Matrix Orbital Corp

Sorry for being a noob to this.... I have been poking around and am very interested in multiple Displays.

What we are doing is building a monitor wall (40 individual monitors for broadcast) and we would like to have a display of text under each of the monitors for titling referencing the source.

So, here are some of my questions:
1. How do you go about hooking up and programing multiple displays?
2. Will the recommended software provide real time updates or does each one have to be individually programmed?
3. Do the displays have to be constantly connected to a computer to work or can you program them to be stand alone?


I guess any other information / help / tips for doing this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Kit

Hi Kit,

No worries, everyone has to start somewhere. It looks like you want to display individual monitor data for about 40 different screens for your application. I'll see if I can point you in the right direction.

First, our displays are rather passive devices, which means they must be controlled by some sort of host. If a static message is required, a start up screen can be programmed into the unit to be displayed when power is applied, but for any sort of dynamic update, a controller will be required.

For multiple displays, I2C protocol will work the best. This will allow up to 128 displays on a single bus to be accessed by one host. You can check out some app notes and examples over on our .ca site.

Another option would be to use the RS232, or serial protocol. This means that each display will have to utilize it's own host, but the protocol is a little simpler than the I2C above.

For real time updates, unfortunately, it will be up to you to create the code. We offer uProject, but this is an evaluation tool only. Of course, if you have any questions along the way, support@matrixorbital.ca, can answer them all.

Finally, as noted above, our displays will need a computer, or other type of controller unit, to be dynamically updated.

Although I don't know much about your project, at this point I would probably recommend an RS232 set up for this application. It will require a host for each display, such as a micro controller, but the ease of development will be far greater on the serial protocol. In addition, this will allow for the development of a single unit, which can then be produced in greater quantities once perfected, cutting down on development costs.

Anyway, I hope I have helped to provide a little insight into our products, if you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to post them.

Thanks,
Troy