Need an HDMI 1:4 Processing...Thing?

[Jbax1899]

Hello! This is my first post here, and hopefully I put it in the right place.

I have a question related to a project I am working on. I need a device that will take in one HDMI input and convert it to four HDMI outputs, each 1/4 of the input. What I mean by this is, in essence, I can take a single input and display that input onto a 2x2 grid of monitors.

Here's the hard part. I could easily do this with a couple of compatible graphics cards. Except I cannot use graphics cards. None at all. The project is a stand-alone quad monitor setup that cannot have anything more than a single HDMI input.

I've looked at splitters, repeaters, switches, quad-processing, KVM-type stuff, you name it. Yet I cannot find anything like what I need here. It would be nice if it could be under, say, 40 USD. Hopefully that isn't too unreasonable. Any help would be so greatly appreciated!

-Jbax

[manikyath]

i doubt this is possible outside of proprietary controllers (like those used in the 4K displays that are two "half" panels)

[Electronics Wizardy]

You can't really do this. The easiest way to do this is with a gpu and plug them in as 4 different monitors. Something like a nvs 510 would work well or a radeon r7 265

[Jbax1899]

Hello, thank you for your comments. I suppose it is worth mentioning that I will be using 5" raspberry pi LCDs, so that input is available as well. The resolution per LCD is only 800x480, so not too much data is being streamed at once, even for four of them. They aren't exactly what you would call "monitors"

 

Edit- Fair warning, I am also very new to this. I'm bound to say something incorrect somewhere, sometime. Part of the fun, right?

[manikyath]

4 minutes ago, Jbax1899 said:

Hello, thank you for your comments. I suppose it is worth mentioning that I will be using 5" raspberry pi LCDs, so that input is available as well. The resolution per LCD is only 800x480, so not too much data is being streamed at once, even for four of them. They aren't exactly what you would call "monitors"

 

Edit- Fair warning, I am also very new to this. I'm bound to say something incorrect somewhere, sometime. Part of the fun, right?

well, you'll be stuck making your own controller, probably with off the shelf hardware, and A LOT of custom software...

 

any reason why you're going for the 4 low res monitors over one bigger one?

[Jbax1899]

Manikyath,

 

The four low res monitors will be incorporated into a folding travel monitor, first of its kind. Eventually. Haven't quite gotten there yet.

 

Not sure if you have any experience with the raspberry pi, but do you think it might be easier to use the specific I/O provided? Originally I thought that I would just use the HDMI input, though I know that the Pi offers much in the way of flexibility and customization. Seeing as the HDMI splitter...thing probably won't work, I'm just looking at my other options.

[Allshevski]

26 minutes ago, Jbax1899 said:

Manikyath,

 

The four low res monitors will be incorporated into a folding travel monitor, first of its kind. Eventually. Haven't quite gotten there yet.

 

Not sure if you have any experience with the raspberry pi, but do you think it might be easier to use the specific I/O provided? Originally I thought that I would just use the HDMI input, though I know that the Pi offers much in the way of flexibility and customization. Seeing as the HDMI splitter...thing probably won't work, I'm just looking at my other options.

1. Use that little "quote" button

2. Argh.. Not that I feel that it's not a gut idea but..

3. Nevermind, 5 minutes of googling  http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/digital_se/
4. It doesn't work as you would like, may require lots of adapters :c

[Jbax1899]

5 minutes ago, Allshevski said:

1. Use that little "quote" button

2. Argh.. Not that I feel that it's not a gut idea but..

3. Nevermind, 5 minutes of googling  http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/digital_se/

Thats a bit warmer! It does worry me though how difficult it looks to find pricing or actually purchase a piece, however. Plus I would need two of them. And the cables are wrong...

I'm going to see if I can find prices, first. Thats the most important thing perhaps as I have a rather small budget to work with.

[Allshevski]

Just now, Jbax1899 said:

Thats a bit warmer! It does worry me though how difficult it looks to find pricing or actually purchase a piece, however. Plus I would need two of them. And the cables are wrong...

I'm going to see if I can find prices, first. Thats the most important thing perhaps as I have a rather small budget to work with.

I said it  you need only 3 of them making like [Raspberry Pi] -> [HDMI - DP] -> [Splitter] -> [DVI - DP] -> [Splitter]

[Jbax1899]

A thought just occurred to me: Would I even need HDMI output for such small panels? Each panel is just 800x480, so individually data consumption is rather low! Maybe VGA (which is much, much cheaper it looks like) would work just fine? Or even composite video? I could get that type from cheap car parking aids.

[Jbax1899]

Update - Shopping for VGA/Composite Video quad display parts seems to be even more complicated. There just isnt much out there really. Well, nothing within reasonable price range at least...