HDMI over CAT6

[ILoveC4]

Excellent Codeman - sorry I didn't spot the other thead, I will have a look.

What do you reckon then Nded? Have you any recommendations? Do you think this is a goer, but probably with a different switch? It would so cool if we could get this going with C4.

You had better check out the rest of the forum. There are drivers in the works by at least two different parties.

Also, nded might be a little biased being that he works at (or owns?) Just Add Power. Not saying it isn't awesome, but he is probably viewing it through slightly tainted eyes =)

[Deleted]

Sorry everyone. I am so excited by this product that I haven't looked elsewhere for other posts. The cost of any matrix in the UK is astronomic so to have a chance of using a switch would be a godsend.

I'll look at the other threads now.

[thecodeman]

It's cool Garry, I was pulling your leg a bit

ILoveC4, I saw it in person at CEDIA, and while Ed may be biased, I'm just as excited as he is. If our units we ordered this week for testing work well, we already have an application for an (x) by 70 matrix that we will put it through it's paces on.

[Deleted]

I've now looked at the other threads and must say there appears to be a great deal of negativity from people who haven't seen the product yet. Innovation like this pushes the boundaries a little bit more and must be good for everybody.

What I have read from the positive side, including Nded (I think), is that for a HT (perhaps with a 50" TV or a projector onto a 8' screen) this product might not be the best, but for distribution around the home this product would be more than suitable.

If that is the case I would need to think how I would share a connection of say a Blu-Ray player between the HT and the rest of the home using the JAP stuff. It would lose it's cost effectiveness if I had to have 1 Blu-Ray for the HT and another for use by JAP.

I will be eager to read what you have to say Codeman after you have completed your tests.

[thecodeman]

...What I have read from the positive side, including Nded (I think), is that for a HT (perhaps with a 50" TV or a projector onto a 8' screen) this product might not be the best, but for distribution around the home this product would be more than suitable.

If that is the case I would need to think how I would share a connection of say a Blu-Ray player between the HT and the rest of the home using the JAP stuff. It would lose it's cost effectiveness if I had to have 1 Blu-Ray for the HT and another for use by JAP...

But that's the thing though, typically if I want a dediacted HT room with a projector and all that, I will have much nicer equipment there than what's in the family room or the kids' rooms. So for critical viewing, I might have an Oppo BD player, whereas for distribution I might have a netgear 9150 playing back "archived" discs through the HDMI matrix. The other benefit, though negligable, is cable simplification using HDMI vs component and digital coax. The true benefits are *quick* switching, with no sync dropouts or 20 second delays, and unmatched scalability/price points.

[Deleted]

Just to pick your brains Codeman, are you saying you would run HDMI throughout your HT using just the HT Receiver as the switching device with its own devices attached, and use a HDMI matrix with perhaps cheaper devices attached for the rest of the home? JAP aside, what HDMI matrix would you consider?

[cgreenwell]

The true benefits are *quick* switching, with no sync dropouts or 20 second delays, and unmatched scalability/price points.

You're absolutely right about these being the best reasons. No one else offers a scalable solution.

[thecodeman]

Just to pick your brains Codeman, are you saying you would run HDMI throughout your HT using just the HT Receiver as the switching device with its own devices attached, and use a HDMI matrix with perhaps cheaper devices attached for the rest of the home? JAP aside, what HDMI matrix would you consider?

That is what I'm saying. JAP is so intriguing because no one else makes one near this price point that has these features. Sure you can get an HDMI switcher, or maybe a 4x4 matrix, or Crestron's piece...if you had Crestron gear and still wanted a delay when switching (I saw the demo at CEDIA and wasn't impressed for the price, but hey I don't have Crestron money anyway ). Gefen makes a matrix now ($4,000 - http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=4559) and Key Digital doesnt have a matrix yet , but if it wasn't for JAP I'd still only be talking about Zektor, NeoPro, Audio Authority, Shiny Bow or Video Storm.

[bebster]

It wasn't clear to me how the auto-scaling really works.

Some TV's (eg Sony Bravia) now have 120Hz frame rates, so I'd assume you'd want to be at that rate on the receive side connected to that TV. Does that mean you'd transmit all sources at that rate to satisfy this output need, and down-scale the frame rate for output devices that have lower frame rates?

[thecodeman]

It wasn't clear to me how the auto-scaling really works.

Some TV's (eg Sony Bravia) now have 120Hz frame rates, so I'd assume you'd want to be at that rate on the receive side connected to that TV. Does that mean you'd transmit all sources at that rate to satisfy this output need, and down-scale the frame rate for output devices that have lower frame rates?

No the scaler in the decoder for the tv asks the tv what source it wants, and outputs that. Set your source devices to whatever you want (720p on the Control4 HC, 1080p/24 or 60 on Blu-ray, 1080p on Xbox, 480p from Wii) and the decoder handles the scaling for the individual tv. As far as refresh rates, that's applied in the TV itself, there's no such thing as 120hz output from Blu-ray. BD players will output in frames per second (24p, 60p) and the refresh rate of the tv (60hz, 120hz, 240hz) is a feature of the tv. It will take the 24p and do some 3:2 pulldown, 5:5 pulldown, black frame insertion, or some other method to get the FPS to match the refresh rate of the TV, with the end goal of it being judder free.

