Computer screen displayed on t.v. Phone displayed to tv

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Probably been done too death.....b

My new offices want 2 t.v screens at either end of office too allow them to see/alter the technicians job lists without needed to use the current white board/marker pen system.

And they want 1 screen to display the GPS tracker app they currently use off of a smart phone.

Don't have teles at moment. Don't wanna spend a fortune but want circa 48" size.

Need to be wall mounted tell too.

What kit would be needed. Currently we can run fixed cables if needed.

Thanks in advance.

Tim
 
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For the GPS data is depends whether the phone is Android, Apple or Windows, but basically there's screen mirroring tech available for all the different platforms. IOW what you see on the phone (or a tablet) is displayed via a dongle in to the standard HDMI port of a basic TV or monitor. Doesn't have to be a smart TV, any old flatscreen TV will do so long as it has a spare HDMI input. You might need to rig up a USB power supply though depending on the dongle. Have a look at this as a starter guide: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-miracast-screen-mirroring,review-2286.html

For the rest, are we talking about displaying a laptop/desktop PC on to these screens?

For PC out ideally you want to have a digital signal via HDMI. That will then go through a 1-in:2-out splitter powered splitter. From there it will run to the two TVs. Depending on the length of the runs then sub-15m per leg should be easily achievable decent HDMI cable. Over 15m you should start to think about using HDMI balun pairs, or possibly HDBaseT balun converters. The HDMI baluns convert the HDMI signal in to a signal format that then uses Cat5 or Cat6 cable as an extension lead between the TX balun and the RX balun. Subject to the quality of the baluns then the distance for a 1080p/60 signal (PC res 1920x1080 pixels @ 60Hz refresh rate) should be 20-100m via Cat6. HDMI baluns don't make the signal in to IP, so don't think about putting it through the office network as this won't work. HDBaseT baluns use a better form of conversion algorithm and it does IP-ise the signal, but you'd need to run via a separate network switch as the signal doesn't always play nicely with data traffic especially in a managed network.

Avoiding issues:
Screen resolution - keep it consistent - buy TVs that are 1080p (i.e. don't buy 4K TVs thinking you're somehow future-proofing as all you'll do is add a ****load of hassles trying to drive the screens at full 4K res when the PC won't do that, nor will sensibly priced baluns.) While on the subject of resolution, if the laptop's own screen isn't the same resolution as the TV then you'll find that the graphics on the TVs will look soft. Switch the laptop screen off and have it output to just the TVs.

Displaying text clearly - Buy TVs with a PC mode (A.K.A. Game mode / Exact / Just / Direct etc) in the picture presets. TVs aren't the best thing for displaying PC screens because the TV's own scaling is nearly always active even with a 1080p native source. PC mode helps get around some of these issues. It turns off as much of the TV's picture processing as possible; it still might not map the pixels exactly 1:1 but it's as close as you're going to get using a TV as a monitor. Seeing as these are displays at either end of the office then it's unlikely you'll be displaying lots of very small text anyway, but don't skip on this detail.

Getting the signal to the displays intact - There's always a temptation when getting advice on cabling to follow those who say "It's digital, just buy the cheapest cables you can find". That's okay if we are talking about a short HDMI cable behind the TV; there's enough margin for error in a short lead that even the crappy ones still work point-to-point, and if it doesn't then it's easy to pull out and replace. When you start to daisy-chain cables as part of a longer pathway, and especially if you're running them in conduit or trunking or over suspended ceilings that it's not quite as simple to swap something out. The other thing is you'll tear your hair out swapping hardware before you even consider the weak link that bad cables introduced.

Bad cables exist because our friends in China use a lot of copper coated aluminium wire (CCA) to save cost compared to 100% copper. To the untrained eye it looks the same until the copper coating is scraped away. Electrically, aluminium is a poor conductor. Physically it is less robust too. It's easy to test bare-ended cables to see if they're CCA or not, but obviously cables with moulded plug ends can't be tested without wrecking them. What you're relying on then is buying from a retailer who has done the leg work for you and knows what they're selling. Sadly very few Ebay/Amazon/online sellers do, but there are exceptions and the cables don't have to be expensive. Have a read here then look at the cables they offer http://www.thatcable.com/info/hdmi-faqs-differences-between-hdmi
If you go down the route of Cat cable extensions then I'd go with Cat6. It's slightly trickier to fit the crimp plugs on, but for the cheaper HDMI baluns it makes a difference on both the resolution and the distance. If you go HDBaseT then that's work quite happily on a single Cat5. Any officially certified Cat cable won't be CCA, but watch out for unscrupulous vendors who will try to pass off cheap rubbish by hiding the specs. If you go finished Cat cables with moulded plugs rather bare cable you terminate yourself then again make sure it's not CCA.

Miscellaneous sources of interference - Cheaper HDMI splitters and switches can radiate interference in the 2.4GHz band. I've had these knock wireless IR transmitters and affect wireless internet when customers have added these to their AV systems.

Avoid running HDMI and Cat cables in the same conduit/trunking as mains cables.

Good luck with your project, and if you found this useful then please click on the THANKS button to show your appreciation :)
 

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