Why Matrox or Datapath when OREI can do the same thing?

[Ethan Eldred]

Hello!

I am shopping for solutions for a show, and am scratching my head looking at old threads on this question. 

If what I want is 4 Full-HD HDMI signals for the price of one 4K HDMI output, why I would spend over $1k USD on a QuadHead2Go or over $2K on an FX4, when I could spend $100 on the OREI version?

The OREI device device still comes with a 1-year warranty and support, handles 4K60 input > 4x 1080p60 output at 8-bit / 4:4:4 (equivalent with QLab's current max spec), has Bezel, Rotation, and EDID management tools, and seems to perform reliably in other constant-use commercial settings like bars and airports. 

Even if I was concerned about reliability, which I'm not based on the reviews, for much less budget, I could buy two of these and a 2x1 HDMI switcher for every four 1080p signals, and setup a redundant backup system pretty easily. 

Honestly curious, what am I missing?

Thanks!

[Sam Kusnetz]

Not being concerned about reliability puts you in the minority, I believe, which is of course totally fine.

 

I’ve used Matrox display dividers since about 2005. I have never had a failure.

 

The OREI device might be fine, but generally speaking when someone offers a product that costs 1/10th what the competition costs, the mostly likely answer is that they cut corners and made an inferior product.

 

Not always. But usually.

 

Sam

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[Greg Leeper]

Sam has good points as always!

I've used both Matrox and Datapath, and after skimming the Orei specs if all you need is to do what one of their 8 presets does, then why not try it?  

Or like you said, build a redundancy path (using their other cheap splitters and switches).. 

If you need more flexibility, native SDI or DP, or other pro features like genlock, or taking in 4096x2160 then Datapath is the way to go?

[Alec Sparks]

I have tested this very OREI product. It has a too-small internal pixel buffer, which results in the outputs looking "compressed". When it slices the 4K input it stores each part in ~720p pixel buffers and then scales them back up to 1080p for output, so there is a very noticeable quality and sharpness loss. I've tested other display slicers and haven't found one sub-$500 without very obvious quality loss. OREI support does not see this as an issue 🙃

[Ethan Eldred]

Thank’s both for good points!

I think relatively speaking, it is likely some QC corners are cut at OREI vs. the others, but I also think they’re providing some savings by omitting expensive features like Greg touched on: software configuration tool, IP control, native flexibility for different resolutions / arrangements, scalable ecosystem, etc.

To be clear, there are settings where I’ll definitely take peace-of-mind from the brand names too. But most of my professional time is in smaller non-profit and educational institutions where the experiential value-add is worth the trade-offs of the OREI version, paired with education as applicable about the preferred options for more critical contexts. 

I don’t think either company is interested in competing on the stripped-down version, but if Matrox offered a $3-400 version with the OREI capabilities, I’d be all over it.

Honestly even if it only offered the default 2x2 landscape mode, for 4x 1920x1080. 

A trusted name to do the basic display dividing job, and then use QLab for the geometry details like I would anyway? Sign me up! Usually, I’m not trying to build a video wall, I just want 4 outputs for the price of one. I know people wanting to use it that way don’t make up a lot of their market share, but I can dream

I’ll do some work with the OREI version and  report back. Planning to set one up first in a low-stakes art-installation context where it can run for a while, and then later this year I’ll try one for supporting a work-in-progress play for an artist-residency, both less-critical contexts along the lines of where I’m already feeling comfortable deploying something like this.

Still interested in other perspectives from anyone else reading!

E

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[Ethan Eldred]

!!!

There’s the reason. Amazing

Thanks Alec for expressing that direct technical experience so clearly. I’d be fascinated to learn how you were able to reverse engineer and work out what was happening with the pixel buffers. If you’re up for sharing this in a public review (Amazon, YouTube?) I bet you’ll save some folks like me a lot of trouble! Specific info like this is just not out there when researching these and similar products. 

Any competitors you *did* find usable?

E

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[Alec Sparks]

oh gosh you've goaded me into being self-promotional in public, my least favorite thing! :)

I too have been on the hunt for a no-frills but full quality 2x2 video slicer that's just four outputs permanently stuck at 1920x1200/1920x1080. It doesn't exist- and even QuadHead2Go doesn't do 1920x1200 without some fuss. But I figured if OREI can specify mediocre OEM products for their customers, I could specify some good ones. So I've been talking to the vendors that design video processing FPGA circuits and have designed my own display slicer hardware made specifically for Mac, and even more specifically, QLab users on Apple Silicon. Calling it Slice4, launching in a few weeks.

[Ethan Eldred]

That’s awesome!! Looking forward to trying it! Lemme know if you need testers ;)

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[Alec Sparks]

oh, and to complete the story on display slicer quality:  I'm currently troubleshooting a QuadHead2Go with glitchy black lines across one output and my two FX4-SDI units sometimes drop output for a few seconds if the stage manager's chair develops a static charge. I'm growing convinced that this isn't a market where more tons of spend gets you a significantly more reliable device, pushing half a billion pixels per second is just hard work.