New-Tech Europe Magazine | May 2018

From the HDBaseT revolution to the new IoT world - everything you wanted to know and didn't have whom to ask

By: Eliran Toren and Ariel Marcus

As we enter the Internet Age of Things (IoT), HDBaseT technology is a vital communication channel for home, office or smart enterprises. Since its invention first introduced in 2010, HDBaseT has become the world standard for ultra- high definition (UHD) video and audio transmission using standard network cable,. Using HDBaseT protocol, five different media parameters are simultaneously transmitted (a function known as 5Play): uncompressed video signals, Ethernet, USB, control such as RS232 serial communication and IR, and power of up to 100 watts. Unlike common RF or Wifi-based IoT technologies, HDBaseT is a high quality, cost effective broadband channel that prevents system failures and data loss. While the current bandwidth for Wifi is not sufficient for quality video transmission, increasing bandwidth is expensive and using the current bandwidth requires compression of

the transmitted video causing delay quality degradation and stability issues. In addition, the use of Ethernet networks requires broad and extensive knowledge of network settings to enable high quality transmissions. As a result, in order to achieve and maintain high quality, it is usually necessary to use a designated video channel from the broadcast source to the destination. HDBaseT does not require any settings at all. As such, the unique capabilities of HDBaseT, especially as compared to competing technologies on the market, have made it the platform of choice for a wide range of media-intensive industries - projectors, vehicles, industrial computers, smart homes and more. HDBaseT - The Untold Story Many installers who work with HDBaseT relate to it as Plug & Play technology.

This way of relating to HDBaseT does not reflect the whole story. The technology does not require configuration during the installation or in-depth knowledge of networks and is therefore simple to connect and greatly facilitates setting up the network (although it requires knowledge and experience in infrastructure). Sometimes, even the most professional and thorough installer will receive a call back to the client site due to broadcasting channel failure and the need to make corrections. Today, the standard way to test the quality of the line is only by visual inspection of the image on the display or the projector, without any means of testing broadcast parameters. In fact, up to now, it has not been possible to obtain parameters on the quality of the installation, leaving installers with no real way to check the cable quality or infrastructure quality in general while installing.

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