Re: Inject text alerts into a CATV system

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

Three TVs does complicate things.

Here are a few links to get you started...

http://www.basicmicro.com/Product.aspx?productID=143&CategoryID=43
http://www.icircuits.com/prod_osd232.html
http://www.worthdist.com/netmedia/nmctvx.htm

Mike Baptiste used to offer an OSD device that was RS485 but he's no longer
in business and I haven't seen any other RS485 OSD.

"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Dad's nearly deaf and is not terribly compliant about keeping his hearing
>aid turned up.  Instead, he watches the TV with the set's *sound* turned way
>up - we're talking thunderous volume here.  Unfortunately, this means he's
>almost completely unaware of his surroundings.
>
>What I would like to is create a fairly low cost HA system that's capable of
>putting up brief text messages over the TV so when he's watch March Madness
>and someone's pounding on the door and ringing the buzzer, I can send "Front
>Door bell ringing" or "phone call" or "smoke detector activated" or
>"FIRE!!!" or whatever on the screen so he knows to take some action.
>
>We've already got various phone flashers scattered around the house, but I
>would also like to pipe Caller ID info to the screen as well so that he
>*knows* who's calling, not just that there's a phone call.  I don't know if
>other folks' parents are like mine, but after years of being barraged by
>telemarketers, they are as likely just to let the phone ring if they aren't
>expecting a call.  It's become a real issue.
>
>I'm still very much in the planning stage and would like to hear from anyone
>who's done something similar.  It's complicated by the fact that there are
>three TV's he's likely to be watching.