Anyone tried a VGA switch?

[James_S]

A church in town is trying to get setup for a speaker who will be giving a presentation in a few weeks. The problem is that their current setup has a media computer at the back of the room running the projector and the speaker wants to be able to have his laptop with him at the podium to control his slideshow.

The project only has a single VGA connector and there is a long cable running up through the attic to the back of the room. The media computer is using a splitter to duplicate it's second monitor to the projector.

There is space below the floor where the podium sits to run stuff, so I was thinking of running a cable from the podium back to where the media computer is and then using a VGA switch to connect both the media PC and the podium to the projector. That way, the person running the media computer just flips a switch to change the input to the projector.

Would this be the best way to go? They would be running the cable not me, so it would just be the cost of the switch and my time to hook it all together and test it.

 

[oldtech]

If this is just a one-time deal wouldn't it just be simpler to have the presentation on the media PC and coordinate the slide changes with someone at the back of the church? Aside from that thought a VGA switch should work just fine as far as the switching itself but you might have signal loss issues depending on the resolution at the projector.

 

[phaZed]

I think that is a bit far for VGA, perhaps you should look into a CAT5 video splitter like the Minicom CAT5 AV Splitter?
http://www.minicomdigitalsignage.com/support/avsplitteruserguide.pdf


I do some contracting work and they use these little units.. seems to work OK and have had some 2-300ft runs before.

 

[mraikes]

One thing to consider is that by connecting it through the switch you'd effectively be creating one VGA cable about 220' long (just based on your diagram). I don't actually know the limits of VGA, but I imagine there could be significant degradation over that distance.

You may not need just a "splitter", but some kind of repeater/extender to get good resolution that far.

Perhaps something like this?:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-ST1214T-Port-Video-Extender/dp/B000WBJDUK


EDIT: Oops, PhaZed beat me to it!

 

[brandonkick]

Are the machiens networked (as of in connected to the internet?)

If so, wouldn't a program like realVNC do the trick?

 

[jaydeee]

I have this in the office but I am sure it was now over 100ft. Until now it is working as expected.

 

[gikstar]

What about remote access via wireless, where the speaker will have remote access to the media pc via GotoAssist?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Why can't the presenter just use one of those Logitech wireless controllers with a laser pointer.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/professional-presenter-r800-business?crid=1250

They have a range of about 100ft. And most likely he just wants to hit the next slide in a PowerPoint. Should be all he really needs.

 

[mraikes]

Why can't the presenter just use one of those Logitech wireless controllers with a laser pointer.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/professional-presenter-r800-business?crid=1250

They have a range of about 100ft. And most likely he just wants to hit the next slide in a PowerPoint. Should be all he really needs.

I have an older version of one of those sitting on my desk that I haven't used for years - and completely forgot about it.

That would be a really good alternative as long as the presenter doesn't need to type during the presentation. If just mousing around and clicking, it's definitely the way to go. Very handy.