So, until standards arrive, here are a few tips and tricks to help make everyone's life a bit easier:

1. Get to know to glue

There are a number of key driving-force manufacturers that are providing the glue to connect all these incompatible systems together and can make life much easier on a designer and installer. Control System companies like Panja (AMX) and Crestron for example. Both companies unfortunately use different control protocols and proprietary programming languages, but their product has become remarkably easy to program over the past few years. Crestron's simple-to-program system is called the SmartTouch and AMX's is the new ViewPoint system. In addition, companies like Extron, Altinex, Kramer, CSI and Covid make high-resolution connection and converter boxes but even more importantly, each offer FREE technical support and an incredibly knowledgeable support staff. Some standout products from each of these companies include the Installation Cable from Extron (designed to be the one and only cable you will even need in an installation as it is capable of carrying high-res video, RGB, S-video, audio, data and control signals down one bundle of cable. CSI's Deuce and ScanDo Ultra offer scan conversion outputs so that any computer or video signal can be connected to any projector or monitor regardless of resolution or input type. Altinex simplifies computer-video interfacing by offering a single wall-plate interface capable of routing RGB, video, audio (line, PC level or Mic level), control and data at the same time. And Covid's new ISDN router that simplifies a videoconferencing installation by providing a remote controllable ISDN matrix switcher. Of course, each of these companies makes hundreds of other products that can make life easier and I only highlighted a few of them. So, go check out their web sites or call and order a catalog from them. And, carry it wherever you go.

2. Do it 5-Wire

Whenever you're designing a system using computer-video signal distribution, and of course most do, route all signals as five wire (RGBHV) instead of four wire (RGBS). Why? Well, there are a number of reasons why this can solve compatibility issues, but the most common issue is noise. Most computer-video signals are output as analog video (RGB) and TTL or digital level sync (HV). Well, when you send that combined (S) TTL level sync long distances through one wire, they tend to have cross talk as the signal degrades over distance. If you route everything as separate H and V sync, the potential for cross talk is eliminated. In addition, many of the leading projector manufacturers will tell you that their inputs are more stable and noise-free if you connect your signals as separate H and V signals as opposed to composite Sync. You will get a cleaner picture 99 out of 100 times with separate sync routing and doing it 5-wire (RGBHV).

3. Cable Up

The weakest link in every system is the cable. In fact, the highest resolution cable on the market theoretically isn't capable of carrying the super high-resolution signals of SXGA and the future UVGA. In fact, the rule of thumb for video bandwidth is three times the source bandwidth. So, keeping that in mind, an XGA computer has a video bandwidth of about 100 MHz. So, using the rule of thumb, you need to use 300 MHz cable to maintain signal integrity. So, why skimp? Knowing that's it's already the performance-limiting factor of a system; use the best stuff you can get your hands on. Every major cable vendor makes what they call super, high-resolution coax cable that, although it's typically thick, it's high performance oriented. High performance cable manufacturers include Belden, WestPenn, Canare, and Covid's Cactus Cable brand.

4. Simplify by Design

More isn't always better and in many cases makes a system complicated. It's well documented in the consumer electronics industry that greater than 80% of the population has a VCR sitting in their house with a "blinking 12:00". Why? Well, it's certainly not because of continuous power outages. In fact, it's because most people can't figure out how to program the clock. So, keeping that in mind, you can design and install a system with 100 components and think the way to solve the complexity is simply to use a control system. Yes, a control system can solve the problem but Keep It Simple. A cool-looking LCD touch-screen may look awesome sitting on the boardroom table, but if the only person who knows how to use it is out sick or the batteries die, what's next? Well, consider redundant control with the touch of a button: good, old-fashioned, push buttons. Even if it take a lot of buttons, label each one so that anyone can figure out how to make the system work and then voila, simplicity. KISC: Keep It Simple for the CEO.

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