HDBaseT   -   HDMI over CAT5e



General

The HDBaseT video transmission format is a special design to transport the HDMI signal (up to 4K or UHD) of up to 100 m via a signle CAT5e cable (or higher).

The HDBaseT Alliance was started in 2010 by the Israeli tech manufacturer Valens Semiconductor, Samsung Electronics, Sony Pictures Entertainment and LG Electronics. Until 2015 most of all heavy-weigth and important consumer electronic manufacurers have joined the Alliance.



Valens, a key member of the HDBaseT Allience and provider of complete HDBaseT solutions

See: Valens.

The base technology of the HDBaseT technology is "5Play". It is the technology to transmit uncompressed full HD digital video, audio, 100BaseT Ethernet, control signals and also power for the connected I/O device.
In 2013 the HDBaseT Alliance published already the spec for HDBaseT 2.0. With this new version also USB 2.0 can be transmitted via the single CAT cable.
The cable length of 100 m is only valid for uninterrupted cable. As soon as the CAT cables are run via a patchbay or additional connectors (floor tanks etc.) the length is reduced. Each aditional connection point will redice the maximum cable length of about 5 m.
For the transmission of 4K or UHD video the cable length is also drastically reduced. But the next HDBaseT spec version might allow much longer 4K cable runs.

HDBaseT is based on the Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM), the same technology as used for Ethernet. The digital data is represented by different levels of DC voltage and a patented proprietary version of the PAM modulation is used. HDBaseT is completely different from Ethernet and is not packet based.



HDBaseT Transmission (Valens)



Power over HDBaseT

With the Power over HDBaseT option connected I/O devices can be powered with up to 100 watts. This means that fully functioning tv sets and similar devices can be connected with just one single cable.