Project HDMI Switcher Part 1 - Introduction

Before the advent of custom UI elements and Macros on the Cisco Touch 10, switching HDMI inputs from a controller was typically done with another third party touch screen that was designed for addressing the room environment. This may or may not have included the video endpoint controls in the room.

Complex conference room
Your conference room may have also looked like the picture posted.  Hopefully you are not dealing with this type environment. Comment below if you are. I typically find organizations that have this type of conference room are struggling with understanding the new capabilities that modern video conference room device can do to reduce complexity.

The HDMI switch example in this post while only a small piece of a puzzle shows how you can start leveraging the Cisco video device in the room to reduce complexity. 

The Project


Below is an overview of what we are trying to achieve. 

Project overview
The Webex Room Kit we will be leveraging the following features:
  • Macros
  • Custom Touch 10 UI
  • HTTP request GET method
Atlona AT-JUNO-451
The HDMI switch for this project is a Atlona AT-JUNO-451 pictured right.  Its around $400 on Amazon and one of the cheapest HDMI switches that is IP controllable. Comment below if you have used other HDMI switches with success.

For our project we need to complete the following steps:
  1. Custom UI inputs on our Touch 10
  2. Codec Macro creation
  3. HDMI switch setup
In the next post we will tackle the custom Touch 10 UI controls to control our switch.

VoIPNorm

2 comments:

  1. So what is the advantage of doing this over just plugging the apple TV directly into the HDMI input on the codec as a presentation source?

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    Replies
    1. HDMI switcher gives you additional HDMI inputs. In my case I have a Webex board with only one HDMI input, so with the switch I can have the Apple TV, PC, security system all plugged into my HDMI switch. Using the HDMI switcher I can use my touch 10 to switch between them without needing to switch these manually. If you have a conference room this could be a bunch of different HDMI inputs such as Apple TV, multiple PC, cable TV inputs etc etc. Its just a way to stop people from having to work all the cables out and messing with stuff really.

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