HDBaseT: it’s high-definition magic

[HIGH-DEFINITION SCREENS and video content are everywhere nowadays, but why doesn’t it work very well in places of worship? The short answer is that it can!

Lots of churches have projection systems and screens that have worked well for many years, but when they are tried for high definition (HD) content they become unreliable or don’t work at all.

It is often the case that churches will have old style cabling installed for analogue signals which work well even over quite long distances. When the upgrade to HD is implemented, there will often be someone who goes ahead and installs a really long HDMI lead or tries some cheap convertors from a well-known auction site or other large online marketplace. Often those don’t work and simply leave you with an unstable connection: that’s if you’re lucky to get anything at all!

The problem with high resolution video is that you can’t transmit it very far on standard leads. With the latest 4K images the distances can be a short as five metres before problems start to occur. Lowering the signal down to HD or even standard definition (SD) will increase the potential distance for transmission, but that is at the cost of image quality and legibility on the screen. It’s even worse when large screens are being used.

Worry not, though! There is a technology called HDBaseT that is the answer to all your problems – well, all your video problems at least. This technology allows you to take a video feed and easily transmit it more than 70 metres away without any loss of signal or stability issues. It can even be used for upscaling old analogue signals such as VGA from your old laptop.

Paul Dougherty, managing director of specialist installer Blaydon Communications, commented: “HDBaseT has been around a few years now and has established itself as a robust method of reliable video transmission. We recently used this technology on a church job that needed a couple of 75-inch screens installed. When you get to this size screen, high-definition content is really needed to maximise the legibility of hymn words and the impact of other content.

“With HDBaseT installed we easily covered the 30-metre cable runs and provided the church with several plug-in points so they could move their display around depending on the church event and setup. HDBaseT really is worth every penny and will save many a headache trying to resolve video issues.” q • For more information contact Paul on 0191 414 4241 or visit www.blaydoncomms.co.uk and hdbaset.org.