Distributing Video Feed via LAN

[Tom Bombadil]

Hey guys!

 

I know its an odd question, and while not something I am particularly considering, it is nice to think of. So my question is would it be possible to say get a server, DVR, set top box, etc and put the video output (such as a HDMI or VGA port) into a device or other computer / server and then distribute it or multiple other video sources across the internal network via wired Ethernet? So theoretically, one would have a shelf or even rack of little devices or set top boxes, all connected to a small server which would then provide a network connection to the LAN. A user would then be able to connect a monitor or TV or whatever and be able to utilize that signal from a selection or other and watch the feed directly. I do realize that is a particular part that would be difficult, being able to utilize an Ethernet port as a monitor feed, however I am curious if it would be possible as a thought experiment. And particularly as providing it is a gigabit connection, next to no quality loss if any, as far as I understand. 

 

Regardless, I know while not entirely practical, I do wonder if it would be viable and if it would be a neat system to realistically run. 

 

Thanks for all the replies!

Tom Bombadil

[Tabs]

This sounds like the perfect example where OBS with NDI could be used; so long as you could capture the sources on a machine with a reliable network connection, NDI can broadcast a source over the network at will.

 

You can control OBS via a web interface, which means that you can connect to the "host server" via web interface, pick the source you want to broadcast over the network and then "tune in" using an NDI compatible receiving client.

 

Since NDI broadcasts using multicast, you can view it on any number of pc's on the network at once whilst using the same bandwidth.

[Tom Bombadil]

Well that sounds freaking awesome and I'll be looking into that shortly!

[brwainer]

A more hardware-centric way of doing this is "AV-over-IP" which ahs two main standards right now: HDBaseT-IP and SDVoE. You can read more here: https://www.cepro.com/article/hdbaset_ip_vs._sdvoe_smackdown_av_over_ip

[intertan]

hdmi over ip is what you want.

there is hdbaset matrix but I think this is more pricey

 

The thing I don't recommend is using it to play games, the latency is a concern.

 

 

it would be nice if tv manufactures started to add this option, 

[bcguru9384]

11 hours ago, Tom Bombadil said:

Hey guys!

 

I know its an odd question, and while not something I am particularly considering, it is nice to think of. So my question is would it be possible to say get a server, DVR, set top box, etc and put the video output (such as a HDMI or VGA port) into a device or other computer / server and then distribute it or multiple other video sources across the internal network via wired Ethernet? So theoretically, one would have a shelf or even rack of little devices or set top boxes, all connected to a small server which would then provide a network connection to the LAN. A user would then be able to connect a monitor or TV or whatever and be able to utilize that signal from a selection or other and watch the feed directly. I do realize that is a particular part that would be difficult, being able to utilize an Ethernet port as a monitor feed, however I am curious if it would be possible as a thought experiment. And particularly as providing it is a gigabit connection, next to no quality loss if any, as far as I understand. 

 

Regardless, I know while not entirely practical, I do wonder if it would be viable and if it would be a neat system to realistically run. 

 

Thanks for all the replies!

Tom Bombadil

yup

get a few wintv4 cards and windows media center

now get windows media center extender app and voila "multi"media server

you can also use windows media player network stream option

all these softwares depreciated in win10 but work with win7 great

this just built in windows options and theres a plethora of third party options

just pick something thats hdcp/drm compliant

[Tom Bombadil]

Thanks for all the replies, guys, I am certainly checking these all out!