ESSENTIAL MATRIX AND SIGNAL MANAGEMENT
IS THE MATRIX STILL THE EXCALIBUR OF DISTRIBUTION SOLUTIONS? Phill Wildman, Technical Consultant at SY Electronics Ltd, asks what does the matrix offer? And what is next for the matrix? Of all the choices for av signal distribution, the matrix switch has been the backbone of our industry for decades. Getting many sources to many end points (displays) is a function we all need. As soon as we use more than two sources and two display screens, we start to think about efficiency in terms of hardware. For example, in a home we may have four sources: SKY1, SKY2, Blu-ray and a streaming stick. But we may have eight TV sets in different rooms where we may want to be able to view them all at different times. So, while having many viewing choices available for anyone to view is great to have, multiplying all those sources up and installing them in every room with a TV would make no sense. Hence the usefulness of the matrix switch! View any of your sources, no matter how many you have in any room, mixed and matched to suit the person.
56 JUNE 2022
This example is even more relevant when the installation is in an office environment. The principle would apply in any type of building where flexibility is desired regarding ‘which source to watch’ and ‘where to watch it’. With possible sources comprising computers, signage players, PCs with info content, and corporate video replays for reception areas and the like, being able to choose and select at the touch of a button is practical, efficient, and desirable.
Which type of matrix should you choose? As well as being able to choose the source and route to any given display, we also want to be able to make sure that the source will match our display capability too. So, a scaler of some sort will inevitably be a ‘must have’ feature when
mixing source types and display types. Some may just need a down scaler, while many will require a full range up scaler as well, with the ability to scale both resolution as well as refresh rate. Every source will require EDID information from the display. So being able to choose and fix the EDID is a necessity when installing a system that routes a video signal through hardware. EDID information can be read from your display and stored in your switch, or you could choose a pre-defined EDID from within your signal connectivity device which can then be reliably sent to your source to tell it to transmit the correct video and audio signal to your display. Or your matrix or video switch may be able to process and transmit the correct format signal from within, by scaling the resolution and refresh rate to suit the maximum ability of the connected display. In this case the EDID would be pre-defined.
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