Audio-Video Solutions for Enterprise

In today’s electronic age, demand for high-performance audio and video communications is greater than ever before. Virtually every workplace – be it a corporate campus, high-rise office building, government agency, military base, hospital or health care facility, educational institution, house of worship, retail center, sports stadium, entertainment venue, or hotel and convention center – needs to provide high-quality audio and video (A/V) capabilities.

Enterprise A/V systems may range from relatively simple to highly sophisticated, integrated broadband and multimedia networks. Only Belden can provide the broad spectrum of innovative products to meet these diverse needs.

For decades, Belden Brilliance cabling solutions have been the Number One choice of the professional broadcast and entertainment industry, including NBC and virtually every other major broadcast network, where system downtime is simply not an option. During the digital upgrade, which is presently nearing completion in the U.S., almost 90% of all the cable used was Belden.

Sec2_1In the motion picture industry, and other theatrical applications, such as Lucasfilm, we bring that same unparalleled level of consistency, quality, reliability and performance. And all these customers are migrating, some faster than others, to a convergent unified data network of audio, video and control applications. Today’s enterprise marketplace must understand and utilize a wide array of wire and cable products, such as the following audio, video and networking cabling solutions.

Speaker Cables

Belden offers speaker cables for a wide range of applications, including plenum, indoor/outdoor, halogen-free, direct burial, and commercial and professional installations. All cables feature Electrolytic Tough Pitch (ETP) pure virgin copper construction (ASTM B3 and B8). We also offer Direct Burial speaker cable with ASTM B170 with ultra-high purity (99.995% pure), sometimes described as “oxygen-free (OFC)” copper.

We also offer larger gages up to 10 AWG in a UL-safety recognized construction, unique in the industry and also offer Class 2 or Class 3 wiring for high-power amplifiers that need this safety rating.

Part No./technical data on Belden Speaker Cables

Audio Cables

Belden’s wide array of audio cables range from high-performance, low capacitance analog and digital audio constructions for optimum signal delivery, to cables manufactured to basic industry specifications for commercial use, short runs and non-mission critical applications. Belden pioneered the Easy Strip foil bonded to the jacket for ease of installation and now offers this feature on digital cables, plenum cables and 2-pair versions. Our extensive line of precision coaxial cables are ideal for digital audio on coax (AES3-id) applications and offer dramatically extended distance for large-venue long-run applications.

We also offer multipair (and multi-coax) bundled cables to simplify installation. We make these in ultra-flexible unrated versions, CM and CMR (riser-rated), halogen-free and plenum versions, for the most demanding installation requirements. Up to 32-pair in digital audio snakes, up to 52-pair in analog audio snakes, and up to 12-coaxes in bundled coaxial cables, will satisfy every designer and system integrator.

Part No./technical data on Belden Audio Cables.

Control Cables

Belden offers standard cables for system control such as RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485. With Part No. 1502R, Belden offers another multi-media control cable which is optimized for all aspects of building management, including the monitoring of advanced control systems, and the management of A/V, environmental and climate control systems. When used in conjunction with a touch panel control, these cables facilitate the user’s comfort, safety, security, convenience and personal entertainment.

Part No./technical data on Belden Control Cables

Networking/LAN Data Cables

Many control applications are being absorbed into existing Ethernet® network structures. That’s no problem for Belden since we are the world’s largest manufacturer of Category 5e and 6 UTP data cables, and the premier manufacturer of Category 6a UTP “10 gigabit” networking cable. Top-performing, shielded Cat5, Cat6 and Cat7 cables are also available in some countries throughout the world. These breakthrough cables, together with Belden connectors, patch panels and patch cords, allow 10 gigabit networking a full 100 meters (328 ft.) on unshielded twisted pairs, with maximum headroom, and minimum crosstalk, running an astounding 625 MHz per pair. This ‘10gig’ solution is rapidly expanding in Hollywood and other Enterprise ventures where a no-holds-barred approach to networking may be required to carry the audio, video and data requirements of tomorrow.Network_AV

Ethernet backbones are also showing up in traditional broadcast applications where they carry multiple channels of audio. Over a thousand radio stations in the USA alone are now wired with Ethernet-running-audio, and hundreds of other venues, such as stadiums, auditoriums, and similar large venue, have also moved to the ‘network-of-tomorrow’. Only Belden offers the expertise of audio, video, and data so essential in these applications. One of these is Belden’s patented Bonded-Pair construction – a unique advantage ensuring consistently high Installable Performance both before and after installation.

