hi all,

I have been doing youth discos in a large nightclub for the past 18 months, they have been going fantastically well and I really enjoy them. I use the in house gear, CDJ's & mixer etc. However I have begun VJing over the past few months and have been investing in new videos through mixmash etc. I generally use these for karaoke between singers as something to put up on the big screen. However I want to give the kids a surprise the next time I'm doing their disco by having the videos displayed on the big screens in the club. I now have enough videos to do a full night, and the youth club have agreed to make a contribution to the cost of the videos (I explained how expensive it is, and they usually take in over three grand on the door) There are four large screens suspended over the dancefloor which are used to advertise specials etc. Problem is they are connected to a BNC video mixer, it has four inputs. My laptop has VGA, HDMI and S-Video out, anybody got any idea how I can connect into the BNC mixer or what type of converter etc I need? Next disco is friday week so would be very glad of any help.

Thanks in advance

mike

my guess is that its a composite video feed terminated with a BNC a simple s-video to composite convertor from maplins and a phono to BNC adaptor should work

so S-video lead to-> S-Video to Composite adaptor(phono socket on the end) -> phono to BNC adaptor

Cheers Rob, do i need to run a phono lead between the two of those or does one plug into the other, also what will the quality be like? Is it likely to degrade the picture quality much?

The last connector the phono jack to BNC the BNC part ie if it is male of female will be dependant on what's at the venue obviously the type that will join to what you have there you dont need a phono lead as the adaptors will plug into each other but be carefull they dont put strain on any sockets ith there combined weight ..without seeing it i cant advise much...

As to picture quality you are only going to get composite video quality thats it standard low def picture as thats how the screens are wired up ..unless you rewire all the screens up with HDMI , install a splitter etc etc thats as good as your going to get..

some screens do a great job of up-scaling low def pictures to fit the screen fujitsus plasmas were legendary at up-scaling in the AV world for example but they went bust and dont make screens anymore as the built in processors were very expensive and so were the screens... most modern sets are pants at it .

The only problem with S-Video to composite is that it can sometimes result in a black and white picture. The adapters work by resistively or capacitively mixing two seperate signals in the S-Video output, namely the luma and chroma. In theory it shouldn't work, but it usually does of course and lots of people use the adapters. But it's worth bearing in mind if you have quality problems.

Cheers, I normally use VGA or HDMI, so was a little confused when I saw this, hopefully it'll work. Not the end of the world if it doesn't but it would be a wonderful surprise for the kids, as they really enjoy these discos and this would undoubtedly make them feel special, as the nightclub doesn't even have Video DJ's (needless to say I'll be looking to have a word with the manager afterwards once he see's what I'm doing )

Hi mike just a thought. the four inputs are they actually one input ie component video as opposed to composite video. On pro gear there are a few different formats RGB plus black burst is one that springs to mind each goes down its own cable and usually terminates at a BNC.

Check the names by the BNC connectors if they say R - G - B by each one or even Y - Pb/CB - Pr/Cr (amongst other variants). It sounds like you might be connecting to pro kit and not your everyday kit.

As I Say check for any markings near the BNC connectors this will give you an idea.

Hope this helps in some way.

Nik

You can of course get converters for either VGA or HDMI into composite but they'll be alot dearer than a simple s-video adapter.

The results do tend to be more repeatable and reliable though if you use the VGA or HDMI output and digitally convert it to composite.

Most multi-screen venue installations will use composite video because the cabling's cheaper (and distribution amps) and all modern TVs and displays have at least one composite video input as do most video sources.

Thanks to all for the advice, superstardeejay i may check out the hdmi to composite converter, as this is a monthly gig, which i will have for the forseeable future and it will be worth it I hope. I may also use the converter in other venues. I'm only developing my VJ service, as well as Karaoke so hope to get into more venues as time goes by.

I can't remember at all where I bought them from, but we have these little cheap scan convertors that output from your VGA, and are powered by USB. they convert to composite or component, and small enough to fit in your pocket. They were only about 50 quid. Brilliant little units. They even had a switch to flick between PAL or NTSC systems.

If i remember, or find one on tinterweb, il let you know!

I got mine from Maplins;
PCTOTV made by "KWORLD", does NTSC/PAL over SVIDEO and/or Composite. It also has a VGA passthrough.
Was about £50, powered by USB, no drivers - just hook up to any VGA signal.


Quality is pretty good- its a scan converter. Don't be tempted to get VGA to Composite converters off Ebay (for <£5 ?) This assume the VGA chip can provide composite down one of the pins - not all adapters can do this..

I got this for Halloween last year, running the pubs projector, and then my 2 monitors (VGA Pass through into separate VGA splitter)

Maplin has a few products;
This is what I have, now its £40...
http://info.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=223833

Not seen this before...
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Module...58&DOY=12m6


Jason

I too have the pc to tv module and it's great. Simply plug in the vga and usb lead and then take the output to your monitors and voila.

I'm I right in reading vokf's post that you can also plug in a vga lead and it will give you a feed for a secondary monitor?

Yep, it has a VGA passthough;
Componsite to Pub Projector
VGA passthrough to VGA Splitter into my 2 Monitors.

Worked a treat :-)

Would have preferred SVideo for better quality, but the pub has composite and RF only...

Jas