HDMI to multiple screens

June 30, 2011 11:27 PM

HDMI source(s) to multiple televisions? Plus, with switch.

Hooking up a PC to run slideshows at a local club. The teevees are all HDMI. Output comes from 1) cable, 2) PC, and 3) karaoke.

Presently the whole system is on coaxial cable. The teevees were just switched and connecting the whole mess has become an insurmountable challenge.

What I must do is rewire the bar for HDMI. Suggestions?

posted by Mike Mongo to Technology (5 answers total)

Best answer: If the sources are a mix of different HDMI and non-HDMI inputs, then you could use an AV receiver as the 'switch'; these take multiple inputs (typically 3 or 4 HDMIs, along with a few composite inputs etc) and output a single HDMI signal, along with separate speaker outputs for various (2-channel stereo, 5.1 and 7.1) speaker sets. If you don't use separate speakers, the HDMI output also carries an audio signal to the televisions. From the output of the AV amp, you could then split the HDMI signal using a suitable multiple HDMI splitter; these can usually be cascaded, so you can for example use four 1x3 splitters to split the output for 9 televisions. Note: some splitters appear to be video-only, so watch out for that.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:31 AM on July 1, 2011

ASUS have devices that send HDMI output wireless

I use one of myself to watch movies sent from my laptop on my big HD screen in the living room.

Officially its only designed for one to one transmission but I imagine it would work with mutiple receivership

http://uk.asus.com/Networks/Home_Entertainment/BRHD3_Wireless_HDMI_Kit/

http://uk.asus.com/Networks/Home_Entertainment/WiCast_EW2000/
posted by complience at 1:40 AM on July 1, 2011

1. HDMI Splitter - 1 source, multiple outputs (first google result as an example)
2. A reciever which will take in all inputs, and output over HDMI. I think something like this Onkyo TX-SR309 may do the job, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer right now.

so yeah, pretty much what le more de bea arthur says above
posted by defcom1 at 4:38 AM on July 1, 2011

Right, this receiver: OnkyoTX-SR606 does upconvert to HDMI, letting you feed all your signals through HDMI
posted by defcom1 at 5:08 AM on July 1, 2011

Without knowing what kind of outputs you're using on the karaoke, it's hard to recommend a specific product, but I'd probably get something like this scaler/switcher. Inputs of various types get plugged in one end, you push a button on the front to select your source, and it gets converted to HDMI and pushed out the other end.

You'd then need an HDMI splitter to get that signal to your various TVs. Bear in mind that there are limits to how far you can run HDMI. If you need to run more than 50ft, you'll want to do something like convert it to Cat5e or Cat6 cables.

I must come off like a total B&H shill, but I really do like them.
posted by echo target at 10:59 AM on July 1, 2011 [1 favorite]