Kramer Electronics is pleased to report that its category cable, designed specifically for carrying digital AV signals, outperformed competitive cable from several high profile industry manufacturers in the Redband Radio and AVNation independent InfoComm 2014 Cable Challenge.

Redband Radio and AVNation teamed up at InfoComm 2014 and invited the manufacturers to test their category cables. The test was to transmit a 4K HDBaseT signal (4k x 2k @ 30Hz with 24bpp color) over 330ft (100m) of cable with the goal of determining how many errors there would be per billion pixels of information as tested over 1,000 frames of video. According to the testers, it is considered acceptable to have 1 error per billion pixels. To accomplish this, the testers acquired a brand new Quantum Data 980 test generator and paired it with a 4K capable HDBaseT transmitter and receiver device. Each cable was tested utilizing the Quantum 980 Pseudo−Random Noise test three times.

The Challenge was designed to prove that the cabling infrastructure in any Pro AV installation (corporate, higher education, HOW or other) utilizing HDBaseT digital video signals could possibly be the most important factor in the system design and operation. The participants were Kramer Electronics, Crestron Electronics, West Penn Wire and Liberty AV. A standard off the shelf unshielded CAT 5 cable, typical of those found in consumer stores such as Home Depot, was tested as a baseline to emphasize how important cabling infrastructure is in professional AV applications. The testers believe there is a misperception in the Pro AV industry that standard unshielded CAT 5 cable is acceptable to use with HDBaseT signals in Pro AV environments.

In the testing, Kramer’s category cable outperformed all the other competitors’ cables. First, the standard off the shelf CAT 5 unshielded cable was tested and in its three tests the results were over 11 million errors per billion. As the testers noted, that’s indicative of an awful lot of noise creeping in. Next up was the Kramer cable and in its three tests it achieved .362 errors per billion, .482 per billion and .362 errors per billion. The next cable was Crestron’s DM 4K cable. The results of the three tests for the Crestron DM 4K cable were .845 errors per billion, 1.086 errors per billion and 1.688 errors per billion. West Penn was the third challenger with their 4246F cable. The results of their three tests were 4.948 per billion, 9.543 per billion and 6.276 per billion. The fourth and final competitor was Liberty AV with their CAT 6 augmented cable. The results for the Liberty cable were 7.482 per billion, 14.468 per billion and 13.034 per billion.

The Kramer cable was the clear victor in this challenge. The Kramer category cable has been in the line for several years and yet it still outperformed the competition. Kramer just introduced a cable specifically designed for HDBaseT installation and 4K use.

Additionally, the HDKat6a was tested and accredited in an Alliance Recognized Testing facility, met the requirements set by HDBaseT Alliance and therefore work perfectly with HDBaseT devices.
Now, Kramer has two high−performance cables to offer the industry for carrying digital video including HDBaseT signals, both with incredible performance. Kramer category cables ensure reliable installations benefitting both dealer/integrators and end−users.

Pro AV professionals can rely on Kramer cables for the very best performance in any Pro AV installation.

Learn more at www.kramerelectronics.com/