Cat 5 video assist - other uses?

timapter

timapter

Veteran
Hey everyone, I've been waaaay out of the realm of internet these days, working in some very strange places. But I'm now back in civilization (well, African civilization)... and I've just checkout out the cat 5 video system from remote audio.

VERY cool.

What I'm wondering is - does anyone know what kind of quality the audio over that line is? Whats stopping a sound guy from using this cable as a lightweight low cost audio return/send to camera in an eng situation? For my last umbilical I paid a LOT of money. WAY more than this entire system costs. And umbilicals DO break. So Im just wondering if there is some technical or practical limitation that means this cannot be done...

Hope everyone is well and having an excellent and prosperous 2008.
Tim
 
I have a headphone distribution system in my studio that runs over cat 5. It daisy chains to about 5 breakout boxes and I don't notice any difference between the first and last one. I should note that the system I have is not passive, and I believe power might be passed along the cable to allow the remote units to provide gain.

It probably isn't ideal, but on the other hand if you are dealing with line level signals, it probably isn't that bad either. The worst problem I think you would encounter is that cat 5 is not nearly as durable as something like your typical mic cable that is made for handling. Cat 5 is also unshielded, which may or may not be a problem depending on your location. I don't have any problems with it in my studio.
 
I know Honeywell just came out with HDMI to Cat5 to HDMI distribution systems, advertising no discernable signal loss for up to 200' or more. Seems like it should be able to carry more than one pair of audio with no trouble.

e
 
this is very interesting... i've heard that cat5 cable is available in a more "heavy duty" type version which although not as expensive as multicore like we use now, will be able to work a lot better when handled often.

heres my thinking -

the remote audio system provides you with two breakout boxes. then all you need is a few adaptors on the mixer and camera end of the equation and bobs your uncle. even better, modify a spring recoil system, and you could load the cable in a small barrel for quick returns, and variable lengths when shooting run n gun.

the only thing that DOES worry me is the shielding. other than that, this idea seems a little too good to be true. im hoping someone will step in here with some more feedback? im keen on trying this out.
 
Tim,

There was a whole set of discussions around this on Jeff's site - specifically talking about Balans and their use in pnroduction. I'm looking at getting a set for audio return to camera and video feed to my cart (when I'm not doing a wireless hop with my new Zaxcom (yay!). ;-)

Phil
 
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