Can I run two networks in the same place

In article , Oliver Gunnell wrote: : A hotel need a plasma display showing content from a pc but :they don't wont us to run cables from a pc which is the best way of course, : So we are thinking of using a OTC Wireless Data 802.11g adapter to send :content playing on pc :which will be Flash files of different animations to the plasma, anybody :ever done this?, and will it play smothly

Doable in theory, if not with that exact equipment then with some other, especially if the display signal itself is digital. With analog you have to worry about phase changes, colour shifts, and probably other things I'm forgetting.

:But also the Hotel already has a Wireless network for the guests laptops :Can we run two together?, We cant change the current AP so any changes :have to be done to our setup

Yes, you should be able to do that. If the existing network is

If the hotel's guest wireless network permits 11b connections (and it very likely does, as it would not want to insist that guests use 11g equipment they might not own), then if the frequencies overlap the ones you are using for the plasma display, the reduction in maximum transmission rate is about 1/3 -- that is, if there are nearby 11b devices in the same frequency bands, then even if the devices aren't talking much, you will only be able to get about 2/3 of the transmission rate that you would if the 11b devices weren't there at all. So you really want to avoid overlap with the hotel network if possible. Then you run into the problem that the guests are going to be running wireless networks between themselves, and those are going to interfere.... That is why 11a is a much better choice for your purposes than 11g: relatively few guests will be using 11a devices amongst themselves, and 11a channels do not overlap with each other at all.

:Would it be better to run the plasma and pc in adhoc mode or as a 2nd AP?

Infrastructure mode, not adhoc, I would say.

I would further suggest that you use directional antenna, not omni. The more directional the better -- not for signal strength reasons, but to decrease the interference of random other wireless signals around. A carefully aimed sector antenna might do the trick -- particularily if you can put in reflectors to block the beam from travelling onward indefinitely.

:This will be playing 24hrs so I need to make sure these two networks are not :going to crash each other,

You should start thinking about the security mechanism you are going to use. If you use WEP then a bored guest who was going to be around for a few hours or days could find your WEP key and then would be able to change the sign to read things you'd rather not have appear...

What type of plasma display? One of those orange colored giant neon lamp contraptions like I used to use on a Compaq lunchbox, or a 16:9 wizbang giant screen color plasma display, or something in between?

Send to what? You can't just send it directly to the plama display. There has to be some kind of image assembler and disassembler.

Well, that my trash my suggestion, but it's worth trying anyways. If the PC running the flash animation is XP Pro, then run the "remote desktop" from a PC connected to the PC running the flash demo. If not, try using PC Anywhere or other remote desktop software. The problem is that it tends to be slow on refreshing the screen.

There are also programs made for classroom instruction, where the instructors screen is reproduced on every machine in the classroom. I think these run quite a bit faster.

Lovely. With the amount of traffic generated by a continuously running flash demo over wireless, unless you're on a different channel, you're gonna have an interference problem. If you need a computah to reconstruct the remote desktop, why not just stick another computah on the plasma display and run the flash demo locally? Then you can syncronize the actions between the two PC's and not have to shovel over all the screen dump traffic.

It doesn't really matter for this as the radio traffic is going to be the same whether you use infrastructure mode, ad-hoc mode, or transparent bridging.

Oh swell, you also want it to be reliable? Sigh. The best way to get problems solved is to explain: 1. what problem you are trying to solve 2. and what you have to work with. Methinks we have about half of each here. You're trying to display something continuously from a computah and you can't change anything. I little more detail as to what you have to work with would be helpful.

How about converting the video at the originating PC to video and shoving it down the hotels CATV system? Flash animations tend to be rather low resolution and should not require much bandwidth. You start with SVGA video, get a box that converts it to NTSC video or runs and RF modulator, feeds it to the CATV system, and recover the video with an ordinary plasma TV screen (using video). If they don't want you to the CATV coax, get a TV wireless *VIDEO* extension transmitter and receiver (X10?) and use it instead of wireless data. However, be advised that you'll probably trash the hotels wireless network. Maybe a small UHF transmitter often used by the security camera people.

If wireless turns into a mess, you can also share the CATV coax with ethernet. See:

changes

another

networks are not

anything.

don't

They do make such a device, its a Wavecom Grandtec PC-2-TV wireless converter.

Your choice is:

1. Put a PC next to the plasma, connected directly via RCA from the sound/video card on the PC. Update the content locally or via a network connection, wired or wireless, it makes not much difference.
2. Put a PC away from the plasma and connect it via runs of Triax/RCA. Update via ethernet/wifi/cd/directly.

Obviously no 1 is the easiest solution, but it depends on if you can make sure nobody can pick up the PC and run away with it.

No 2 solution mans you can place the PC anywhere, but you will need to run cables.

We've just implemented this solution (no 2) for a hotel in South Wales and it works like a dream.

Er? I'm a bit confused here? If you mean installing a 802.11g card in the plasma, think again! What are you trying to do? The network connection is only there to update the content on the PC, not for distributing the Audio/Visual signal.

It will play as smoothly as it does on the PC - remember the connection is NOT distributing the AV!

What 2 do you want to run together? The wireless network and the AV signals from the PC are completely separate. You will just use the wifi network to connect a laptop (with updated content) to the PC at the plasma and send updated flash files.

Again I think you are confusing matters. You could set up an adhoc network to connect the PC to a laptop for updating if you want.

There aren't 2 networks - only 1. Remember the pc is connected directly to the plasma either locally or via runs of cable. If the wireless network does crash it will matter not a jot to the plasma.

If you really do not want to run any cables you can use a wireless video sender but that will almost certainly not work reliably since they operate on 2.4Ghz and wifi traffic will cause a lot of very irritating interference (as it does in my house!).

Hope this Helps Peter Phillips Kinetiq Networks Ltd (UK)

The adaptor he wants to use extends the vga signal over the wireless network. so all you have is the screen and a adaptor. the PC is remotely located out of harms way.

Ian

Exactly it's just a small box that becomes part of the network, I think it works using lynux and VNC or somthing like that and it has a VGA cable into the plasma, the unit is here

If it was up to me we would just run a cat5 cable with vga tx/rx on each end but the hotel will not have any visable cables and we cant hide them as it's on a solid brick wall in the lobby.

:If it was up to me we would just run a cat5 cable with vga tx/rx on each :end but the hotel will not have any visable cables and we cant hide them :as it's on a solid brick wall in the lobby.

There just happens to be some plants growing right by the plasma screen ;-)

This one?

No existing telco wires or coax that you can borrow? You can possibly run 10baseT over telco wires for short distances between switched ports.

Yeah maybe they could be ;-)