HDbaseT for Large Venue

[Bgarrett74]

Hello,
I am looking at purchasing some 12k lumen projectors from Panasonic. They have the Digital Link feature on them, basically HDbaseT. Does anyone have experience with Digital Link or HDbaseT on large live events. My concern is with all the electricity going on around a theater show will that interfere with the shielded cat 6 cable. We will be running the cables along with the lights in some cases. Does anyone have a good solution for durable, road ready shielded cat6?
Thanks,
Brent

 

[MNicolai]

We use HDBT all the time. It's pretty robust if your lines are certified and don't exceed the maximum length limitation, which is generally ~300' depending on your transmitter, the receiver built into the projector, your cable, and your signal bandwidth. The trick is making sure you're using either pre-made cables, certified, or installed infrastructure that's certified. A simple wire map test across the CAT6 is not sufficient and will not reveal the weaknesses in the signal path that could be detrimental to such a high bandwidth signal.

I have yet to ever see a shielded CAT6 HDBT line show any noise in the image due to interference but if you're concerned about it you can switch to a fiber transport instead. Depends a lot on what you're running next to but I think you'd have to be a pretty fiercely noisy environment to notice any signal degradation. In my experience with HDBT, the cable either works 100% or not at all, and any signal issues tend to be with the transmitting device or the receiving device.

Not sure if you're sold on specifically the Panasonic or not, but I just had a Christie D12HD-H demo unit bouncing between a few customers. Everyone loved it. 120V/15A receptacle operation, bit of a flamethrower on the heat exhaust but unbelievably quiet. The Blu-ray player spinning up a disc was louder than the projector was.

If you're looking for a quote for a Panasonic or a Christie package, feel free to reach out.

Whirlwind has some great CAT6 STP tactical cable they can make at any length you desire. I wouldn't go driving a forklift over one of them but they can take a pretty good beating. If forklift traffic or the like is something you have to worry about though, I'd keep at least one spare on hand.

 

[MikeJ]

Somewhat off topic, although Panasonic has some very nice projectors, their customer service is absolutely abhorrent. If you have a vendor that deals with service then I would not be too worried.

 

[ruinexplorer]

I actually had a decent time with their customer service, it just took some time. Just like any massive corporation, most of their service can be handled by the low level help. If you are persistent, you will get what you need.

 

[MikeJ]

Glad someone has had a good experience. Basically I meant that they have no dedicated service for professional products. All calls get lumped in with consumers who don't know the difference between HDMI and USB. When you call because the license key for your warp engine on a $60,000 projector is not being recognized after a firmware update, the person on the phone should not be asking what home theater receiver you are using.

So, yes eventually, you will get the results you need, but you do have to be persistent, and have a lot of spare time. But like I said, if you are the end user and you have a dealer/vendor who puts in or sells the system to you, they should take care of any issues. If you have a good vendor, especially one that can service your equipment as it gets older, you should not usually ever need to deal directly with a manufacturer.

 

[ruinexplorer]

Definitely will be an issue with the global solutions if you don't first contact the right side. Panasonic has both consumer and business access for products and support. However, I totally agree that finding a good vendor is essential. I have had good and bad on that end as well which can make repairs extremely frustrating.