4x4 HDMI Matrix.....

[pwillo1982]

Just moving into a new house and looking into piping 4 sources around the house, has anyone had any experience with these ??

Wholesale - Lenkeng LKV344 (HDMI Matrix Switch) (4x4) hdmi 4 in 4 out, Free shipping, $241.14-243.47/Piece, 1 piece/Lot | DHgate.com

Seen mixed results with HDMI over cat5 so thinking of running the HDMI cables themselves, just wondering if anyone knows the actual cable run lengths etc, I know it says 10 meters by 28AWG cable; 15 meters by 26AWG cable on the specs but not sure how reliable this is.

 

[Mick]

Its about right mate, I would not recommend running cables over 15 meters though without a backup plan (2xcat6).

But people have run them even further using active cables.

I would also say it depends on what you want to pay as well.

A decent cat5/cat6 balun will piss 50 meters, but you will pay around £200+ for a decent hdmi balun, other cheaper makes (ebay etc) you take your chances... I had one for £80 from ebay and it worked a treat, I also had one for £45 and it was rubbish.

With that in mind you should run cat6 as the CSA is bigger and will increase the chances of success.

Regarding the Matrix (its 1.3 so not sure if it will support 3D at the 10GBS rate)
I am not sure, how is switching on this matrix achieved, and does it have IR pass through?
Not sure if it was my browser but I could not get a decent description showing on the finer details.

Shop around before you make any decisions.

I found these people to be ok for baluns (one broke though lol).

4x4 HDMI Matrix Switcher (High Speed with 3D support) - HKM44-UK

I mean I know the price is more but as far as matrix's go its pretty good value and 3D support

Regards
Mick

 

[pwillo1982]

These are the full specs:

Lenkeng LKV344 | Others | The LAB eShop

I'm not fussed about 3D at the moment as I dont have a 3D tv and no plans to get one at the moment although will run the higher spec cables so would just be a case of swapping the matrix out if I do.



The house is only quite small, I have attached what I want to do, its not to scale but none of the cables would be over 10m except the 2nd back bedroom.

Would I be able have a powered spitter/repeater where the cable comes in upstairs to run off into the back room ?? I realise this would only be able to be the same as the other bedroom but its only a spare room

I'm having new wooden flooring downstairs so hoping the cables can be run under that but cutting out channels in the 5mm underlay so its flush

 

[Mick]

I just looked at it and what is in the box is 1 IR repeater and 1 remote... but you have 4 areas to cover... so add the costs for the extras on that.

I am a little concerned if this has IR passthrough or not (not IR switching remote that comes with it), and also how it works in conjunction with the matrix?

It's not very clear to be honest.

Yes you should be able to have a powered splitter come from one of the feeds.

Regarding the underlay, should work... keep in mind that some hdmi cables are thicker than others of course.

Are you going to run redundancy in case the hdmi ever fails in the future, it does happen, either an extra hdmi cable or 2 x cat6?

Regards
Mick

 

[pwillo1982]

I control all my sources over the network with my phone or bluetooth so I'm hoping you can switch the matix over LAN or create a custom webpage running on a webserver on my PC to control the RS232 software as it can be connected to my PC which is one of the sources in the same cupboard

I have asked the supplier the question, just depends how he interprets it with his broken English lol

 

[pwillo1982]

Supplier got back to me lol:

"I thought I understood your mean, The rs232 is a serial port of the remote control. As for the LAN ports are reserved and currently can't access the network. Thanks!"

So controlling directly over LAN is a no go but been looking around and i'm pretty sure I can connect the switch to the PC with a serial cable and create a webpage to send the switching commands from it.

Once thats up and running I should be able to access it from my phone, so think i'm gonna take a punt on it, I fancy a little project to work on (not like I havent got enough to do with decorating a whole house haha).

If I cant get the switching over LAN working I would have to look at IR senders or replacing the switch with one of the more expensive ones you posted.

Think I will take your advice and run the redundancy cables downstairs while I have got the floor up just in case, dont think upstairs redundancy is as important as would be easy enough to swap out if something was to happen.

Changed my mind over the splitter upstairs, going to split the dining room feed out to the room on the left, which is currently a garage but intend to convert it into a theatre room with a HD projector at some point in the future but is defo at the bottom of my todo list at the moment.

I will run the 2 cables upstairs intead to give the choice of different feeds in the bedrooms but one would still need to go into a repeater for the extra distance.

If I get the webpage working ("IF" being the operative word :Biggrin2 I will post the details as think it would be a pretty good solution for the price

 

[Mick]

Sounds like a plan

Do keep us informed with pictures, we all love an AV build

I am also going to be sorting out my own AV cupboard this weekend coming... just in the process of buying a small rack etc.

Regards
Mick

 

[hawkish]

You could also have a PC backend running myth TV and then a load of raspberry pi / apple TVs to run the frontends in your different rooms. HDMI over long distances can be a headache. Try to avoid running cables near any power cables

 

[Mick]

If you had an RTI setup it uses RS232 without the need for computers

RTI is a brilliant remote setup, it will allow you to drag config's for certain boxes, would be good to know if your box was supported by RTI?

if not you could easily write the config if the matrix provides the codes.

