What 4K switcher to emulate a video wall for a RTX5000?

Gaming and Visualization Technologies Visualization Mosaic
1

Hello everybody,

I plan to build a video wall based on four 4K TVs.
For the moment, I have only one TV, but I want to be able to simulate the final installation using a 4 inputs - 1 output switcher, in 4K resolution.
The 4 signal sources are actually the 4 outputs of an nVidia Quadro RTX 5000 graphics card, whose connectors are in DisplayPort 1.4 female format.
On output this switcher must be connected to the 4K TV, whose input connector is in DisplayPort or HDMI format.

I want to be able to display successively one of the 4 outputs of the card on the TV, without the other outputs losing their settings.
This switcher must therefore be able to manage the screen emulation for the inputs so that the sources remain active even when they are not displayed.
In general, this feature is called EDID emulation / management, and it consists in maintaining a permanent negotiation between the switcher and the graphics card, in order to make it believe at all times that it is connected to 4 4K displays and that it thus keeps its display settings.

My question is simple:
Is it OK to use a simple low cost switcher such as this:

Do I need to use additional EDID emulator such as this:

Or should I use a professionnal (more expensive) switcher such as this:
https://www.crestron.com/Products/Video/HDMI-Solutions/HDMI-Switchers/HD-MD4X1-4KZ-E

Additionally, is it OK to use an HDMI switcher, since I can’t find a DP switcher with 4 inputs?
Should I use specific DP/HDMI adaptors?

I would be very grateful, if someone in the forum could give me some information that helps.
Thanks for your time and greetings from France.

Laurent Larsonneur

2

Hi llnews,

On the NVIDIA RTX5000 we support EDID emulation natively within the NVIDIA control panel.

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Go to the View System Topology menu beside each display output is an EDID option. I recommend for each display you need to emulate- you plug in your single physical display capture the EDID by using the EXPORT option in the EDID menu. You can then load the EDID to that display head.

I do not have experience with the switcher or emulators that you list.

thanks
D

3

Hi DougT,
Thanks for the quick feedback.
Does this mean that when you unplug the display from any of the outputs, these remain active and that the mosaic settings is preserved ?
Could we imagine the mosaic running without any display physically plugged, and that we could access to the computer using VNC or something similar, and “see” the four active displays ?
If this works, this means I could really use the “cheap” switcher, since the Quadro RTX5000 doesn’t really care about what is plugged or not on its outputs.
Thank you for any help on this.

Laurent L

4

Hello again to all members,

My question is simple: if we emulate EDIDs by the RTX5000 driver, do we get the mosaic settings back after unplugging a cable from any output and plugging it in again?

Has anyone already tested that?
Can someone confirm ?
Thanks for any help.

Laurent L

5

Hey Laurent,

Yes - if you unplug a faked display MOSAIC will be preserved.

D

6

It worked very well.
Thanks a lot.