Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - help: dividing a video signal into four parts

hello everyone :)
this is my first time posting on the forums, i have been viewing around for quite some time now but i finally decided to post when i couldn't find anything on the small project i would like to do.

i would like to take one hdtv signal (the picture on the screen) and devide it into four equal parts and output each part to seperate (hdtv or normal TVs), thus resulting in the four tv sets making one big picture.

here is a pic to show what i want to do
http://lostgrounds.sceners.org/projects/hdtv.jpg

my idea of how it might be done is to take the horozontal and vertical frequencies and devide them by two then take each part and output it to the seperate tv sets.

the main problem is i do not know if that will be possible or not. any ideas or help in this issue is very welcome indeed
thank you all :)

This feature is already available in a number of off-the-shelf commercial-series TVs. You connect your cable to the first set, daisy-chain it to the other 3 via built-in inputs & outputs, and tell each TV which quadrant to display.

Pioneer, Panasonic and LG Commercial are a few of the brands I've used.

If you've already bought the TVs and they don't have that option, you need a video wall processor.

thank you very much Rick, i didn't know about this, what i want to make is a small box for my son since he an his friends play cooperative games that have split screen action.

i thought of the idea that if i am able to make an adaptor that displays each half of the screen on seperate TVs it would be neat (i know the picture quality will drop since upscalling half a screen will result in jaggies).

i never quite understood this method but i have seen it in almost every trade show or E3 where a bunch of tvs show one big image, is it called video wall processor? i'll do a search about to see if i can find a diagram or schematic that i can build, since i don't have a tv set that can do this. Thanks

ok after skimming around the net for video wall processors i have found that they are veryvery expensive :( so it's a no go for me,

i thought of another idea :thinker: on how it might be done

why not have the input split into four parts and the tweak each part (pan & scan) to the respective corners.

does anyone know how to make a small board or a controller for manually adjusting pan and scan? or any info on how to do this via small chips of some sort?

i'm thinking a small pcb that has pots to control the amount

I like the way you think, but the fact is, the technology to manipulate a video signal isn't cheap. Especially if it's HD.

A company called Extron.com makes video scalers, but they start around $1,000 per channel. You'd need four channels. Aver makes the cheap AverKey Micro scaler, but they are for computer VGA. And they're still over $100.

Or, you could find four video switchers with DVE (digital video effects). Again, though, you're talkin' thousands.

Why not just buy a multimedia projector and project the image on a wall? The screen would be big enough for all four gamers to see just fine, and you could also connect your computer and DVD player to it. eBay is loaded with good deals on used projectors. Be prepared to buy a new lamp, though, at an additional $300 above the purchase price.

oh man now i'm beginning to see why no one has ever thought this idea then :(

i did find an AIT1178 chip that can do this but the datasheet wasn't very complete fo rme to pull any usefull data out of it. the only function i saw was that is can output simoultaneos display for rgb,s-video, and composite video at the same time with pan scan options.

thanks for the info on the avermedia averkey micro scaler i'll try to see if i can find a datasheet on that and study it's internals. :)

If you do figure out how to make a little inexpensive black box, let me know. I can think of 20,000 potential customers right off the top of my head. ;)

If you do figure out how to make a little inexpensive black box, let me know. I can think of 20,000 potential customers right off the top of my head.



hehehe indeed this wont go overlooked, i been on this thing for two solid weeks now :D the least i can do is get any info on how to do it. I found yet another idea on how to simulatie it using the v-pos,v-size h-pos,h-size we can access these if we input the rgb lines into a sync seperator then operating on the h-sync and v-sync, the only problem i have (and a big one at that) is that i can't find anymore info on how to manipulate the signals once they are seperated (since i got them seperated)

I can see already that i'm not the only person wanting a cheap do it yourself box for personnal projects :)

dont worry mate :) we will see the end of this, as i'm not ready to give up just yet.:thumbup: :gmorning: