Networks and Signal Distribution

Vision’s HDMI Powerline

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Vision TC2-HDMIP

Need to get HDMI signal from one room to another through solid walls? Vision’s HDMI Powerline is a transmitter and receiver set that sends content from your Blu-ray, TV tuner, or PC through the existing electrical power cables from one room to another.

According to Vision, it has almost no delay – just 1/33 of a second – and it is designed for ‘mission-critical’ professional audio visual installations where performance and reliability are key.

Plug everything in, turn it on, and it works by design without complex setup. The system transmits the content from one transmitter to one receiver only. Onscreen diagnostics help eliminate problems if any are encountered.

Maybe you want to move your TV to another room but you can’t easily move your satellite TV box? Or would you like to duplicate the content from your tuner box to a second TV in another area? Or you have a professional AV application where you can’t easily run cables and wireless won’t work through the walls. This unit solves those annoying problems.

  • Transmits HDMI and IR over existing electrical cables (230v only)
  • 2-input HDMI switcher integrated into transmitter
  • IR Pass-through so you can use your cable TV remote at the receiver

It combines Qualcomm Powerline 500Mbps technology (also known as Homeplug) with the best available H.264 compression. Proprietary Quality of Service (QoS) ensures that the signal has priority and won’t drop out, while the H.264 compression ensures the 1080P content maintains the highest possible quality. (H.264 is the main compression used on Blu-ray discs.)

The transmitter features two HDMI inputs and an HDMI output. A remote control is included to switch input. This remote can be used at the transmitter or receiver.

Point your satellite tuner box remote control at the receiver and the IR signal will be passed back down the power cables to your satellite box. A cabled IR receiver plugs into the receiver, and a cabled IR emitter plugs into the transmitter, allowing the transmitter and receiver to be hidden away.

Supports HDMI 1.3 with full HDCP compliance.

Note: this product depends on all items being on the same power phase. It uses the active and neutral wires in the electrical wiring.

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Extron Ships XTP 4K Fiber Products

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XTP CP Fiber 4K

Extron Electronics announces the immediate availability of the XTP CP Fiber 4K input and output matrix boards, XTP FT HD 4K transmitters, and XTP FR HD 4K receivers that expand the XTP Systems family.

These products enable switching and long distance transmission of video signals up to 4K/30 with 4:4:4 chroma sampling at 8 bits per color, along with multi­channel audio, bidirectional control, and Ethernet, over a single fiber.

The I/O boards and endpoints are HDCP compliant, and support data rates up to 10.2 Gbps, 12-bit Deep Color, 3D content, and HD lossless audio formats.

XTP 4K Fiber products are compatible with the new XTP II CrossPoint Series as well as the original XTP CrossPoint matrix switchers.

Available in multimode and singlemode, Extron exclusive and custom designed XTP 4K Fiber optical modules increase distance performance over standard OM4 fiber optic cabling.

"With Extron’s emphasis on engineering, we are able to develop products you won't find anywhere else," says Casey Hall, VP Sales and Marketing for Extron. "We have set XTP II apart, not only with the industry's first 50 Gbps backplane, but also by a full complement of fiber optic products for switching and transmitting 4K video within XTP Systems."

XTP II CrossPoint matrix switchers are the first in the Pro AV industry to offer a 50 Gbps switching backplane. Designed and engineered to the highest standards, the 50 Gbps backplane delivers bandwidth performance that exceeds HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.3 signal requirements for all 4K/60 rates and gives future support for emerging resolutions, such as 8K.

Extron says XTP II is "the only AV technology platform that supports uncompromised 4K video while providing additional bandwidth to accommodate anticipated future video resolutions and formats."

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Barix SoundScape for Business Music & Advertising

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SoundScape

Let’s call it audio digital signage.

Audio over IP pioneer Barix is now shipping SoundScape, its live and scheduled streaming service that allows audio content providers to centrally manage and distribute branded music and advertising over IP networks.

Barix Managing Director Frank Frederiksen is bullish on the benefits that an integrated Audio over IP platform can bring to in-store radio, which has long been plagued by complex, computer-based architectures or highly expensive satellite platforms

SoundScape lets businesses dump these more complex and expensive systems used for in-store radio. Service providers can quickly launch a SoundScape service with a subscription and IP audio players at each end location, and immediately start reliably delivering music and advertising to restaurants, stores, hotels and public facilities.

