Affordable Video Over IP as Standalone Devices?

dantbh asks: "I am working for a music club / bar that has several large rooms in its building. We want to distribute a video signal from a camera in one of the rooms to multiple television sets in other rooms. Because of the changing layout of the rooms, as well as the construction style of the building, it has been determined that using a wireless solution to transmit the video signal makes the most sense. I am curious as to whether any Slashdot users have ever worked with standalone hardware devices that will take an IP connection(in this case from the wireless network) and output it over standard composite or coax connections. I have found several devices, such as the one at Eagle CCTV, but these devices are somewhat expensive. Are there any cheaper solutions out there?"

Comments

How about axis cameras?

[TsEA]

I've actually seen one working on a web interface, works great, can host multiple viewers.

Check them out here.

They're not so expensive, though don't expect to pay like $20 and get one.

Recorder 3 in future possible solution

[JoeBorn]

Sorry for the shameless plug, but depending on your timing, a product we have in development would probably be a good solution for you, unfortunately, it's still several months out. See http://www.theneuros.com/index.php/Category_Roadma p:The_MPEG-4_Recorder_III

Old-School wireless?

[ColaMan]

Wait. Am I missing something?
It's just a composite video signal you need to transmit?
Does it *have* to be over IP?
You seriously can't do this with normal $50 analogue 2.4GHz wireless transmitters/recievers, of which there are such a plethora of I won't even bother posting a link?

I am mystified as to what you are trying to do dragging IP into this, that's all.

Re:Old-School wireless?

[damsa]

Maybe they plan on broadcasting on the internet at some point.

that's smartsight

[Jjeff1]

That link you have is actually to products by Smartsight. They were bought by Verint, and the product line renamed to Nextiva.

Their stuff works very nicely, though it's tailored more for security applications. They have an S1100, which is wireless, though it will set you back 2000$ per endpoint(TV).

The other poster is correct, unless you have need for the serial connection or alarms, going with just wireless video is great.

If you want cheap, X10 has a package for under 100$

VNC & Video Output?

[Mooga]

Here's a crazy idea but if you can get the video to one computer, you can have all the TVs wired to cheap computer with video output. All the "TV Computers" would be connected to the main computer with Tight VNC as to mirror the screen. The only problem I would see is unless you have a damn fast network you will probably have REALLY bad lag... On second thoughts, this would work better WIRED then wireless...

Re:VNC & Video Output?

[ottothecow]

At some point it would make more sense to replace the "N" with an "L" and use VLC to stream the video as it is MUCH better at doing that than VNC is at full motion.

NSLU2 Linux + webcam

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddUsbWebcam

Hack an NSLU2 with Linux ($70-$80).
Webcam with OV511 (varies.. $20-$50). http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/cameras/index.ph p

You can use the very same NSLU2 with other possibilities too (e.g. x10 control).

Hope this helps

Not sure about pricing

[aspjunkie]

but March Networks seems to be getting a lot of attention, I'm sure they're a little pricey, but check them out http://www.marchnetworks.com/

DNAlounge

[Lando]

Have you checked the http://www.dnalounge.com/ Jamie has had to deal with a lot of these issues and you might find some good advice there before your commit yourself to any one course of action.

Sub $100 solution here

[keepingmyheaddown]

http://www.shentech.com/ipvi91pl4nec.html

Disclaimer: Don't have one, don't know anyone who does, no connection to seller, don't sue me if it doesn't work etc. etc.

Re:Sub $100 solution here

[pie314]

That device only sorta works. It's made by aviosys http://www.aviosys.com/ who have apalling support and even worse software development.

The firmware is buggy and awkward, many of the features don't appear to do anything, it often forgets its current settings (time, date, default options etc) and it crashes pretty often.

Having said that, it does actually feed video images over a network.

this group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/9100/ has reached a bit of a stalemate trying to make the devices do somethig useful.

Dlink dsm 320

[odin749]

I am doing something simillar with a DLINK dsm 320 it works well just a little diffcult to get it to play with local streaming media

XBox?

[WoTG]

Just an idea... an Xbox has the proper hardware for the job. Is there a VLC port for it? Plus it's relatively cheap, though rather bulky.

No need for IP

[arethuza]

You don't need to use IP, or indeed a network, for this. Get some simple wireless video repeaters - they can work well although they can be fiddly to set up.

Good video engineering

[NateTech]

What resolution are you looking to broadcast this signal around at? Full NTSC? HD?

You haven't even gotten close to getting a real specification together and yet you've already decided that wireless is the correct choice?

Any answer we'd give would only be a guess at this point. Be more specific about what exactly you need -- full framerate video at least 24 fps? How much resolution? Do you need to send audio with the video?

In almost all cases, in a closed environment like a business, cheap 75 ohm co-ax cable is going to be the most cost-effective and reliable medium for sending video signals 'round the building. IP-based video solutions are rarely the answer unless cabling is impossible.