smart-e 4K-RX9000, User Manual

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4K-9000 USER MANUAL V1.1
© 2018 Smart-e (UK) Ltd www.smart-e.co.uk PAGE | 20
6.3.4 WORKING WITH EXISTING CABLING SOLUTIONS
The price difference between CAT5e and CAT6a cabling is approximately a factor of 3, within a small
installation this cost may be overwhelming and as the customer expects CAT5e to be suitable for HDBaseT
transmission it can be difficult to justify this cost. It may be the case that a site has already been flood wired
with CAT5e or CAT6 cable and re-running CAT6a cabling is not a possibility, here the 4K-9000 can be used to
find a workaround solution that will keep your customer happy and provide a stable and reliable HDBaseT
transmission solution.
As discussed previously, a system is more vulnerable to errors with a higher data rate. The data rate of a
HDBaseT system can be measured with the 4K-9000 with reference to the TMDS Clock, the higher the clock
rate the higher the data rate is a basic rule. If when transmitting your desired resolution, you are getting no
image or the 4K-9000 indicates a very large amount of noise one way to overcome this may be to reduce the
resolution. Dropping the resolution from 1080p to 720p could be an ideal solution dependant on the type of
content being transmitted. Although this may not be ideal, and the screen is no longer operating at it’s native
resolution which could show some degradation in image quality it may be a compromise whereby cost is not
an issue as new cabling does not need to be installed. The 4K-9000 can be used as a tool to show that the
reduction in data rate has led to a much more stable solution giving confidence to the installer and customer
alike. The decision can then be left to the customer to decide of the compromised resolution is worth the trade
off in image quality or if they wish to install new cabling.
Another issue that comes from working with pre-installed cabling is lack of information as to length of cable
runs. Customers are therefore not sure as to which variety of HDBaseT product they require, an inexpensive
HDBaseT Lite solution a more expensive HDBaseT Full solution or a project specific Long Reach Mode
HDBaseT solution. The 4K-9000 can offer estimations of the cable length at the same time as giving
information on the quality of the connection via the automated test function and access to the specific BER
readings. Cabling can therefore be pre-approved prior to any work taking place. This can save a lot of time
come installation where guesses and estimates have been used uncertainty is present, problems experienced
at this stage could lead to increased costs for the customer and a lot of time wasted for the installer.