A bit of coax

For those of you who aren’t familiar with coax cable, this is normally the black, white or brown cables that are run from your TV aerial and/or satellite dish into your home, and can be find behind most TV sets and all set-top boxes. It essentially delivers broadcast TV signals to your TV, receiver or set-top box.

Here at TEA London we are often called upon to look at other installer’s cabling systems, post installation, to either upgrade, enhance or troubleshoot AV and IT systems. More often than not our client’s original supplier fell out of favour some time back, which although unfortunate for the client, we are at least given the opportunity to survey their past supplier’s structured cabling, and offer our impartial advice to address their new requirements or ailments. In a lot of the cases the original cabling system is adequate in addressing the then needs of the client, with little thought to how the client’s needs may change in the future, anything from a few months time to several years later.

We have found an alarming number of cases where custom audio visual installations have been installed without any coaxial cable at all to TV points, or too little cable has been run throughout a site, or worse, the rooms likely to accommodate a TV (if not immediately, but perhaps in the future) has no coaxial cable at all. This short blog will hopefully emphasise the importance of using coax cable in any modern and forward thinking AV installation.

Bad cable perceptions

Very recently a new client of ours informed me that he was advised 7 years ago, by his then Architect and specialist AV installer, that no coax cable was required to any of the 5 TV positions in his home. He was advised on using exclusively CAT5 cabling for the delivery of video throughout his home. The rationale of the AV installer was, ‘It is all digital now, you don’t need coax, because network cabling is digital’, the ’specialists’ used buzzwords like digital, modern, future to convince the client that CAT5 cabling can exclusively address all of his AV requirements in his home.

The worst statement they made during their pitch is that coaxial cable would be obsolete in a matter of years. The client being a sensible, forward thinking man, followed their advice; why install something that will end up only being obsolete? Unfortunately this was incredibly bad advice, and has severely limited his AV options in his home.

If anyone tells you that coax cable is obsolete, or will be obsolete, or is not required, or is ‘an old cabling system’, ignore them, they clearly do not know what they are talking about – it will be a case of a little knowledge doing a lot of damage; whilst it is possible to get away with not running coaxial cable throughout a home, the alternatives of using CAT5/6/7 cable exclusively is:

• It is considerably more expensive to apply Video distribution systems from a central hub utilising CAT5/6/7 cabling exclusively
• it will actually reduce the features, functions and options each of your TV sets will have, by not allowing each set to tune into the airwaves independently
• prevents you from taking advantage of a great number of electronic appliances that need TV signals delivered through coax
• eliminates the opportunity for you to distribute infra-red and video signals through a coaxial cable network

The virtues of coax cable

So what are the benefits of coax cable? Well for one, it is inexpensive. When you look at the overall costs of installing a custom AV system in a modern home, coax cabling would be one of the least expensive materials used, costing less then 50 pence per metre. We always advise that at least two coaxial cables are run to each (potential) TV position, and we further advise that it should be CT100 equivalent or better coaxial cable.

CT100 cable is capable of handle many different signal types, and all TV signal types, i.e. satellite, terrestrial TV and cable TV. The two cables at each point will give you many options at at each set, such as the support of satellite and terrestrial TV, support for PVR devices or the ability to send a return signal back to your distribution point.

CT100 cable is rated to handling bandwidths in excess of 2GHz, where Category 5 cable can barely delivery 200MHz worth of headroom; even Category 7 cable rarely exceeds 1Ghz, which is half the headroom of a coax cable. Because of this high headroom, dense signals, or even multiple signals can be distributed through a single piece of cable.

By installing coax cable through your home, you will have the ability to not only take advantage of the video and audio distributed by your centralised AV distribution system, but you will be able to independently view and change channels using your TV’s own satellite, or terrestrial TV tuner. If you make use of media devices, like media centre PC’s or certain games consoles, these devices too can support a TV tuner – which almost always a pieces of coax cable to be plugged into the back of it in order for it to reliably receive a TV signal.

HD TV services are currently only available on satellite services, in the near future FreeView will begin HD TV broadcasts, and both broadcast systems require the delivery of their signals to a tuner utilising coax cable. This is the future, not the past; and shows that coax cable is here to stay for the foreseeable future, with no real end to its usefulness or purpose in a modern home in sight.

If you ever been advised or told that coax is obsolete or will become obsolete, then my advice would be for you to look for a different consultant immediately; they clearly do not understand the virtues of different cable types, and whilst they may seem to be forward thinking, one can argue if they really understand the virtues of other cable types as well, such as Category 5/6/7 cable, speaker cable, video cable or audio cable. It is always good to be forward thinking in terms of installing a modern cabling system, but never discount the value of so called ‘traditional’ or ‘old fashioned’ cabling. When obsolescence is used often in a sales pitch, let the buyer beware.

