Details
You have changed from an analogue cable subscription to digital TV. Suddenly you have 50 or 90 channels instead of 30, some of which are also supplemented with a pay-tv package. You can now enjoy this from the comfort of your living room but on the 2nd TV in your bedroom you are still stuck with the 30 channels you used to have. How can you get the full range of channels and all of the functions such as Missed Programmes, Digital VCR and so on in your bedroom without paying for an extra subscription or purchasing another decoder? You can with the MegaView series from Marmitek! In addition, you can also operate your set-top box from your bedroom.
What type of cable?
An RCA, SCART or HDMI cable is usually used for audio and video transfer. These cables, however, have certain limitations:
- Great lengths of these cables are often very expensive;
- The image quality reduces significantly over longer distances;
- It is impossible to fit the connector yourself, particularly with HDMI cables. As a result, big holes must often be drilled in order to get the cable and the connector through to where you need it;
- It is not easy to get in the right lengths.
What people often do not realise is that a CAT5 cable is also perfectly suitable for transferring broadband (HD) audio and video signals and that this, actually, offers a number of advantages. This cable is already widely used in large, professional A/V installations.
What is a CAT5 cable?
You will often come across the CAT5 cable (also referred to as UTP or network cable), in combination with the well-known RJ45 connector as a connection between PC and network (router) or between data networks and data equipment. You may even already have a data network at home that uses this type of cable. A dedicated CAT5 cable is also used for extending video.
Why CAT5 cable?
There are several notable advantages to using this type of cable:
- Little or no loss of quality;
- Can be used over long distances;
- Suitable for both SD and HD Audio/Video signals;
- Relatively cheap and widely available;
- You can fit the plugs yourself, meaning that
- you can use whatever cable length is required,
- the cable can easily be installed using a PVC tube,
- the holes that need to be drilled are smaller;
- the cable is relatively thin and supple and can easily be hidden.
What else do you need?
You cannot plug the RJ45 directly into your TV or A/V equipment. Marmitek, as specialist within the sphere of audio/video transfer, is therefore introducing several products to the market that allow Standard Definition (composite) as well as High Definition (HDMI) signal to be transferred over CAT5 cable. These are:
- The MegaView50, for watching Composite Video over CAT5 at up to 300m.
- The MegaView51, for watching and operating Composite Video over CAT5 at up to 300m.
- The MegaView60, for watching HDMI over CAT5 at up to 60m.
- The MegaView61, for watching and operating HDMI over CAT5 at up to 100m.
How does it work?
A set-top box has numerous outputs. You connect the local TV to one of the set-top box’s outputs. The other output is connected to the video transmitter. You can also use a splitter. You place the required CAT5 cable(s) between the video transmitters’ transmitter and receiver. The video transmitters with infrared return (only MegaView 51 and MegaView 61) also have an infrared receiver that you can, for example, stick under your TV, and an infrared LED that you can then stick to the connected source. This allows you to operate the decoder from different places in your home.
Watching your SD or HD content on a TV located elsewhere has never been so simple!
| Cable type | Signal to be transmitted | Max. length without loss of quality | Max. length with little loss of quality | Any cable length? | HD signal possible? |
|---|
| RCA | SD | 5 m. | 10* m. | YES | NO |
| SCART | SD | 3 m. | 5* m. | NO | NO |
| HDMI | HD | 3 m. | 10* m. | NO | YES |
| CAT5 | SD and HD | 35 m. | 300* m. | YES | YES |
*depending on cable quality
