Send streaming video over network??

[maniac]

I'm sure I've seen this mentioned before, but can't find it again now!

We have a plasma screen in our canteen which has the output froma NTB unit playing on it. We'd also like to extend this and have the same output in other areas of the school on plasma screens etc. These areas are too far away to run VGA cables etc. to so I'm looking for another solution.

I'm sure I read (possibly on here) a while back about a system which would push out video over IP networks, and allow it to be received by PCs, or dedicated receiver boxes around the building. Only problem is I can't remember where I read or saw that system!

Can anyone help me find it again?

Cheers,

Mike.

[SpuffMonkey]

You can do this with VLC - cross platform & free!

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[maniac]

But unfortunitely that won't take an existing VGA output and stream it for us. The solutions I've seen are stand alone units you plug the VGA/video lead into and it converts whatever's going into it into an MPEG 2 stream, which receiver boxes can tune into over the network.

After some extensive googling I've found a couple of solutions that do this, but they're all a lot more expensive than the one I origenally found. Should have saved the origenal company into my favourites really, but at the time we didn't have any application for the device so I just looked at it, thought yeah that's pretty cool, then closed the page! Don't you hate it when you do that!

Mike.

[laserblazer]

Is this what you had in mind?

[maniac]

Not quite. Those one's use CAT5 cable, but don't actually stream content over the network, they simply use the CAT5 as a medium to carry the signal, they won't travel through switches and fibre etc.

The one I saw had a 'transmitter' type box that plugged into the network, took a VGA, SCART or composite input, and converted it into an MPEG 2 stream. No PC required, it was a hardware stand alone device. You can then buy 'receiver' versions that do the opposite, receive the MPEG2 stream, decode it and display it on a local screen. You can obviously have multiple devices receiving the stream at once, making it ideal for getting screens around the school to all display the same content from our digital signage box.

Mike.

[localzuk]

Isn't the NTB designed to deal with this situation via a master/slave system? Why not get more NTB's and have them as slaves off of this one?

[maniac]

Because they cost over £1000 each, and distributing the video signal is a much cheaper option, if I can find the company again! Their website can't be up to much, as google searches are not being helpful at the moment.

Mike.

edit: Plus some of the locations we might have screens eventually havn't got space for a NTB machine, which is basically a small PC.

[webman]

iSocket?

[maniac]

That's the type of thing! Not the one I found origenaly, but does the same job. One I'm trying to re-find had a PC VGA input, but the NTB has a composite out which will go into a SCART with an adapter, so that could do the job nicely.

Thanks for the link.

Mike.