Untangling the Coax Cable—The Advantages of AV Distribution Over RF

Deploying AV over RF often is a choice for locations that have coaxial cabling already in place. For a further understanding of the advantages of AV over RF, Video Vices tapped Scott Hetzler, President & Chief Engineer at Contemporary Research, and Dan Muckle, President of Muckle Sales, to put all the puzzle pieces together.

Hetzler said an AV installation could be as easy as plugging in a TV when coaxial cabling is available. Muckle concurred.

“One nice thing is you can take any type of signal and send that over the coax, too,” Muckle said. “Whatever signal type you’re dealing with being component, or HDMI, or SDI, you can use that as well. And you can mix those signals, and you have 125 different channels to choose from, so the capability is very, very high.” And Hetzler added that 2 HD channels could come from each channel, essentially doubling the number of digital channels available.

There is a misconception that RF is an outdated method. Still, with so much existing coaxial cable available, Hetzler and Muckle believe there are many opportunities for businesses to take advantage of what’s already in place.

“IP TV and CAT 5 cables have been overmarketed such that customers think that’s what they need, but in reality, it’s far overcomplicated, and RF just makes it so easy,” Hetzler said. “Because it’s just that one cable to the back of your TV, and the tuner is built into the TV. That’s you’re decoder. No other hardware is required.”