[Nded]

Excellent Codeman - sorry I didn't spot the other thead' date=' I will have a look.

What do you reckon then Nded? Have you any recommendations? Do you think this is a goer, but probably with a different switch? It would so cool if we could get this going with C4.[/quote']

You had better check out the rest of the forum. There are drivers in the works by at least two different parties.

Also, nded might be a little biased being that he works at (or owns?) Just Add Power. Not saying it isn't awesome, but he is probably viewing it through slightly tainted eyes =)

Guilty as charged - I am the owner. We do have a Netgear FSM726e (MSRP $279) arriving tomorrow for testing. I'll let you know how it works.

[Nded]

Sorry everyone. I am so excited by this product that I haven't looked elsewhere for other posts. The cost of any matrix in the UK is astronomic so to have a chance of using a switch would be a godsend.

I'll look at the other threads now.

You might want to contact Jamie Smith at www.hdcable.co.uk to arrange a demonstration.

[Deleted]

Thank you to Codeman and Nded for your advice.

[joed]

Ed,

Why do you need serial when you have SNMP?

Have you (or anyone writing a C4 driver) thought about using SNMP to change a ports VLAN?

Here is a good example:

http://kallisti.us/blog/2009/06/cisco-ios-vlan-management-via-snmp.html

- Joe

[Nded]

Ed,

Why do you need serial when you have SNMP?

Have you (or anyone writing a C4 driver) thought about using SNMP to change a ports VLAN?

Here is a good example:

http://kallisti.us/blog/2009/06/cisco-ios-vlan-management-via-snmp.html

- Joe

Joe,

The short answer is YES, the team at CYTEXONE are using SNMP to write their version of the C4 Driver for Just Add Power HDMI over IP.

The not so short answer follows....

When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. All of the other products Just Add Power produces are controlled by RS232 or RS485 interfaces, and I have gotten into the habbit of writing GUI's that talk to COM ports. Therefore, when it came time to write an interface for switching VLAN's I naturally gravitated towards an RS232 option. Frankly, I have no idea where to begin to write an SNMP interface. Luckily, I don't have to, as there are other programmers to tackle that task. Bottom line is that you are correct, RS232 control of the Managed Switch is not mandatory to realize the benefits of HDMI over IP.

[joed]

Ed' date='

Why do you need serial when you have SNMP?

Have you (or anyone writing a C4 driver) thought about using SNMP to change a ports VLAN?

Here is a good example:

http://kallisti.us/blog/2009/06/cisco-ios-vlan-management-via-snmp.html

- Joe[/quote']

Joe,

The short answer is YES, the team at CYTEXONE are using SNMP to write their version of the C4 Driver for Just Add Power HDMI over IP.

The not so short answer follows....

When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. All of the other products Just Add Power produces are controlled by RS232 or RS485 interfaces, and I have gotten into the habbit of writing GUI's that talk to COM ports. Therefore, when it came time to write an interface for switching VLAN's I naturally gravitated towards an RS232 option. Frankly, I have no idea where to begin to write an SNMP interface. Luckily, I don't have to, as there are other programmers to tackle that task. Bottom line is that you are correct, RS232 control of the Managed Switch is not mandatory to realize the benefits of HDMI over IP.

I like the Yes answer. It just makes sense to me to use IP to control a HMDI over IP product. As you scale this out to multiple switches I would think an IP control solution would be much more attractive.

- J

[Nded]

For the big digital signage customers having IP control will make a world of difference. I'm also thinking an SNMP interface will be easier to use across multiple switch brands, vs. the peculiarities of the console RS232 commands of the various brands.

[Nded]

Excellent Codeman - sorry I didn't spot the other thead' date=' I will have a look.

What do you reckon then Nded? Have you any recommendations? Do you think this is a goer, but probably with a different switch? It would so cool if we could get this going with C4.[/quote']

You had better check out the rest of the forum. There are drivers in the works by at least two different parties.

Also, nded might be a little biased being that he works at (or owns?) Just Add Power. Not saying it isn't awesome, but he is probably viewing it through slightly tainted eyes =)

Guilty as charged - I am the owner. We do have a Netgear FSM726e (MSRP $279) arriving tomorrow for testing. I'll let you know how it works.

Well, we've tried a few Netgear switches (level 2 and level 3) and they have not been satisfactory. For some reason we can't explain (and neither can the Netgear support desk), they don't want to support a multicast on multiple VLAN's. As long as we keep everything on VLAN 1, it works fine. When we try to switch the same ports to other VLAN's, the multi-cast fails. For now, we are advising HDMI over IP users to stay away from the Netgear managed switches. However, we will happily redact this warning if the Netgear support team can figure out why their switches don't want to work with multicast on multiple VLANs.