crazy idea!

[AdamFrick]

We're building a new space, and I have a crazy idea.

In the space is a large conference room, which we'll use for screenings of our shows (kids animation -- check out www.bigidea.com), and I'm playing with the idea of using it for final mixes (re-recording sessions) as well. Our audio rooms are directly one floor above the conference rooms, so I'd like to move a minimum of my system down there and still control all my outboard, interfaces, drives, etc up in the studio.

If I carry my keyboard, mouse, monitor, and motormixes, how far could I run the corresponding usb, video signal, and midi signal? I could also carry a midi interface down there and run serial instead of midi.

anyone know where I can find all the physical limits of these formats?

Thanks!

-adam

[Noiz2]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">quote:<HR>Originally posted by AdamFrick:
We're building a new space, and I have a crazy idea.

In the space is a large conference room, which we'll use for screenings of our shows (kids animation -- check out www.bigidea.com), and I'm playing with the idea of using it for final mixes (re-recording sessions) as well. Our audio rooms are directly one floor above the conference rooms, so I'd like to move a minimum of my system down there and still control all my outboard, interfaces, drives, etc up in the studio.

If I carry my keyboard, mouse, monitor, and motormixes, how far could I run the corresponding usb, video signal, and midi signal? I could also carry a midi interface down there and run serial instead of midi.

anyone know where I can find all the physical limits of these formats?

Thanks!

-adam<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Gefen has extenders that go quite far. I know that midi was run over flat TV antena wire for more than 150 ft and it still worked there are also midi extenders.
SK

[Huby SEA]

USB doesn't go beyond 5 meters without an active repeater, and USB standard alows 5 repeaters maximum, which brings us to aprox. 25 meters in total length. Thank Mr. Gates for yet another fine standard......

Greetings,

Huby

[spigots]

Adam,

We're running MIDI (via plain old mic lines), computer monitor, and Mac ADB (keyboard and mouse) about 45 feet with no extenders. Video is hundreds of feet away (machine room).

USB is another animal entirely. I think the spec is pretty short. If you search DUC I think it's been discussed before.

Via con Dios,
Frank

[Nick Batzdorf]

I've never run ADB more than about 15', but the fact that I've managed to split it two ways and run a second keyboard 10' on that same run makes me think you could just use a Griffin iMate to convert USB to ADB.

[the dude]

Here's the facts about extending your Monitor and keyboard
1. The Monitor cable is extendible to 75-100 ft without a Geffen Box with the the use of high quality cable such as Mogami VESA cable , I have done this to 75 ft without ANY visible distortion or shadowing.
2.I have extended USB to lengths of 40ft for the use of keybd and mouse without any ill affect ( I have had problems with trackballs that was fixed by using a separate cable for that trackball from the computer or Hub )
3. ADB has been extended to lengths of over 60 ft without any problems using
Mogami S-Video cables and a turn-a-round on one end .
4.With a few modifications ( Cable ) I have extended the length of DVI cables to 35ft also without any negative affects


all this was necessary to keep the protools rigs at our studios in the machine rooms where they belong after all the user only needs the Keyboard and monitor in there face they can always look at the hardware just across the room if they feel the need to.....

[This message has been edited by the dude (edited November 11, 2000).]

[AdamFrick]

Thanks, everyone! I'll take all this info to my IT guys and post what we end up using.

-adam

[Mount Royal]

Adam:
We recently went through this in remotely locating a G4 and a PC, and allowing both computers to communicate with three separate mouse, keyboard, and VGA monitor stations. Two separate VGA monitors exist at each station. In addition to the good information already given to you by others above, keep in mind active USB extensions, such as Lastar.net part number 18614 for $30, which provides 5 meters per daisy-chainable extension. This was useful to us for shorter distance USB transmission (5 cables in series), while the Gefen Cat5 extenders were reserved for longer distances. The Gefen extenders utilize Cat5 cable which is cheap and easy to run, but the Gefen boxes are expensive at nearly $400 per USB channel. Gefen describes a 310 foot limit to the Cat 5 interconnects.

As The Dude mentions, while Gefen Cat5 boxes can also be used to transmit VGA (again with the advantage of Cat5 cable), high quality VGA cables seem to allow 100 foot transmission without much signal degradation. Certain VGA splitter and switcher boxes, again see Lastar.net and others, assert VGA output stages capable of driving over 210 foot distances.

MIDI transmission seems less sensitive than USB, PS2, or VGA, as many describe using microphone cable, in snake or mutichannel arrangement, for MIDI transmssion. The MOTU MIDI timepiece, a MIDI to USB interface, is an option.

Consider locating the audio interface, such as an 888/24 I/O or ADAT Bridge, and the MIDI interface, in close proximity to the computers. You then avoid long communications from the interfaces to the PT cards. Those distances are, apparently, very sensitive and unpredictable.

Best wishes.
John Caldwell