Introduction
CAT-5 cable provides an enormous cost benefit over coax. The
average cost of 100 meters of CAT-5 cable is $20 while the
average cost of 100 meters of Coax cable could easily exceed
$240. Furthermore, wiring is reduced from a bulky, hard-tomanage
bundle of 3 cables to 1 easily-pulled cable.
Additionally, CAT-5 cable has a 4th twisted pair available, which
can be used for audio, timing or control signal transmission.
This paper provides in-depth information on component
video standards and amplifier characteristics necessary to
achieve those standards. The trade-offs of differential line
driver and receiver topologies are discussed in detail. This
paper also presents an array of common video problems
along with an explanation of the source and a suggested
solution. This array includes: ghosting, color matching,
common-mode noise, power-supply noise, mismatches in
channel timing and equalization.
With a focus on CAT-5, extra effort is spent in the discussion
of video equalization techniques, an inevitable result of the
lower bandwidth of the cables. While circuit specifics are
presented, they involve manual tuning to compensate for the
exact length of the cable used. Since manual tuning requires
professional installation, two new systems based on
automatic cable compensation are also presented.