Mick

 

[pwillo1982]

It comes with RS232 control software, I have asked the supplier if they can give me a copy of it so I can have a look before decide what to do.

My theory is..........if I monitor the output on the COM port when sending each command from the software I should be able to see exactly what is sent to the matrix for each input/output switching command.

From what I have read you can use PHP to write to the serial port so once I have got the output from all of the commands I can create a page to send the same commands from any browser.

Now I could be living in dreamland and just expecting things to be that easy but hoping it will work

 

[Mick]

you would need a class library like

php-serial - PHP Class to support serial port access (and various other serial device drivers) - Google Project Hosting

to talk to a serial port.

Its a great idea though, but if the software that comes with it has communication access you might be able to use what it comes with?

I think you have a lively project on your hands, and cant wait for you to start it lol.

If you need any help with PHP I know a little and might be able to help.

Regards
Mick

 

[pwillo1982]

Good news this morning.......

Received the software from the supplier and all the commands are already provided in a PDF

I have attached the rar file I recieved

Found this software that is a webserver with built in script engine which I think will do exactly what I need without having to mess around loading the PHP class etc manually:

TheByteWorks - shareware and affordable custom software

Its only a trial version so only runs for 60 seconds then stops the server but already made a start on my control page, hopefully I will come across as free(ish) version somewhere haha

Reading the documentation I should be able to code the page so it queries the state of the switch when it loads too but not really bothered as long as it switches it over

 

[pwillo1982]

Dont want to speak to soon but think I might of just nailed it......

If you want to see how it works install ezcom2web and replace the C:\Program Files\EzCom2Web\Web folder with the one I have attached, all the code is in the matrix.esw page if you want to check the source.

Start the webserver from within the ezcom2web console and then show in browser, I left the RS232 Web Terminal link on the first page in case I ever need it for debugging but will just link directly to the matrix.esw page on my phone.

To test it I have setup 2 virtual ports on my machine with VSPD and connected them with a virtual cable.

COM2 would be my machine's port and COM3 would be the matrix's port.

I have connected to COM3 with Hyperterminal so I can see what the matrix would receive and use COM2 to connect to on my page and the provided software.

Sent each command one by one from the supplied software and then from my page and they are all showing identical so in theory it will work

In theory being the key words !!!!

Just need to order the matrix now so I can prove it.......

 

[pwillo1982]

Well i've ordered the switch just got to count the days now until it arrives all the way from China

Although I dont fancy paying the £32.39 for the full version of ezcom2web, anyone good at reverse engineering ?? haha

I have run the exe through PE Explorer Disassembler and can find this:



But havent really got a clue what i'm doing !!!

Really, I need to stop being lazy and learn how to make it work with Apache and PHP or pay the price for someone elses hard work unce:

 

[pwillo1982]

Well according to DHL my switch is still in Hong Kong :-(

However with a bit of free time over the bank holiday I have managed to learn enough about PHP to get my control page working using only WAMP and the php_serial.class.php Mick posted above

 

[Mick]

Seems like you have a real project on your hands

I thought you might need that class... I have never used it but it would be quite simple to setup once you have the class loaded in the php script

It's always easier to find a class than write a new one

Regards
Mick

 

[pwillo1982]

The switch actually arrived today I was amazed, how it got half way around the world in that time is a miracle !!!!

I'm living with the in-laws at the moment until I complete on my mortgage so havent been able to test it yet, itching to get started already but the one remaining serial cable I have left (must of had over 200 odd at one point !!!!) is sitting in a box in storage so cant even test my page

Someone bringing one into work tomorrow so got my fingers (and toes) crossed it works.......

 

[pwillo1982]

Tested today and............my page doesnt work haha gutted !!!

Although the commands show identical in Hyperterminal I installed a com port monitoring tool and seems the php class connects and disconnects a couple of times when trying to open the port before it even sends the command so think the switch is throwing a wobbler.

It works fine sending from the software that come with it so can RDP to the computer from my phone and use that as a workaround until its sorted but its far from ideal.

From the extra monitoring it seems the command is sent to the switch, the switch then replies with which port is now active and I think the reply needs to be read before it actually switches (I'm guessing could be way off), reading the php_serial_class documentation you cant read from the com port in Windows so back to the drawing board for now

Need to build a linux box to do some further testing but haven't got access to any of my kit out of storage until I move, cant see work getting much out of me for the next couple of days haha

 

[pwillo1982]

More testing today, frustrating the life out of me that I can only work on stuff for a couple of hours a day at work

If I type the ASCII commands manually into hyperterminal it sends and receives the response fine changing the output on the switch as it should do so I know I'm on the right track.

One thing I noticed today is that upon opening the port some data is received so wondering if I need to issue a read command after opening the port before I send the command, cant test it on this Windows box though, got an ubuntu live disk here I need to have a play with tomorrow

 

[Mick]

I find with matrix's that they are two way RS232, they normally send out a read signal after you send a write signal.. ie you tell it to change hdmi port, it comes back and tells you what port its on, so try not to confuse it and let it speak (so to speak lol).

To be honest I know exactly what you are doing but I tend to work with software that already has the commands, its only when I want to add macros for extra features or talk back that I would delve into it... you do have your work cut out with chucking php scripting into the mix... but not impossible.

Regards
Mick