The upfront “pay as you go” price model, along with SoundScape’s scalability, also ensures attainable long-term expansion goals are reachable while maintaining overall low total cost of ownership. Advanced features (which include dynamic ad insertion for each location) enable new revenue generating streams and can accelerate return on investment.

SoundScape eliminates the complex integration of many different components to deliver branded audio to customers. The quick and easy deployment is a win for systems integrators, who can now singularly focus on a centralized integration strategy for in-store radio and other audio over IP delivery platforms. SoundScape brings together integrated audio distribution, remote device management, dynamic content scheduling, system-wide reporting and monitoring, hierarchical user management and high-quality, multi-format audio playout using Barix’s rock-solid Exstreamer SoundScape IP audio players.

“With nearly two decades of experience designing professional IP audio decoders, we observed the challenges that systems integrators experienced when combining many disparate components from multiple vendors—and how costly these systems were to maintain over the long term,” says Joan Anton Parilla, product manager, Barix. “We also saw a potential for new features to ease maintenance efforts and related costs, which are a major problem in the industry. We have worked diligently on these enhancements to ensure a fully developed, integrated solution for integrators and service providers.”

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OCA Alliance Demonstrates New Technology

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OCA Alliance Demonstrates New Technology at AES

OCA Microdemo

The OCA Alliance is at the 139th International AES Convention in New York, with a live light-weight hardware demonstration– the OCA Microdemo.

The standardization of OCA is moving toward the public comment stage of ratification before becoming (when ratified) an official public standard known as AES70.

OCA (Open Control Architecture) is an open control and monitoring standard for professional audio and AV media network devices. OCA is not itself a media transport, nor a means of programming a network device or system control or generating a user interface.

From a single device and controller to networks with almost any number of devices and multiple controllers, OCA provides for high speed, low cost, robust system control and monitoring of devices from different manufacturers. OCA can be used in conjunction with any available transport protocol (Dante, AVB, AES67, Cobranet, etc.).

Offering interoperability across different media transports and various devices, it enables new levels of complex system integration (and options as to how and where network devices can be deployed). The architecture operates on commodity Ethernet networking hardware or via standard 802.11wi-fi.

OCA is available free of charge to manufactures, system integrators and designers, to implement with their own and third party network devices, as they require.

At AES, OCA Alliance members have collaborated to illustrate the power and flexibility of OCA across all ranges of applications, large and small. The alliance demonstrates the OCA Microdemo, a full-features implementation of OCA running on a compact and lightweight reference design.

This implementation is ideal for compact devices such as wall controllers or hardware designs where software and hardware resources are limited. Part of the demo shows the multi-controller benefits of OCA, as hardware from multiple manufacturers are controlled simultaneously from the OCA Microdemo hardware, an iPad application, and a Chrome browser-based GUI, alongside native manufacturer control interfaces.

OCA Alliance is also announcing its latest new member, Atlas Sound, LP/Innovative Electronic Designs, LLC (Atlas IED).

The current members of the alliance are Attero Tech, Audinate, Bittner Audio, Bosch Communications Systems, d&b audiotechnik, Focusrite, Harman Professional Group, LOUD Technologies Inc., PreSonus, RCF, Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup, TC Group and Yamaha Commercial Audio.

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Extron's HDMI Distribution Amp for 4K Video

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ExtronDA2 HD 4K

Extron Electronics announces the immediate availability of the DA2 HD 4K, a one input, two output HDMI distribution amplifier designed specifically to support today's 4K applications.

It provides distribution of computer and video resolutions up to 4096x2160, including 1080p/60 with Deep Color.

This distribution amplifier is HDCP compliant, and supports data rates up to 10.2 Gbps, 3D, Lip Sync, and HD lossless audio formats. Automatic input cable equalization ensures 4K signal integrity up to 50 feet when used with Extron HDMI Pro Series cables. To streamline integration and operation, features include automatic color bit depth management, selectable output muting, and Extron technologies for EDID and HDCP management.

The DA2 HD 4K is ideal for applications that require the distribution of a 4K HDMI source signal to two displays.

