The rise of 4K is driving an uptake in fibre in new A/V installations, with numerous new products being shown at ISE2014 in Amsterdam. HDMI, Cat 5/6 and HDBaseT products are also being upgraded to cope with the demands of Ultra HD.
Fibre goes round the bend
The Cleerline Technology Group launched a safer, more bendable and robust fibre optic cable at ISE. Its Cleerline NSF (Non-Strip-Fiber) has “10,000 times the bend of even the best bendable fibre on the market,” claimed Rick Sant (pictured), principal, Cleerline, as he bent the fibre through 180º and tied it in knots without harming it.
This flexibility is possible thanks to the use of a coating of 3M polymer. The NSF can also be stripped and terminated in under a minute, as it doesn’t have to be cleaned with alcohol and has a soft-peel coating. It also resists pulling a lot better than normal fibre, taking a 100kg short-term strain without breakage, compared to half that for normal fibre, and about 13kg for Cat6 cable.
Sant believes that the roll out of 4K and increasing data use will mean that “fibre is the future of connectivity for everyone in here,” but “you have to make it so an installer can install fibre like they can Cat5,” which NSF offers.
DisplayPort extended
The tiny new DPFX-200 DisplayPort extender from Opticis can transmit 4K (at up to 60Hz) “up to 100m over two LC multi-mode fibre-optic cables, compared to 3m to 5m using DisplayPort,” without the need for scaling or data compression, said Ken Shin (pictured), marketing manager. It also has a dual DP mode, supports Multi-Stream transport, and can be USB or DC powered.
Also new is the OMM-2500 32×32 DVI/HDMI/SDI and optical matrix, which can switch up to 32 inputs of various types to 32 digital displays. The IO cards each have four ports, so it can be configured from 4×4 to 32×32 – except for the DVI cards, which have two ports (so configuration would be from 2×2 to 16×16). Using an Opticis fibre DVI extension module allows it transmit a DVI signal for up to 1km. It can be controlled via a web browser, RS-232, touch panel or key input.
Extending power
WyreStorm’s new EX-1UTP-IR-50-POH Power over HDBaseT extender set has been tested to support 4K Ultra HD transmission up to 35m. It includes a transmitter and receiver, and can also achieve reliable transmission over 50m of fully uncompressed HD 1080p video and multi-channel audio, bidirectional IR control and remote power of the source and display using only a single Cat5e/6 cable.
It is WyreStorm’s most affordable HDBaseT POH extender set yet (at $479), and several of the units can be cascaded over Cat5e/6 cable to lengthen the transmission and increase distribution capabilities, making it suitable for residential and light commercial use, as well as hospitality and education facility applications.
PoH technology eliminates the need for a separate power supply at the TV, resulting in a simpler install as the receiver is powered from the transmitter at the source end.
Up to scale
CYP introduced more than 30 new products at ISE including many that were equipped for 4K.
These included: an HDMI scaler to upscale 1080p@24 signals to 4K, or downscale UHD to 1080p@24 for integration into any AV system; a 4K Matrix Switcher supporting UHD up to 16-bit Deep Colour, high definition audio, and 3D signal compatibility; and a 4K Transmitter and Receiver for sending UHD HDMI signals over distances of up to 300m via fibre optic cabling.
It also has numerous HDMI devices, for distribution, amplification, audio embedding/de-embedding, and equalisation, with 4K and 12-bit deep colour support.
By David Fox
www.clrtec.com
www.cypeurope.com
www.opticis.com
www.wyrestorm.com
