Long distance computer - projector?

[Brettster]

I'm not sure if anyone has done this, but I'm hoping to buy a 50' VGA cable to run a BENQ projector (the older 7200 model at 1024x768), and I wonder if there will be a serious degradation of video/projection at that distance?

I've come up with this idea as the only way I can pull this off now (since my 2nd floor addition is gone because of financial issues), is to run TGC and simulation on my office computer, and cable it 50' upstairs to a room that I can knock the ceiling out on to get to 10' for my swing. I have the projector running now and can get TGC displaying in my office, it looks 'ok' at 10'-12' distance for the projector, but I'm not sure what to think about running a 50' VGA cable.

[Joko]

I have my projector/sim setup in the garage which is 30' or so away from my PC which is in the basement. I ran a 50' HDMI cable (which is overkill after running it) purchased from amazon and everything looks fine, I've loaded up movies on it and it looks good. Not certain about VGA cable, but I think you should be fine, I'd at least give it a try and if it sucks - return the cable.

[Dax]

What about getting on of those HDMI cables from monoprice with the RedMere technology? I run one at 30 feet with no issue and the cable is cheap. I believe try say anything over a certain distance (something like 20 feet should use this tech if using hdmi). On a separate note, What is the cost for you to blow out your ceiling In Your room?

[Brettster]

Thanks for the ideas Joko and Dax...

I'm hoping 50' VGA will work just as good as HDMI, I cannot run HDMI as the BenQ projector (7200) only has a VGA output.

Dax, the cost to blow out the ceiling is not too bad ($200 for materials), as I'll be doing the work myself. So basically just demo what is there (drywall), re-route some of the wiring and remove any beams that may get in the way. Since it's a first-floor, single room addition, I'm not expecting too much trouble in ripping it out... the only slight problem I have is space, I'm dealing with a 12'x16' room that has to double as a TV room. I'm planning on building out a full wall-to-wall book shelf that will hold the TV on one side of the 16' width, however that still leaves a couch in the way, so not sure how to deal with that just yet... and there's one chair in that room, but I think I can convince the wife that can get tossed leaving me with a blank wall on the other end of the 16' width - that 16' width will have the roof peak at 10', from what I can measure outside the house, and it drops down to 8' on the edges, so I'm going to have to setup somewhere in the outside middle of the 16' - such as 12' or so to setup the Swing Mat/Simulator. I know the projector is going to be showing shadows some of the time, as won't be able to get it is not a short throw projector and requires a minimum of 12' - hmmm... maybe I could ceiling mount it, but not sure just yet.

It is a cost-savings plan that will let me do it - that's the only way, right now I can pull it off! Anyway... with a little sweat on my part, I should be able to put this all together for $3,000-$4,000 (including the sim I purchase - ProTee or ES16). The next step will be a cheap screen, but from what I see on that, I think that can be done for $400-$600.

[Igor-247-golf]

I have used 20 meter VGA cables for simulators and it's fine. The graphics will be rubbish tho! Get any 2nd hand projector on ebay and run HDMI (up to 30m!) ... there are also projectors that will run on WiFi dongle (not sure how good graphics are) but I have a Panasonic that picks up a video signal with their proprietary wifi dongle.

[Brettster]

I have used 20 meter VGA cables for simulators and it's fine. The graphics will be rubbish tho! Get any 2nd hand projector on ebay and run HDMI (up to 30m!) ... there are also projectors that will run on WiFi dongle (not sure how good graphics are) but I have a Panasonic that picks up a video signal with their proprietary wifi dongle.

Cool - are there converters that will go HDMI to VGA? Maybe I could run HDMI up to the projector and then convert it to VGA at the end closer to the projector? WiFI dongle, now there's an idea... or wifi video, hmmm, thanks for the ideas!