Sending SDI output over cat6

Good day, please I intend to buy the new blackmagic atem pro hd, but we discovered the program output is in SDI, and we want to use the atem pro HD in our church that has about 10 different TV's whereby our TV's come with hdmi, and we don't want to invest much into SDI or HDMI splitters, rather I got an information from someone that we can invest using HDMI over cat6, but we don't know how to go about this and the equipment needed for these work, I would be glad if we can get someone vividly explaining how to go about this. Thanks so much and await your awesome response from this great forum.



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You can convert HDMI to HDBaseT which runs over CAT6 cable. You'll need both the transmitter and receiver to make this work. Something like this: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... _over.html

Thing is, for about the same price you can just run RG-59/RG-6 cable from your switcher to your TV. Cable is super cheap and you can even self terminate BNC connections to get it to the exact length. Then at the TV just grab a Decimator MD-HX https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... _with.html and it will convert the SDI signal to HDMI and provide scaling if required. Will be less headache than HDMI over CAT6. Keep in mind, it's HDMI over CAT6, not HDMI over IP so you can't plug it in to any switches. It's a dump point-to-point pipe.

Not taking anything away from Ben's suggestions above (I own that particular Atlona extender as well as a couple of Gefen ones, not to mentions my fair share of MD-HXs), but if you want to do this the cheapest way possible a Decimator at 10 tvs (or a micro converter, or even Decimator's new LX) is probably not the most cost effective. (Would be rock solid tho)

Here's the cheapest route (that I've personally done when $ was scarce):
To start off, convert the PGM out to HDMI right at the ATEM. You need (1) converter:
Blackmagic has the microconverters at ~$75 used, Decimator just came out with the MD-LX at $99, or you can go with the $30 options from China. I bought this one for a non-critical overflow TV and it has run fine for 6 weeks now:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GH ... UTF8&psc=1
Note that if you want to have a local SDI output for livestream or something else, get the BM or Decimator options as that will give you an SDI loop at the source. The cheap one does not.

Next, take the HDMI you now have and split it. I like J-Tech Digital's stuff, you can choose whatever you want, but get 10 HDMI outs of your PGM signal:

https://www.amazon.com/J-Tech-Digital-S ... 2B1x4&th=1
You can get the Amazon Warehouse deals on these, but even brand new getting a 1x8 and 1x4 and you have your 10 outputs for about $70.

Now the fun part, going over your Cat6 line. If you have wire pulled, great, if not I like this stuff:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049 ... UTF8&psc=1
Buy the Amazon Warehouse deals on a box of 1000'- usually about $100-$120. Don't go over ~150 feet and you'll be fine. Get some crimpers and connectors (I like these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CK ... UTF8&psc=1 )
and have fun pulling. Use a fish tape or pull rods and maybe some of your youth to do this part.

The HDMI over the wire part has a billion options. My current favorites are these: (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0133 ... UTF8&psc=1 )
They come as a set, just don't mix up the Sender and Receiver. Buying 10 brand new (again, check the Warehouse deals) will be $380 total.

Ok, so if you buy everything I've listed, you're at ~$580 or so and will have PGM video at 10 TVs. It's not pretty, you'll need a box to hide all those Sender adapters in, but I've done it and had it work. Granted, I only had 6 TVs, but same idea.

Good luck to you!

Last add: best practice really is to pull SDI to the locations, even if you use cheap $30 SDI-HDMI adapters. You could put 3 Decimator MD-HX's to split the SDI to 10 outputs, then pull the Belden cable, crimp the ends, and have 10 cheap adapters. End price would be around $1200 but I would have so much more faith in that system.

How are the TVs fed now? If there is already an HDMI distribution network in place just get one converter at the distribution amplifier and you're good. If you need to build the system from the ground up it may be much cheaper to use a QAM modulator. You can feed several units using coax and all you need is 1 modulator and a distribution system, you may even be able to use passive splitters but I've only ever run it from point to point. Good Luck.

http://justaddpower.com

Have a look at this for hdmi distribution over cat 5 distribution


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IF you need to go to multiple TVs I'd get a QAM or ATSC Modulator/Encoder. (QAM being prefered over ATSC unless you need to mix in OTA channels as well)

Drake, ZeeVee, and Pro Video Instruments (as well as others) all make these. They can have HDMI inputs or HD-SDI inputs, then going out it's just standard coax distribution, use normal Coax splitters to branch off to the TVs etc. You can even use a combiner to put OTA or Cable channels in with them. Keep in mind this will have Latnecy as it is encoding to MPEG2 so it would not be suitable for IMAG in the same room as being recording from. However system would be very expandable with little to no additional cost to add on to later if this is for classroom/hallway TVs etc.

Definately needs to be Cat6 cabling. And you're certainly looking at a run of less than 500'

This is an inexpensive QAM modulator if you already have Coax to the remote locations.
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/33-11975

This is an inexpensive QAM modulator if you already have Coax to the remote locations.
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/33-11975

I don't believe that QAM Modulator is a true on in the sense that you can connect it directly to a TV with an HD tuner and scan for it just like you would any un-encrypted channel. I believe when I've talked to them about that one before it needs to have their own receiver on the other end making the cost of their system significantly more (and more cumbersome) that a true QAM Modulator. Personally I'm a big fan of the Drake ones, they let you setup VCTs (Virtual Channel Tables) for doing 2.2 etc, channels. And will even do Channel names, different bit rates of encoding (helps you if you need lower latency too).

MCM's is ATSC Not QAM for the one they make that allows you to go directly into a TV.. But this is the one for that.

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/33-11980, However the reviews say it does not have a VCT so I would not use it.