Belden also offers ultra-rugged “tactical” Cat 5e patch cable (available in UTP and, in some countries, in shielded designs) where a “stage-rugged” Ethernet cable is required. We even offer a one-pair Cat 5e patch cable for designer and installers that wish to run non-data signals down the ultra-high quality pairs of data cables. Our double-jacketed and armored data cables simply indicate that, no matter which way you want to head, we have the products ready and waiting for your application.

Part No./technical data on Belden Networking/LAN Cables

Convergence Begins

Many installers have noticed that UTP data cables offer dramatic improvement in pair performance. Designers and system integrators have expressed a desire to use these data cables for audio, video and other non-data applications. One of these was using the four pairs in UTP to deliver RGB, VGA and other component video signals.

It was recognized that the delay skew (delivery time) between the pairs was a key factor in receiving component video signals so Belden now produces three styles of low-skew UTP cable. We manufacture a Category 6 data cables with a maximum delay skew of 10 nanoseconds in 100 meters. (Compare this to the 45 nanosecond skew of generic Cat 5e or 6.) We also make a Category 5e with 9 nanosecond of skew. It should be noted that either of these cables can support the normal 100BASE-T or 1GBASE-T data networks, and also be used for non-data applications such as RGB or VGA. We are approaching a point where one cable could do almost anything in a given commercial installation.

If those delay skew numbers are still too much, we also designed Belden NanoSkew, where the maximum skew is just over 2 nanoseconds in 100 meters. We accomplish this by twisting all four pairs identically. While this gives unrivaled skew performance for RGB, VGA and related signals, the crosstalk of this cable makes it unusable as a data cable. This cable looks and connects like a data cable but it is video only.

HD-SDI and 1080p/60 Video Coax Cables

Belden produced the best and most successful analog video cables. It is no wonder that we now make the world’s most popular digital video cables, for SDI, HD-SDI and emerging 1080p/60 applications. Many of Belden’s Digital Precision Video Coax cables are also sweep-tested to 4.5GHz for HD and 3G production and post-production. No other cable manufacturer has invested in this technology like Belden has. So no other manufacturer can assure you of beyond-high-definition performance like Belden.

Click here for Part No./technical data on Belden HD-SDI Cables.

CATV /Broadband Video Distribution – RF Cables – Wireless

Belden offers a wide selection of 75-ohm coax for broadband CATV, baseband CCTV, DBS and MSO applications. We also offer indoor and outdoor-rated 50-ohm wireless transmission coax in a huge number of sizes and constructions for such applications as XM™ and Sirius™ satellite radio, cellular phone sites, any RF application up to 6 GHz, wireless microphones, wireless access points, point-to-point in-building and inter-building local wireless networks up to wide-band 802.11n. Wired or wireless, we have the ideal solution for you.

Part No./technical data on Belden CATV/Broadband Cables

RGB Cables—RGBS, RGBHV, VGA and Video Mults / Video Bundles

Belden’s 75-ohm RGB/VGA cables offer greater signal integrity and lower loss in high frequency, long-distance transmissions. Our patented Banana Peel® unjacketed construction delivers ease of installation and reliable performance in large screen video, HDTV, CAD and special effects video applications. Many of these are suitable for VGA and higher-resolution graphics applications. In other words, if you have a component-video application, we have many solutions available.

Part No./technical data on Belden RGB Cables

S-Video Cables

Belden S-Video cables are the top choice of system integrators or designers. The cables are sized for fit onto industry standard DIN connectors, or may be connected to DIN pigtails with BNC or RCA connectors. We feature round or ‘figure-8’ or plenum constructions.

Part No./technical data on Belden S-Video Cables

Fiber Optic Cables

In many venues, even our precision digital coaxes can’t go far enough. No problem! We just proceed to our fiber optic cable offering. Belden offers a wide variety of single-mode and multimode optical fiber cables in Riser and Plenum and halogen-free and PUR versions, and cables suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications. We also offer rugged ‘tactical’ fiber for field applications, especially popular in sports venues. For long runs we have a new upgraded version with single-mode fiber according to G.657A which delivers much better bending radius then the traditional G.652A fiber. And we carry two styles of SMPTE 311M fiber optic cable, the standard for HD cameras.

If you’ve dealt with copper your whole career, there’s no reason anymore to be scared of fiber. Belden now offers a fiber termination kit, and fiber connectors for both multimode and single mode fiber. In only a few hours, anyone can learn to put on these connectors in just a couple of minutes.

Part No./technical data on Belden Fiber Optic Cables