Devin Conn with Bittree adjusts a fiber patch cord in the data and fiber feed-through panels. While a great deal effort is expended by media professionals to move content around the world wirelessly, there is still a lot of cable and fiber involved along the way. Vendors at this year’s NAB Show brought along plenty of choices for their customers.
CABLE & CABLING SYSTEMS
Bittree demonstrated their 75 Ohm Digital Audio coaxial patchbay, which is designed for discreet AES signals. They also showed a new line of fiber feedthrough patch panels, the LC/LC, ST/ST, and SC/SC. Also shown were the 969-S Series programmable audio patchbay and the Bittree 3 x 32 Mini-WECO monitor patchbay.
Dawnco showed off their DAWNflex signal cable for satellite downlink applications. It handles signals up to 3 GHz, including satellite L-band and is quad-shielded and designed for direct burial.
Gepco/General Cable spotlighted their new HydroBloc water-resistant cables, which comply with the TIA-455-82-B water penetration test. Also shown was Gepco/General Cable’s VDM230LT ultralightweight, HD miniature coax.
CONNECTORS
Canare showed off a totally new type of connector—an active chassis-mount BNC that contains either a line driver or equalizer depending on which type is needed for the specific application. These devices should greatly simplify construction of signal routers for high data rate digital television signals.
Fischer Connectors spotlighted a new line of ruggedized fiber-optic connectors that are designed to withstand abuse without causing signal degradation. The company also demonstrated the Fischer MiniMax push-pull interconnect system. It features a 24-mixed contact design, with one connector handling four power feeds along with 20 small signals.
LEMO brought along a good sampling of their connector products, including SMPTE compatible 3K.93C models for high-definition TV applications.
FIBER
Advanced Fiber Products introduced a normal- through optical switch module and a new line of Pro AV fiber extenders. Also on display was the Secure SC (SCS) fiber connector, the RunGear VIA multi-signal fiber optic distance extender with intercom, the Video Media converter and distribution amplifier (VMDA), and a bidirectional fiber-tocopper and copper-to-fiber media converter. Artel Video Systems debuted their DL4360x DigiLink video transport chassis that simultaneously routes video and Ethernet traffic.
The company also showed its 9-port Gigabit Ethernet Aggregator with optical transceiver and onboard chassis management.
AVP Mfg. & Supply brought along their Saber media converter and their hybrid fiber-optic breakout modules which feature two singlemode fiber-optic contacts, two low-voltage contacts and two auxiliary 600 Volt AC electrical contacts. Also on display were the Super HD+ Series 3 GHz Microvideo jackfield and the EVO active jack series.
BroaMan displayed its Repeat series of plugand- play devices that convert SD/HD/3G SDI (or MADI) signals from coaxial cables to fiber and back. These include the Repeat48 and Repeat48CWDM, which accommodates up to 24 channels in 1RU.
Matt Watkins points to the four connectors on the new MultiDyne SilverBack 4K. BTX Technologies showcased the Certified Neutrik opticalCON Custom Fiber Assembly, Pro Plates and Panels, and the 2G+ Just Add Power HD-SDI-Over-IP transmitter. Also shown was the Canare LF- 2SM7T (Tufcal Cable), L-2.5CHLT (lightweight low-loss coax), Active BNC Series, HDE-100 (HD BaseT Extender) and the CWDM transmission system.
Census Digital demo-ed its NanoLinx Series of affordable solutions for the distribution of 3GSDI signals over singlemode fiber optic cable with LC, ST, and Neutrik OpticalCON connectors at distances up to 10 kilometers. Additional products included a 3G SDI-to-HDMI converter and a 3G SDI demuxer, muxer, and reclocking distribution amplifier.
Communications Specialties displayed their battery-operated Fiberlink SDI Beamer, Fiberlink 3380 series for transmitting 3G/HD/ SD-SDI and four analog audio channels, the Fiberlink 3352-x7z for bidirectional 3G/HD/ SD-SDI transmission and the, Fiberlink 8200 series of optical distribution amplifiers, and the Fiberlink 32 x 32 fiber-optic matrix/signal router.
Emcore introduced high-performance openGear wideband optical links for IF, L and RF signal distribution. The OPG-1L wideband optical links operate between 50 MHz and 3 GHz and are optimized for delivery of IF and L-band and wideband video signals up to 60 km.
Gefen Pro AV Group displayed their DVI RS-232-over-fiber extender which accommodates DVI with RS-232 and uses a single multimode fiber-optic cable. Also shown was the company’s DVI Extender over CAT- 6 with Galvanic Isolator, as well as their DVI Extender over CAT-5 Short Range unit.
Harris Broadcast promoted their SFP6800+ fiber processing module which supports up to 60 channels of fiber-optic transport in a 2RU space. It includes six small formfactor pluggable (SFP) cages that also support coax, HDMI/DVI, baseband encoding/ decoding, and an integrated routing feature.
MultiDyne entered the 4K arena with the 4K-4000 fiber-optic transport system and the new 4K Silverback. Also shown was the HD-18000 CWDM multiplexer which transports up to 18 HD-SDI signals per single-mode fiber, the FS-18000 Fiber-Saver portable CWDM Remapper/ Multiplexer, and the SMPTE-HUT Hybrid Universal Transceiver.
Optocore displayed its MADI series of high-channel capacity devices, along with its full range of networked devices for operation on fiber and Cat-5 infrastructures.
David Barnard with Gencom Technology Limited learns about Emcore’s Opengear wide-band RF over fiber products from Todd Kellison. PESA showed its Vidblox 2K extenders which now support dual-link video formats up to 2560 x 1600 at 60Hz. Also shown was the easyPORT HDMI, the EASY- 4BX2H, a BNC to mini-HDMI, and the EASY- 4FX2H, which supports single-mode fiber to mini-HDMI.
Riedel Communications unveiled the MediorNet MN-GV-2 interface card that allows users to network Grass Valley 3G camera systems—the LDK and the brand-new LDX series—and their base stations via the MediorNet fiber infrastructure.
SIS Live showcased its new PlexSIS fiberoptic system that provides transport of eight SD/HD/3G SDI signals over a single fiber with automatic cable equalization, and multi-rate reclocking with automatic rate detection.
Telecast introduced the CopperHead 3404K camera-mountable transceiver for 4K. It requires only two strands of robust, lightweight fiber-optic cable to carry all bidirectional signals needed, including four 3Gbps HD/SDI paths, for 4K productions from a camera to a truck or control room.
VidOvation debuted their VidOptic line of fiber transmission systems for SMPTE 252M and 292M. These feature real-time digital video transmission with AGC for distances of up to 40 km.
