaller tv (22 inch) that shows the Stake Presidency what is being broadcast. The Kanex hardware works great, even exceeds their specifications. We have a number of runs close to 200 ft, and the video signal is clear and solid. We ran all of our cables (both for these runs, and our camera signal/control) through the crawlspace under the building.

We use the building PA for audio, which I may amend later. Part of the problem is an audio shift that occurs. We feed our camera outputs into a computer with a software video switch. Because of this, the video lags behind the building PA. While not a big deal, it was a bit distracting for those observing in the overflow locations and on the projectors in the cultural hall.

http://www.ramelectronics.net/product.aspx?zpid=1987 - This is the Kanex product we are using. It says distances up to 100 ft, but we are pushing 200 ft with ours and have no issues.
michaelfish
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Proper use of Splitter and Taps

#40

Post by michaelfish »


Getting the signal to various unwired rooms is not too difficult if the rooms have windows. Just temporarily run RG6 coax along the outside of the bldg. At each window, insert a 2-way splitter with a short coax through the window to the TV. Run the coax to the chapel (pulpit area) and connect it to a Radio Shack VHF CH3/4 RF Modulator (or VCR output). Connect the Modulator's audio input to the laptop, and the video input to the StarTech. If the picture at the TV is noisy, insert an RF amplifier on the coax line.
The signal is noisy (needing an RF amplifier) because a SPLITTER was used instead of a TAP.

The first splitter puts 1/2 signal on each line (a 4-way splitter outputs only 1/4 signal). The next splitter takes the 1/2 signal and splits it again, yielding 1/4 of the original signal and so on down the line. So if you used four 2-way splitters, daisy-chained down the line, the last leg would only have 1/8th of the original signal (even less because of line loss).

The proper way to distribute RF signals in a daisy-chain configuration is to use TAPs. A 7-db tap will allow a typical RF Distribution Amplifier to have 4-6 equally balanced outputs over 300' of RG-6U cable.
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