Timothy Francis

TEA London

Siemon's 10GB network connector

A recent workshop held between some of the major network cabling, connector and chip manufacturers to discuss the development of  copper networks beyond 10Gb/s was held at Pennsylvania State University CICTR (Center for Information and Communication Technology Research) in August last year.

Why I have only just recently received a press release from one of its co-sponsors, Nexans, is anyone’s guess, however I thought it relevant that I should share the outcomes of this workshop held between some the finest technical minds, and industry leaders in the manufacture and development of copper networks; we are always keen to know what the next big leap in speeds will be. Currently the maximum speeds attainable on both copper and fibre network systems is 10Gb/s, which some would say is fast enough; however we believe that if high definition TV, HD audio and 3D TV continues its development and mass-adoption at the pace we are currently seeing, it won’t be long before even 10Gb/s will seem like a very slow network indeed, even in domestic settings. If we consider that blu-ray movies can be 50 Gigabytes in size, and soon 3D titles could very well require more that 33% more capacity, it is not hard to understand that the transfer, backup and streaming of high-definition video content is going to put demands on networks never seen before on the internet or within domestic settings.

In essence the workshop concluded that in 2010 there is sufficient cause and interest in creating a committee to call-for-interest to establish a 40BASE-T solution.

The key observations, which I have copied verbatim from the press release are:

• Copper solutions beyond 10G could include many possible options but the highest Twisted Pair Category (Category 7A) is clearly in prime position.
• Data Centre architecture will play a vital role in next generation networks. Jeff Cain, of Cisco systems, suggested that rack-centric, modular designs could change current thinking.
• Chip Vendors and Data Centre designers pointed out that structured cabling had many benefits over ’Top of Rack’ switching, and that future copper solutions for 40G shall not be “point to point”.
• The concept of a unified I/O, spawning the prospect of “any machine, anywhere, anytime” was introduced.
• The PHY vs. Channel, aka “Chicken or Egg” debate, continues…with chip vendors saying the cable channel needs to be established first, while the cable manufacturers say the PHYs need to be developed first. Workshop attendees agreed that concurrent development was the best plan.
• Based on his market analysis and model, independent consultant Alan Flatman (LAN Technologies) suggested that the call for interest (CFI) for 40GBASE-T should be initiated in IEEE during 2010.

Bottom line is it is actually possible for you to install 40GB/s capable networks today, even though this technology has yet to be developed. Category 7A cabling systems are already available, and if these cabling systems are installed correctly they will be able to deliver speeds well in excess of 10gb/s, where some cabling and connector manufacturers are even guranteeing 40gb/s performance, even though such technology is only in conceptual stages.

TEA London are already installing Category-7A networks, our first cabling project of this nature started in early 2009, following acceptance of a cabling design proposed in 2008; such cabling systems are not significantly more expensive than good Category-6A copper networks, and if one takes into account that a Category 7A network is truly future proof, and will likely give a lifespan of a minimum of 15 years, but likely as much as 25 years, then this is an investment well worth making in any new build, or during any refurbishment project where you own the building.

The more common Category-5e cabling systems are less expensive to implement, but is already at its end of life, where you will be hard pressed to get a stable optimised 1GB/s network, let alone 10Gb/s, similarly, cheaper Category-6 networks have proven themselves to only just scrape through in passing minimum requirements.

We have been advising our clients to implement a minimum standard of Category 6A cabling systems for some time now, you should strongly consider the same if you consider what developments are around the corner.

Should 40Gb/s copper networks appear in the near future, here is an important fact worth considering: it will be faster than fibre optic networks, currently copper 10Gb/s networks match fibre optics (and we mean only high-0end fibre optic networks, over short distances, using the most expensive equipment), the key difference being that copper networks are always cheaper, in terms of hard costs, implementation costs and installation costs; fibre optic networks have the advantage of being able to deliver data over long distances reliably, but copper networks will soon take over as the faster technology.

I have noticed an increase in the press about the recent announcement of high definition (HD) broadcasts that will be made over the UK terrestrial digital TV service known as FreeView; these announcements that HD broadcasts will be broadcast over our airwaves, rather than exclusively over satellite services is a big boon. We are very happy that almost everyone home in the UK will be able to receive HD TV without the need for a satellite dish is good news.

What is perhaps not good news is that the vast majority of FreeView receivers, being both the set-top box variety and those tuners that are built-in to your TV, will not be capable of receiving, or at least, decoding these HD broadcasts over the FreeView service.

The press, not all of the press, but the sort of press that is aimed at the lowest common denominator, and has some ties to BSKYB (like those owned by News International, or those that broadcast their Porn channels on Sky), have decided to call foul on this limitation found within the vast majority FreeView tuners.

