Advice regarding HDMI repeater equipment

[g7kpm]

I have tried to power GB3CT back up this evening, only to find the rack video distribution amplifier has given up the ghost!
As such, I'm thinking that maybe it's time to ditch composite and go fully digital. I'm looking at the BATC logic controller which I am currently trying to get my head around.
We have the headless Portsdown 2020 with a Lime SDR for the TX. Can this be used with an HDMI dongle / HDMI IP encoder box or would I need to upgrade this to a Portsdown4 to achieve this?
Also, which HDMI switcher/multiviewer boxes and encoders are best for reliability?
Just wondering what others have done and any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks, Jason

[G3GJA]

Hi Jason

There's an article on how the conversion to fully digital was accomplished for GB3EY appearing in the next CQ-TV.

if you want early access PM me.

73

Clive G3GJA

[G8GKQ]

Hi Jason

You can't really upgrade a Portsdown 2020 to accept HDMI as a video input. However, it could accept a TS stream from an external encoder. A recommended external encoder would be the LinkPi Enc 1 V2. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smartfly-info- ... B08TC7V3T6

The recommended HDMI switcher for the BATC Repeater Controller is the Portta HDMI Multiviewer Seamless Switch 4 in 1 Out with Loop and Audio Extractor Function, model number n3s41qs. https://www.port-ta.com/products/n3s41qs/

Hope that helps

Dave, G8GKQ

[g7kpm]

Thank you for the reply and for the advice Dave. The switcher is currently showing as out of stock, so I'll keep and eye on it to come back in or see if it can be sourced from elsewhere.
Clive, thank you. I'd be very interested to read your article, so I'll PM you.
Thanks again.
Jason

[G3GJA]

The HDMI switch is in stock with 14 available here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Multiviewer-PO ... to_dp&th=1

Clive G3GJA

[g7kpm]

Thanks Clive, I've ordered one.
Regards,
Jason

[G3GJA]

You'll need two to remove the glitches once you've proved it works.

I'm not sure how you would go about getting a transport stream from an encoder into a Lime. I suppose a Portsdown 4 run with IPTS in would work.

Clive

[Pa3fbx]

We have the headless Portsdown 2020 with a Lime SDR for the TX. Can this be used with an HDMI dongle / HDMI IP encoder box or would I need to upgrade this to a Portsdown4 to achieve this?
Thanks, Jason

At Pi6MEP i am using a pluto with f5oeo firmware. Its more easy because it can take rtmp or udp and you preset the freq, power, and other DVBS2 settings and just take the mentioned stream box to create the udp or rtmp stream. Udp give you also H265 capability.

For the HDMI side..
Pi6MEP is both analog and digital.
The idea was to keep analog signals analog and keep digital signals digital but both need to be also converted to each other.

This idea gave me lots of problems witch we found solutions for but the result is a big pile of switches and boxes.
I have 1 seamless 9 port HDMI quad with additional 8x 2 port hdmi switches for the pi6mep ident. And a 8 port HDMI muliplier, 6x 3port HDMI multipliers, 3x composite to HDMI convertors and 4x hdmi to composite convertors. And finaly a 6 port analog quad with 8 port analog muxer.
And this was just the video side...

Just count all the HDMI cables between the in/out.
I even thought about making all the HDMI stuff on 1 pcb but the chips are not easy to obtain.
And the aliexpress stuff the cheap..

But i have to say all the stuff in a 19 inch 3 high works now for 3 years more or less flawless..

Benno

[G1LPS Terry]

Hi Benno

which composite to HDMI convertors are you using?
Do they give noise or a Blue screen on no signal.
The usual ebay varieties I have tried all give a blue screen.

KR
Terry

[g8gtz]

Hi Terry,

There's a BATC version built around a Ryde to do it. Works very well and displays analog noise:-)

https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Repeater_Contr ... ideo_input

73
Noel