Video

Signal formats, cabling and conversion for live events.

About Video

Video at live events is mostly a signal transport problem. The picture is decided in the source and the screen; what happens between them is cabling, conversion and whether the format survives the distance you need to cover.

HDMI against SDI for live events covers the decision that sits behind almost every event video question. HDMI is what laptops, media players and consumer displays speak, and it is fragile over distance: run lengths are short, cheap cable makes it shorter, and HDCP will refuse to pass a signal through equipment it does not trust, usually five minutes before doors. SDI runs on coax, is repairable in the field, coils onto a drum happily and will cover the distances a venue actually needs, at the cost of carrying video and embedded audio and very little else.

The guide covers realistic run lengths for each, where converters belong in a chain, what to check before assuming a cable is faulty, and why the answer for most live work is SDI for the long runs with conversion at each end rather than an expensive attempt to make HDMI travel.

More video guides are planned for this section. If there is a job you would like covered, from projector sizing and screen choice to LED wall processing, tell us and it goes on the list.

The converters, splitters, cable and connectors referred to throughout sit in the Video and Cables sections of the shop.