Triple projectors

[nycon2005]

I am installing some projectors at a church and can't seem to get the front projectors to find a signal. The setup is a laptop with a usb-to-vga adapter running one projection on the back wall (works fine) and another feed coming out of the laptop's factory hdmi port, running 80ft heavy-duty hdmi cable, to an hdmi amplifier, 6ft cable to an hdmi splitter, to 2 20ft hdmi cables down to two optoma projectors. The computer (running windows 7) recognizes that it is connected to an optoma projector, but it won't pass the signal to the projectors. Any ideas?

 

[hang-the-9]

You need the amplifier BEFORE the 80 ft cable. That is way long.

Read here http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/how-long-can-hdmi-run.htm

 

[nycon2005]

I had it wired that way before and it didn't work - after reading through the directions for the amplifier it said to put the amp on the receiving end of the cable

 

[hang-the-9]

I'm pretty sure the long cable is the issue, try the projectors just on the 20 ft cables.

 

[COLGeek]

Also, have you verified that your laptop is set to output to an external display?

 

[cbrunnem]

im pretty sure most laptops are only able to output to 1 extra monitor/projector. i think you are hardware limitied here.

 

[COLGeek]

im pretty sure most laptops are only able to output to 1 extra monitor/projector. i think you are hardware limitied here.

Since he is using a splitter (really just copy of a single display), this is "do-able". Cable lengths and signal strength are definitely a concern, though.

 

[cbrunnem]

Since he is using a splitter (really just copy of a single display), this is "do-able". Cable lengths and signal strength are definitely a concern, though.

yeah but the gpu is displaying to the screen and to the hdmi cord. it wouldnt be able to support any more

 

[COLGeek]

yeah but the gpu is displaying to the screen and to the hdmi cord. it wouldnt be able to support any more

It doesn't work like you are thinking. The 2 front displays are really just one display (because of the splitter). You don't count the USB adapter display as it has its own interface.

The system can certainly "clone" the internal display to an external display if all is connected properly. That is where the cable length issue comes into play here.

 

[nycon2005]

Everything in the computer settings seems to be fine...in the display settings it shows three displays, and when i click identify it shows the 1 on the laptop display and the 3 on the back wall - and as i said before, the computer recognizes that display 2 is an optoma projector, so obviously it is at least getting a weak signal back from the projector. The long cable run was definitely a concern of mine, but the amplifier's specs says that it will extend the signal up to 150'. In the past I've run single projectors with even longer cables runs, but those were vga and also weren't split. Do we think that splitting the signal to the two projectors could be the issue, or is it most likely that 80 ft cable run? And if it is the cable, does anyone have any solutions to fix that... unfortunately the projectors are suspended from the ceiling in the front of the sanctuary and the computer has to be in the booth at the back, so there is no possibility of shortening that distance. Btw, thanks for all the help everyone.

Amp - Tripp Lite B122-000
Splitter - http://www.amazon.com/HDMI-Splitter-Amplifier-Dual-Display/dp/B0015YRMXI
Cables - Startech 80ft and (2) Startech 25ft

 

[COLGeek]

Try trouble shooting with short cable lengths and only the splitter connected. This will allow you to isolate whether the amplifier or a particular cable is the problem.