Tech Forum

I meet with my stake presidency about webcasting this weekend. One suggestion was made to use the clerk's computer in the buildings to receive the webcast from the stake center and then put it into the closed circuit TV system in the buildings.

I like the idea, but unsure how to make it happen. I know that I got to take the video out of the computer along with the audio and get it into a video modulator so that it would be sent out through the CCTV.

I'm wondering if someone else has done anything like this and how did you get it to work? I'm wondering if there is something that can be purchased to take the VGA and audio and put it onto a single coax cable to the satellite cabinet.

Thanks for letting me know.

What you need is a VGA to Composite converter. There are some very cheap cables, but they seem to require a special feature in the video card that the clerk's computer may or may not have. A quick Google suggest a device runs $80-90. I'm thinking you may be better off buying a card that supports that function.

Another option would be to get a simple scan converter ($30+) which converts VGA output of the PC to composite and/or S-video. The video output and the speaker output of the PC can then be plugged into an RF modulator.

Some advantages to this option is that it can used on any PC or laptop with VGA out, it is portable, the PC does not have to be opened (no video boards to replace), and they usually have adjustments for screen size, position, color, brightness, sharpness, etc.

The scan converter is probably your best bet. You won't need anything fancy, as the modulators in the church houses are SD. so even a HD scan converter would not gain you anything visually.
Also, I would suggest that before you make any major modifications to the system in the building, you check with your FM group. They may have already done something similar in the area, and have an idea of how it should work. Additionally, if you’re lucky enough, they will have an additional modulator or other parts that you might need so that you can make a permanent installation of connection points so that you won't have to be constantly moving wires around in your system. Plus it's just nice to let people know when you are playing in what is usually their sandbox.