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UTP Presents an AV Technology Twist

One of the most interesting aspects to the convergence of AV and IT is the crossover of techniques and technologies between the two camps. The two cultures sometimes think differently in terms of new technologies, but techniques are another story.

UTP Presents an AV Technology Twist

One of the most interesting aspects to the convergence of AV and IT is the crossover of techniques and technologies between the two camps. The two cultures sometimes think differently in terms of new technologies, but techniques are another story.

THE SPECIAL CASE OF UTPHOW IT WORKSDEALING WITH THE PHENOMENON

ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING ASPECTS TO THE CONVERGENCE of AV and IT is the crossover of techniques and technologies between the two camps. The two cultures sometimes think differently in terms of new technologies, but techniques are another story. Technicians from both camps take great pride in their installation work. For example, qualified technicians from both sides know how to create a truly well-dressed rack system. In our industry, we even have competitions to judge this skill set. Sharing techniques — such as using hook-and-loop straps instead of zip ties on data cables — will help us merge these worlds faster and more smoothly.

One technology to make the leap from IT to AV is Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cable for the propagation of AV signals. Having mostly IT backgrounds, the people in my division quickly embraced this technology and are thoroughly familiar with TIA/EIA T568B termination techniques. We’re used to the correct handling of this cable.

What we, as IT guys, quickly learned was that all UTP is not created equal. We had become used to Category cable — cable certified to carry data to very rigid specifications and defined by Cat-5, Cat-5e, and Cat-6 — and its reasons for different uses from the data side.

But while a lot of AV gear is able to accommodate Category cable, it’s not the optimum cable for this equipment. Let me explain. UTP is defined as a class of cable that has eight 22 or 24 AWG wires that are bundled into four twisted pairs and encased in an unshielded package. These pairs of wires are twisted in order to minimize any noise that a long run of this cable would inherit — and therein lies the problem.

Category wire has different twists per a given length of each pair. This is necessary for data transmission, and the difference between various pairs actually increases as you move up the categories.

In AV, the cable is used to move a number of signals from point A to point B. With the right equipment at each end, you can move RGBHV/L&R Audio/Duplex Serial signals on a single UTP cable —and the distance between point A and point B can be as far as 2,500 feet. Think of the cable run for that same scenario using conventional AV cable. A mini-coax bundle cable, two audio cables, and a serial cable, either bundled together or separate cables, that’s still a lot of copper.

With UTP and simple (RGBHV only) transmit and receive devices, the red positive signal goes on one wire, the green on another, the blue on another, etc. The trick is the sharing of some wires. It gets a little more complicated when all kinds of signals are combined, but that’s each vendor’s magic.

Now let’s investigate what that means to a cable. If you send red down one wire and green down another, for example, and the two wires are different lengths (due to the number of twists using more wire in one pair compared to another pair with fewer twists), the resulting signals will arrive at different times. When the signals don’t arrive at the same time, this causes skew — the delay between one pixel arriving from one wire and another pixel arriving from another wire. This is expressed in nanoseconds and is usually negligible on small runs and lower resolutions.

For example, at XGA resolution, a pixel is pumped out about every 15 nanoseconds; the maximum skew for Category cable is 45 nanoseconds, according to its specification. Doing the math for long runs, it’s obvious to see that pixels can’t arrive at the same time on this cable. With long runs and displaying something like a spreadsheet, you would drive a person nuts. Colors would tend to smear or tear, and lines would actually disappear from a displayed spreadsheet’s grid.

There’s two ways to compensate for this phenomenon. First, use skew-free or at least low-skew UTP cable. This will eliminate the problem and ensure a perfect image at the other end with the least effort. While this cable will cost more per foot than the cheap Cat-5 we’re all used to, the cost will outweigh the need for other equipment. The second way to address skew is to use equipment with either built-in or external skew compensation circuitry. This allows the installer to add delay to the various wires, thus making all the pixels appear to arrive at the same time.

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UTP Presents an AV Technology Twist

One of the most interesting aspects to the convergence of AV and IT is the crossover of techniques and technologies between the two camps. The two cultures sometimes think differently in terms of new technologies, but techniques are another story.

NOT JUST FOR VGADISTRIBUTION MADE EASY

While usually not required for short runs and lower resolutions — usually less than about 50 to 100 feet over Cat-5 — it may be required for high resolutions and for runs as short as 120 feet when using Cat-6. Now, add the cost of this extra equipment and the time it takes for a technician to tweak each signal and you can see how using skew-free from the start is the way to go.The labor cost to pull the cable is a equivalent.

UTP technology isn’t just for VGA (RGBHV), either. Some devices can do RGBHV, Component, S-Video, and Composite using the same transmitter and receiver pairs. The signal going in and out is field configurable. This means that if a client wants to do Composite today and then switch to RGBHV later, it’s a simple service call, not a complete infrastructure rework — a value-add that may mean winning a deal as a result of being a forward-thinking partner. New technologies are arriving every month to do analog or digital signals over UTP. DVI and HDMI devices exist today. Distances are less than analog, but constantly getting better.

There’s a big caveat worth mentioning for using UTP: the ability to repurpose currently installed premise wiring is a tempting and promising scenario for facility owners. When the original build-out is done, every attempt is often made to cable it with almost as much UTP as power cabling. Data closets are full of terminated data runs. The stuff is literally everywhere.

Now comes the problem (and one which I have spent a great deal of time describing to IT people). The AV signals traveling over the existing premise wiring will not traverse IT equipment. Remember, we are not sending IP packets of data across these wires, it’s analog (or sometimes digital) AV signals. Want to blow up some equipment? Plug the two together.

While we’ve come up with some interesting ways of jumping from one intermediate distribution frame (IDF) closet to another, the truth of the matter is, using existing premise wiring for AV is difficult to do. Using the “last mile” to the make the final connection and doing a home run from there to the transmitter may work, but the fact is it’s almost always easier and a better install to do a full run of new UTP from transmitter to receiver.

And the last reason why I love UTP — ease of distribution. Not unlike traditional cable, distribution is a snap. In terms of RGBHV, there are devices with “VGA” in and 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, even 32 RJ45 outputs. There are also receivers with loop-through ports to daisy chain from one to the next, as well. It really makes installation simple and cost-effective for large deployments of displays. As for matrix switching using all UTP, that’s available now for very large, scaled installs.

So, for ease and speed of install, cost effectiveness, and versatility, this is the technology AV should be looking at for intense cabling needs.

Kris Vollrath is vice president of Advanced AV in West Chester, Pa, and an industry consultant. He can be reached at [email protected].

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