It’s an interesting time to be in the video distribution business. Just ask Zigen, which specializes in HDMI extenders, matrix switchers, HDMI cables and just generally solving issues related to transmitting 4K.
CI editor Tom LeBlanc got a chance to ask Zigen VP of sales Jeff Murray about those issues. Here are some highlights of the conversation.
How much confusion remains when it comes to transmitting 4K content?
The main confusion is there are so many flavors of 4K and I think it’s being perpetrated by advertising and marketing.
All 4K is not the same. There are differences in bandwidth, differences in compression, differences with regard to screen size and requirements.
Right now we’re in that gray area [with] new products coming out, television and display manufacturers are touting and talking about their ability to do the full 60 fps [frames per second] … That’s where the confusion comes in … If you’re going to extend the run, which is normally what we do in custom, you’re probably going to still be in that 300MHz range … The four main [sources of confusion] are bandwidth, compression, screen size and content protection.
Hear more from Zigen’s Jeff Murray below or keep reading to learn more.
What common system design and installation mistakes can this confusion lead to?
It depends on the client and the client requirements. There are integrators working in simulation, medical, battle simulation, government venues where image quality is of extreme importance and larger screens are the norm. In those environments it becomes a little harder to distribute video because you’re crossing some barriers of bandwidth and limitations of Category cables.
We’re all getting very used to in the commercial AV sector running everything through Category [cables] and if we’re going into the super high bandwidth content that could be self-created, you just have to pay attention and in some cases it requires running shorter or HDMI cables from the source or the PC to the display to get the content to go through.
How much does HDCP 2.2 content protection complicate all this?
The key thing to remember if you’re going to distribute 2.2 content is everything in the system — transmitter and receiver, sink, source, repeater — has to be HDCP 2.2 compliant. It’s not a backwards-compatible copy protection scheme … If you’re going to use HDCP 2.2 source and you’re going to run it through a matrix switch which is a repeater, that has to be HDCP 2.2; and then if your display is going to decode and play that out, then that has to be able to authenticate and be 2.2 compliant also.
