Monitors in Sunday School rooms

[Lukky]

Hello All,
We just built about 5000 feet of sunday School area for our kids. There will be Five classrooms in the new wing. We are wanting to put Monitors in each room for displaying power point and showing movies and whatever else our teachers want to use them for.
For the three smaller rooms which are made to contain about 20 kids. I am thinking about going with A 25' INC monitor from TD for 250. Then running HDMI and VGA cable to the monitor. One for computer one for DVD playing. I had the contractor place the outlets in the wall plus a box for inputs. We will hang them about 6 feet up on the wall. Then run all the wires in the ceiling to where ever the teacher prefers. The monitor has built in sound. Atleast one classroom will get a surround sound system.
I guess, my question is Am I forgetting anything and has anyone done this?


THnaks Dustin

[prochlea]

I would also put in a composite video connection(if your monitor has it) On top of that, a 25" monitor is pretty small... That probably won't work well for a decent size classroom. I'd go with no smaller than 37"

[Brad Weber]

I have the same concern, how large are the rooms or how far away would the children be from the screen? A 25" monitor (4:3 or 16:9?) might be a bit small.

Be prepared to deal with questions. Going from computer to DVD may mean having to switch inputs and format. Many flat panel displays can deal with varying formats but by solutions such as stretching 4:3 to fit a widescreen format or showing widescreen letterboxed.

Another detail, are the ceilings a plenum space? If so, then any cable run exposed above them would likely need to be plenum rated cable.

Finally, since you mentioned DVD playback, movies and surround sound, don't forget to address any potential copyright or licensing issues.

[Lukky]

The whole monitor size is more related to budget more than anything else. Right now we are using much smaller monitors in our class rooms. Teachers are bringing there own 19' monitors to use. The INC monitors do not have S-video inputs thats why I am running HDMI. I am hoping that is the new standerd.
The movies we show are purchesed specifically to show in churches. They are mainly kid type animated movies.
I am planning on purchasing DVD players with HDMI outputs.
Not sure about the ceilings. They will be drop ceilings. I have ran many cables in other parts of the building and had no problems yet????

Thanks Dustin

Thanks Dustin

[NdEd]

There's a bid difference between technical problems and legal problems.

[Brad Weber]

Originally Posted by Lukky

Not sure about the ceilings. They will be drop ceilings. I have ran many cables in other parts of the building and had no problems yet????

I'm not sure if by having no problems you mean they worked or they passed inspection, but typically, if the ceiling is used for return air then it is likely a plenum and any cable run in that space that is not enclosed in conduit has to be plenum rated, which has to do with flame and smoke spread.

Other common issues in making a cable install code compliant are that you are supposed to support the cable from above rather than just laying it on the ceiling and you can't hang it off ductwork, piping, conduit, ceiling hangers, etc., it has to be hung off structure. These sound minor but I've seen an entire post production house have to rerun all the cable for a new installation because of just this type of issue being flagged by an Inspector.

I would also be careful with HDMI, if those are commercial DVDs they may have HDCP copy protection and unless the DVD player sees an HDCP compliant display connected it may do something like disable the HDMI output and limit you to 720p via the component video output.

[prochlea]

DVD's do not have HDCP... The DVD standard was developed long before HDCP existed. That said - HDMI is a beast, and often introduces problems. HDMI will probably be the new standard - for HD content - but almost everything has a composite output and it always works.