Need to feed 6 TV channels using only two computers

[Phishie]

I have a client who runs a small resort. Right now they have six DVD players that feed into two quad digital modulators. From there, the signal runs into their cable TV system. So basically they have 6 custom movie channels.

They want to ditch the DVD players and move to a computer system that way they don't have to worry about changing out the DVDs, scratched DVDs, constantly replacing dead DVD players, etc.

So I need to be able to get 6 channels from two computers into these modulators so they can feed into the TV system. These people I am working for are pretty cheap and aren't gonna want to spend a bunch of money. They want to do as much as they can with their current hardware which would be the modulators which only have composite jacks. But honestly, I will talk them into whatever is the best solution for this.

My first idea was to install three audio/video combo cards into each computer and then find a program that can manage sending a different movie to each channel, but I've been told this won't work. I've also been told that I should ditch the composite idea and look for an HDMI solution. My client currently has only composite hardware and we'd prefer to use that if we can.

So if anybody can recommend both a hardware and software solution for what I need to do, I would be most grateful. I appreciate any help.

[Ozzyjim]

Gday,

If they are using composite jacks a pc may not be the best way to display any video. I have used it before but the quality was shocking, the best ways of connecting displays to a pc are VGA, DVI, HDMI. There are VGA splitters availabe that have amps built in to ensure little/no signal loss, the only problem then is that they would need another cable run for audio. There are only few cards that support audio out through HDMI but this would probably be the most expensive option. The cheapest would be VGA with seperate audio lines (Red/White RCA would still be OK).

There would still be a lot of wiring involved in this, would a wireless streaming device be out of the question?. Something like this http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=547 may do the trick.

James.

[rallynavvie]

Interesting project. Aside from the usual single TV out on many video cards there are also composite outputs on some of the TV tuner cards. You may even sell it as an added advantage to turn the system into a DVR for the owners and allow them to replay some content they've recorded. They could use it as a selling point to the resort customers so they can stay out until sundown and then come back and catch the shows they wanted to watch (like have their tuners capture primetime network every weeknight or something).

I've seen the new Hauppauge HVR HD tuners have composite outputs with audio. The audio portion is important because normally a PC is going to have that one audio output, not several output channels, so multiple video cards may not help. One channel could be set out from the PC and the rest from the tuner card outputs. I'm sure you could get 2 outputs this way, perhaps more with more tuner cards. It would depend on how the software worked.

[greymalkin]

this sounds like an absolute nightmare. setting up a computer to do this sounds nice on paper but I guarantee you there is going to be so much trial and error and in the end probably reliability issues you'd wish you had stuck with the stand alone dvd players. I'm sure there's hardware to do what they are asking but it's not cheap.

If they set the players to auto-repeat and keep them properly cooled there's no reason they should be needing to constantly change them out.

I just think reliability is going to be a major issue...will the WD TV devices playback movies in a loop? That might be an option but you'd need to buy 6 of them = $600.