The theme that most of these news articles follow is consumers are being deceived, no conned, when they are sold an HD-Ready, or Full HD capable TV without the ability to tune in and decode these HD broadcasts. Not 5 minutes after FreeView made the announcement that they will begin HD broadcasts in 2010, did the alarmist and techno-ignorant press jump on the caveat emptor bandwagon stating that if you buy a TV set today, you will not be able to receieve HD TV. Surely the consumer will expect to be able to receive HD broadcasts out of the box, especially when their TV set has an ‘HD-Ready’ logo sticker on it?

I would agree that it is a realistic expectation for consumers to expect to receive HD TV from their TV set, but the reality is that out-of-the-box, almost all TV sets require some sort of additional hardware to in order to watch HD pictures. Think about it… if you want:

• High definition films, your DVD player will not cut the mustard; you need to get yourself a blu-ray player; and yes… blu-ray movies to play on the blu-ray player. These players can play DVD’s, so this does not mean you have to chuck away you entire DVD collection, but it does mean that these discs are standard definition, and whilst your player, TV or AV receiver may be able to upscale the standard definition picture to a high-definition picture (like 1080p), the source still remains standard definition
• HD TV, you need a HD TV service. TV’s that have FreeSAT tuners are capable of receiving HD TV broadcasts through a satellite dish, but more often than not those consumer who are serious about receiving HD TV will subscribe to a pay-TV service like SKY HD or Virgin HD; this will enable them to receive more channels than the standard FreeSAT offerings. This is my biggest suspicion as to who’s agenda is being circulated around the press… the press is stating you will need to buy a new HD FreeView receiver in order to receive the FreeView HD broadcasts, but none of saying that the same applies to existing SKY and Virgin Media subscribers too. If you are a SKY subscriber, and you purchase an HD ready TV, it does not mean you will receive HD TV. Only once you have ordered this service, had a new box installed (which does carry an installation cost) and subscribed to a HD TV package, which costs more than a standard SKY/Virgin subscription, will your HD Ready TV show off its capabilities. The FreeView HD service will incur a once-off cost for the purchase of a HD capable receiver, and these are very modestly priced, some cost as much as the installation costs of the pay-TV services, or a modest £140 will get you a HD capable PVR.
• Games consoles: Nintendo Wii does not display HD, Xbox 360 and PS3 games consoles do, all you need to purchase is an HDMI cable… the PS3 has the added bonus of being able to play blu-ray movies
• Audio: Most older AV receivers are not capable of decoding the newer high-definition audio soundtracks found on newer blu-ray moview releases, meaning that for those who really love their home surround sound will likely need to purchase new kit here… again the press has nothing to say about this, this of course is merely the advancement of technology; why is the announcement of FeeView HD any different?

Consumers should not confuse the the ‘HD Ready’ moniker as being description of the capabilities of the TV tuner, no more than you can expect to view HD using a standard SKY receiver, Virgin Media cable box, DVD player, video machine or games console, unless these devices are HD capable themselves.

Quite simply there are no HD channels at the present time being broadcast on terrestrial services, so how on earth can TV manufacturers be realistically be expected to have this capability ready, this is also a very recent announcement by the FreeView group, and thus manufacturers will need to ‘catch-up’ with this announcement to their commitment to the broadcast of HD TV.

A set that is ‘HD ready’ has nothing to do with what TV signals it is capable of receiving and displaying, it merely describes the maximum level of resolution, or detail the TV is capable of displaying; this does not mean the TV set is magically going to be able to take a lower resolution (standard definition) picture and magically convert it into anything better than what it receives in the first place.

What the press are also failing to mention is that the announcement of the FreeView HD services, due for launch in 2010, is actually an outstanding technical achievement. They have developed a technology that was first launched as the doomed ITV Digital service, a service that is well over 10 years old (and its technology equally old) into something that was initially thought to be impossible to achieve. Yes, they have made a technological achievement that means if you want these new features, you will have to upgrade your existing set-top box, or simply be patient and wait for the TV manufacturers to announce when their TV sets will be capable of receiving Terrestrial Digital HD TV. Buy a TV set today, you will most definitely need new hardware only if you want FreeView HD, otherwise you can continue using FreeView unhindered without any changes required to your TV or set-top box. You can even have HD TV today if you opt for FreeSAT (available on Panasonic TV’s), or you can wait for the TV manufacturers to catch-up and develop tuners that will take advantage of this very positive announcement.

Remember, whenever a new innovation and positive announcement is made in the TV broadcast arena, and this is quickly slagged off by the press, always question what the true motives are… more often than not it will be something that threatens someone’s comfortable and unchallenged position in the TV market, and will bring about some healthy competition.