Date: Aug 24, 2011 Source: Company Data (
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AV integrators face a daunting challenge when installing complex, high definition, multimedia systems involving multiple displays and distances over 15 feet: incorporating and often converting a myriad of signal input options to high definition formats over fibre optic cable and doing so with a relatively "clean" installation that minimises potential points of failure.
Although this sounds simple enough, the reality is quite the opposite. With so many possible signal formats including HDMI, DVI, HD-SDI, S-video, Composite video and RGB, converting, processing and transmitting all the required inputs to HDMI or DVI over fibre optics requires a cluster of off-the-shelf extenders, converters, switches and cabling.
Further complicating matters, high definition electronics such as Blu-Ray players, satellite and cable HDTV set-top-boxes, and computers come with HDCP Digital Content Protection and EDID display resolution synchronisation issues that must be addressed in the connections and cabling that -- if not done properly -- can render content unplayable.
Throw in that most commercial installations also require audio, USB, IR, and Ethernet connections for computer/laptop connections, and RS-232 for touch panel control systems, and AV integrators are often forced to cobble together a potpourri of off-the-shelf products.
"Any of the individual components will work fine if you're connecting Point A to Point B," says Brad Sousa, Regional Vice President at AVI in the USA. "The real challenge is when you start building more complex systems. The more source devices there are that need to be connected to a variety of displays over distance, the more messy, unorganised, and failure-prone the installation."
This is leading Sousa, and other top AV integrators, to seek out solutions they can standardise on that can accommodate the variety of analogue and digital video, audio and computer inputs on the market while using a minimal number of enclosures. Such a solution is not only more efficient, but reduces costs while cleaning up the install.
The ability to move to fibre optics is the second part of the equation. Today, companies such as AVI Systems are moving more to fibre optics over copper or CAT5 cabling. The reason: for distances over 15 feet, copper is not recommended and CAT5 can experience signal degradation over long distances. With cable runs 50-75' or longer for larger spaces, this can be a real issue.
"In a commercial environment, we still use both, but we tend to use fibre more than copper or CAT5," says Sousa. "When we do defence installations, we almost exclusively use fibre optic cabling because it solves other issues as well related to classified/unclassified transmissions."
According to Sousa, most CAT5 extenders for HDMI/DVI often amplify the signal instead of regenerating it as is the case with fibre optics. The longer the CAT5 cable and the more connections between source and display, the more the signal degrades.
"With fibre optics, by the very nature of converting from an electric signal to optical and back again, you get a really, really nice signal at the end," explains Sousa.
After extensive research into available product offerings, Sousa discovered Broadata Communications Inc (BCI), a U.S.-based manufacturer of direct pluggable, mini enclosures and wall plates (including the first to offer Decora style) that can accept any signal input out to HDMI/DVI over a single multi-mode fibre.
"BCI's products allow us to mix and match just about any combination of video, audio and data formats to high definition," says Sousa. "So these products become a bit of a Swiss-Army Knife for an integrator that is trying to retrofit or upgrade a system from an analogue system to a new digital-based transport."
While most off-the-shelf products in this market space are manufactured in Asia, BCI's ability to design and manufacture high end, even custom, solutions for its customers at its U.S. facility differentiates it from the rest of the off-the-shelf fibre extender product market.
What also appealed to Sousa is that BCI's Light Bridge Technology -- essentially proprietary embedded software -- handles the analogue to digital signal conversion without the need for a separate converter box. This reduces costs, since converter boxes are common components in such systems, and eliminates several potential points of failure.
The products also address critical HDCP interoperability issues that can occur when an install becomes increasingly complex. HDCP is a method of copy protection designed to prevent the interception of digital data while it is being transported from the source to the display. It uses authentication and a method of key exchange to keep the connection secure.
Sousa explains, however, that HDCP was initially designed to work in a one source, one display type consumer environment. In today's media or presentation rooms, you might find ten or more computing devices, 2-3 cable boxes, and even multiple Blu-Ray players connected to a variety of projectors, flat panels and touch screens. As the required transmitters, receivers and switches are daisy-chained together, HDCP interoperability and timing issues can cause conflicts that can render the media unplayable.
"The value of BCI's product is it enables us to address the HDCP and other data protocol issues despite the number of connected source or displays," says Sousa.
According to Sousa, AVI Systems has standardised on off-the-shelf BCI's units for many of its projects. At one of the U.S. government's leading National Laboratories, for instance, the unit worked so well that it has become the standard across hundreds of offices as it rolls out collaboration systems utilising high resolution graphics in tandem with real-time video conferencing.
"We were able to build a repeatable process that speeds up difficult installations, and this has had a significant impact on our bottom line," said Sousa.
Another firm advocate of this approach is Kosuke Kisara, a communications engineer who is CTO of PSI Inc., a company that has been heavily involved in introducing fibre optics and multi-media transmission systems into the Japanese market over the past 15 years.
PSI has been using a customised digital video converter/transmitter for HD-SDI, HDMI and DVI to ease cable TV customer's transition from analogue to digital, for security surveillance systems, digital signage, hospital operating room HD video systems, and to integrate video, audio and data communication over one pipe.
"We've sold 70 fibre optics systems using DVI converters to this hospital," said Kosuke. "Another customer purchased 30 HDMI fibre optics systems for huge video displays in train stations and department stores."
As in the case of AVI Systems, these systems were enabled via boxes designed by Broadata to eliminate multiple boxes and simplify what would otherwise have been a very challenging installation.
"BCI has been accommodating whenever we have required specific modifications or custom requirements," said Kosuke. "The units are competitively priced, the company is using its own patented technology and manufacturing it at its own facility. They have been responsive to our needs on quality and standards."
