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CATx connectivity solutions for digital consoles
Scott Helmke:
Fancy cable is nice, but how do you know it'll actually carry all those channels?
Here's what we use - tests Category cable and verifies Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6 performance. Looks like a toy, but does a solid job. Black Box TS580A.
http://www.blackbox.com/Store/Detail.aspx/CAT5-5e-6-LAN-Performance-Verifier/TS580A%C4%82R4
Mac Kerr:
--- Quote from: Scott Helmke (Scodiddly) on August 12, 2013, 08:24:20 AM ---Fancy cable is nice, but how do you know it'll actually carry all those channels?
Here's what we use - tests Category cable and verifies Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6 performance. Looks like a toy, but does a solid job. Black Box TS580A.
http://www.blackbox.com/Store/Detail.aspx/CAT5-5e-6-LAN-Performance-Verifier/TS580A%C4%82R4
--- End quote ---
That is a critical point, and that Blackbox tester isn't really that expensive. Digital audio over category cable is a very high bandwidth compared to analog audio over individual pairs. It is not going to be as fault proof, and it is going to need more sophisticated methods for testing.
A more rugged alternative, although more expensive, is to use media converters and make your runs fiber. While still not unbreakable, tactical fiber is more rugged than category cable, easier to handle, and good for longer runs. The real expense even over the fiber itself is connectors rated for multiple insertions.
Category cable is relatively cheap, keep spares available on site, and use a data tester to verify the cable's performance, and you should be good.
TJ (Tom) Cornish:
--- Quote from: Scott Helmke (Scodiddly) on August 12, 2013, 08:24:20 AM ---Fancy cable is nice, but how do you know it'll actually carry all those channels?
--- End quote ---
I look at the main status and event log screens on my GLD surface, which indicate QoS or other link problems. Built-in cable tester.
Mac Kerr:
--- Quote from: TJ (Tom) Cornish on August 12, 2013, 09:40:04 AM --- I look at the main status and event log screens on my GLD surface, which indicate QoS or other link problems. Built-in cable tester.
--- End quote ---
Once you are set up is pretty late in the game to be testing cables. The whole console makes a clumsy tester in the shop. It's much easier to test cables while they are still coiled.
Mac
TJ (Tom) Cornish:
--- Quote from: Mac Kerr on August 12, 2013, 10:22:49 AM ---Once you are set up is pretty late in the game to be testing cables. The whole console makes a clumsy tester in the shop. It's much easier to test cables while they are still coiled.
Mac
--- End quote ---
Cable wear happens 50% in the setup and 50% in the teardown (any damage that happens during the show I'm going to notice during the show, and previous cable testing obviously won't help here). Testing cables in the shop may catch the 50% of failures that happend in the previous teardown, but that's not going to help for the other 50% - the transportation or setup damage.
Ultimately the console is the final arbiter of functionality. For lounge-level shows small enough to only require one CAT run, I doubt re-running a spare 150' or whatever it is is a big deal. If the show is larger and/or more important, presumably there are already mechanisms in place - spare runs, redundant links via Ethernet technologies, etc., that will mitigate the failure. If there aren't, then the show has bigger problems than not testing the cable in the shop.
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