Casey Hall, VP Sales and Marketing for Extron, says "The DA2 HD 4K not only actively splits a 4K HDMI signal, it also manages the communication between the source and the displays."

Several Extron technologies included with the DA2 HD 4K distribution amplifier simplify integration of HDMI-enabled devices. EDID Minder automatically manages EDID by maintaining continuous EDID communication with each source, ensuring that sources power up properly and reliably output content for display.

For HDMI signals with protected content, Key Minder authenticates and maintains continuous HDCP encryption to support reliable transmission while enabling simultaneous distribution of a single source signal to two displays.

It also provides +5 VDC, 250 mA on each output for powering peripheral devices, such as an Extron UHD4K 101 or HDMI 101 Plus cable equalizer.

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Extron 4K Regenerators for HDMI Signal Integrity

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ExtronHD 4K 110 Series

Extron Electronics introduces the HD 4K 110 Series, one input, one output signal regenerators that ensure signal integrity for HDMI sources with marginal or poor quality output. The signal regenerators are HDCP compliant, and support computer and video resolutions up to 4K, including 1080p/60 with Deep Color.

Designed to recondition signals at the source, they equalize the input signal, reduce jitter and skew, and provide output signal pre-emphasis to reliably extend the signal. Video resolutions up to 4K can be extended up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) when used with Extron HDMI Pro Series cable.

The HD 4K 110 Series is available in two form factors: a double-space AAP version for use in the Extron Cable Cubby Series/2 enclosure or other AAP mounting frame, and a single-gang Decora-style wall plate version.

Both versions can be powered by the HDMI source or the included power supply for integration flexibility. Available in black and white to complement a wide variety of environments, the HD 4K 110 AAP and HD 4K 110 D are ideal for discreet installation with remote HDMI sources.

“We designed the HD 4K 110 specifically for system designers and integrators working with today’s professional applications that need to include the latest 4K resolutions from an ever widening selection of HDMI sources,” says Casey Hall, VP Extron Marketing and Sales. “The signal quality offered by various HDMI sources varies greatly, and these 4K signal regenerators provide the needed assurance that transmissions from the table, wall, or floor will reliably reach the destination with the optimal signal quality.”

The HD 4K 110 Series supports HDMI specification features that include data rates up to 10.2 Gbps, 12-bit Deep Color, 3D, Lip Sync, HD lossless audio formats, and CEC. It can be used in conjunction with equalizers and other AV products to ensure optimal image quality within professional applications.

Rear panel dip switch settings for input equalization and output signal pre-emphasis make the HD 4K 110 an ideal input connection to enable a strong HDMI signal within matrix switching applications, such as with the Extron DTP CrossPoint 84.

For AV equipment that does not provide input cable equalization, the signal regenerator can be paired with an Extron UHD4K 101 equalizer at the far end to maintain a high quality HDMI signal from source to destination.

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World’s First 3-stream Uncompressed 4K60 Media Server

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Wings Engine Raw

Austria’s AV Stumpfl introduces the world’s first and only triple-stream 4K uncompressed media server, Wings Engine Raw.

Using a single custom engineered RAID 10 system, Wings Engine Raw is capable of delivering constant data stream of 3-channels of true 4K (4096 x 2304 pixels) uncompressed video content at 60fps plus up to 16 text and picture layers, and up to 24 uncompressed audio streams.

The server removes the need to convert content into any intermediate codec format. Content can include native picture sequences such as TGA or TIFF and even instant PNG image format processing.

Wings Engine Raw is capable of processing and delivering video content at the full 4:4:4 color sampling ensuring picture perfect quality and colour accuracy for the most demanding of installation environments.

This data system not only features a massive data throughput but also features redundancy. For example, should one of the SSDs fail, the data rate and the system’s functionality in general will not be impaired.

Wings Engine Raw hosts the new WingsRX™ render core engine which has been developed and optimized especially for premium picture quality applications. Its 64-bit program architecture and clever usage of SSE CPU instructions ensures unequaled decentralized processing power. The software has been designed for a wide range of applications such as themed attractions, digital signage, trade shows, live events and full dome systems.

Wings Engine Raw is complemented by AV Stumpfl’s embedded operating system, Backup-Manager, features a dedicated EDID management as well the award-winning automatic camera based calibration system for soft-edge blending, warp and geometry mapping, all operable by time line control.

Wings Engine Raw is based on professional server technology derived from IT data center equipment. Inside the rack mount system is a Xeon CPU, redundant high performance power supply, 2x10 GBit LAN, server chipset, up to 8 3G-SDI live inputs and Displayport 1.2 and DVI-D output connectors.

With an established worldwide support network, AV Stumpfl has begun shipping Wings Engine Raw to projects worldwide including major product launches, cinematic, theme park and visitor attraction sites in Europe and the Middle East.

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ZyPer4K by ZeeVee

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ZyPer4K “Challenge what you know about video distribution,” says ZeeVee as it launches ZyPer4K.

ZyPer4K supports distribution of Ultra HD, uncompressed video, audio and other data signals using off-the-shelf 10Gb Ethernet switching technology with ZyPer4K transmitter and receiver modules. 

ZyPer4K can also be used in a point-to-point configuration to transmit a 4K video source across a dedicated fiber connection to a display up to 30km away.

ZyPer4K can distribute HDMI sources connected into an off-the-shelf 10Gb Ethernet switch to an almost infinite number of displays using either single-mode or multi-mode fiber.

Other features:

  • Supports stereo and embedded audio channels up to 7.1 channels
  • 1GbE network port exposed on all transmitters and receivers
  • Source and display control (Infrared and RS232)
  • HDCP v1.x and v2.x compliant
  • API for system control/monitoring using either ZeeVee management platform or 3rd party control systems or applications (AMX, Crestron, iOS, Android)

Applications include: 

  • Digital signage content distribution for Public Information Displays, Way-finding or advertising
  • High-end graphic requirements in simulation centers, command and control, and graphic studios
  • In-room guest/patient entertainment systems
  • Broadcast facilities
  • Live event video distribution (stadiums, concert halls)

Watch ZyPer4K Video Explanation

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Extron Ships New 4K Distribution Amplifiers for DTP Systems

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Extron Electronics announces immediate availability of four DTP twisted pair distribution amplifiers – two DTP HD DA 4K 230 models and two DTP HD DA 4K 330 models.Extron DTP HD DA

These 4K distribution amplifiers provide one HDMI input with loop-through, and either four or eight DTP outputs. Each twisted pair output sends HDMI, audio, and control over shielded CATx cable to Extron DTP-enabled products. 

The DTP HD DA 4K 230 models extend these signals up to 230 feet (70m); and the DTP HD DA 4K 330 models extend signals up to 330 feet (100m). 

All models also accept analog stereo audio signals for simultaneous transmission over the same shielded CATx cable. They support video signals at resolutions up to 4K, including 1080p/60 Deep Color. The DTP HD DA 4K offers bidirectional RS-232 and IR pass-through at each DTP output, plus system level RS-232 device control via Ethernet insertion. It features remote powering of DTP receivers, EDID Minder, Key Minder, selectable output muting, and compatibility with HDBaseT-enabled devices.

Casey Hall, VP Sales and Marketing for Extron, says "They are ideal for accommodating presentation overflow rooms, digital signage, and a range of other multi-display applications."

The DTP HD DA 4K offers several integrator-friendly features such as an HDMI input loop-through for local monitor support or system expansion, and the ability to independently mute each twisted pair output. 

It also features automatic input equalization which conditions incoming HDMI signals to compensate for signal loss over long input cables. Automatic color bit depth management based on the display EDID prevents color compatibility conflicts between the source and display.  

To streamline installation, the DTP HD DA 4K can send power to each of the four or eight DTP receivers over the shielded twisted pair cable. It offers convenient options for remote control, including Ethernet, USB, and RS-232 for easy integration into a variety of environments. 

Configuration of the DTP HD DA 4K is made simple via Extron’s PCS (Product Configuration Software), which allows for expedited setup and EDID management.

The DTP HD DA 4K can be integrated with Extron switchers, scalers, or other DTP-enabled products to provide multiple, simultaneous outputs for signage and presentation overflow room applications. 

For additional integration convenience, each twisted pair output can be configured for compatibility with HDBaseT-enabled displays to send digital video and embedded audio, plus bidirectional RS-232 and IR signals over shielded CATx cable.

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