Two industry technical sales pros outline key considerations for 4K Ultra HD, including HDBaseT, HDMI® 2.0, HDCP 2.2, high dynamic range (HDR) and some problem–solving tips and tools.

Fred Harding and Brent McCall — March 4, 2016

4K, UHD, HDCP 2.2, HDMI 2.0, HDR, HDBaseT … It’s complicated. Two of the industry’s most popular techies — Fred Harding of Capitol Sales and Brent McCall of Metra Home Theater — lay it all out for integrators, highlighting the benefits of 4K–related technologies and the challenges of creating an end–to–end UHD experience for the consumer.

Fred and Brent wanted to keep this piece free from product ads, but since CE Pro feels it’s important to talk about specific products where warranted, with Fred’s permission we have inserted them into the story. As always, we thank Fred and Brent for their contributions. – CE Pro

THE NEXT BIG THING IN THE WORLD OF VIDEO is Ultra High Definition video, aka 4K. The concept is simple – or at least it should be: essentially delivering four times the resolution as 1080p, a widely accepted standard for high definition television.

To implement a 4K signal, lots of things need to happen. First, the display needs to be capable of producing an image with 3,940 x 2,160 pixels. (For discussion purposes, we’ll refer to the device that the picture is seen on as the display; it could be a projector providing the image, or a flat or curved panel using LED, OLED, or some other technology.)

Metra Home Theater Group’s tech team has fielded numerous phone calls about home theater cables not supporting 4K — even though the packaging says it will support this technology. The practice of misleading consumers is not new but in the world of 4K technology, it is causing problems for custom installers.

How can electronics companies get away with these false claims on their products? We’ve seen other manufacturers sell a cable claiming a “rated” bandwidth of 27 Gbps or even 31 Gbps on their HDMI® cables. However, it doesn’t work with 4k.

This is what we call “magic” math. If a signal can be measurable, certain manufacturers are measuring this and including this number to reach 27 and 31 Gbps. Keep in mind that this signal is not usable signal. This will make their cable “specs” look better, but it does not in any way make it perform better.

If your entertainment system is using passive HDMI® cables longer than 5 meters (16’), odds are you will have sparkles in your television picture. These long HDMI cable runs can cause disruption in the High Speed Data1 (*TMDS) causing the “Eye” pattern to collapse, which in turn causes sparkles in your picture.

Depending on the specs of your system, Metra Home Theater Group offers three options that will rebuild the “Eye” pattern and get rid of the sparkles:

• If you have a 1080P TV and your cables are distances of up to 30 meters (100’), use the HDM-SR1A in line at the display. This product has low speed data accelerators built in to keep the Eye Pattern intact.
• For 3D televisions and cable distances up to 30 meters (100’), use our HDM-SR1HS in line at the display to fix the eye pattern and get rid of sparkles.
• Our HDM-GA1 has built-in DDC Correction Circuitry and repairs EDID rise time while working in both directions. This product works to support 4K/60, 4:4:4 and/or HDR up to 17 meter (60’) cable runs and is installed at the display.

Metra Home featured their Ethereal™, Helios™, Spyclops™ and EHD™ brands at ISE 2016 last week. Featured products included the new Velox cables up to 15 meters for UHD and 4k, robust Helios TV mounts for displays up to 90”, the award winning M3B system — transmitter and receiver, which enables integrators to install either a flexible multi-source HD video distribution system into any home using the existing coax and splitters, as well as a point to point long distance wireless system, and the HDM-GA1, which allows installers to utilize existing in-wall passive HDMI® cables up to 17 meters in length to upgrade and support the full 4k/60, 4:4:, HDR signal.

A Custom Installer is only as good as the tools in his or her toolbox. Without the right tools for the job, diagnosing common home theater installation issues will be tricky and time consuming. Furthermore, without the latest technology, you may be cutting your home theater installation project short of its full potential.

We asked the pros at Metra what every Custom Installer should bring to their installation project. Here are the top three must-have products from Ethereal for every CI’s toolkit:

• HDM-JR — This speeds up switching, removes audio dropouts, and stops HDCP failures as well as mode out of range problems.
• HDM-DAD — This is the tool for EDID diagnostics and monitoring. Check your HDMI® system for correct 5V, hot plug detect, clock, and data. See the status of the data tested via LED indicators.
• HDM-SUPERDAD — Under our EHD brand, this product takes low speed data to new levels. In addition to cleaning up the corrupted EDID signals, it also repairs 5–volt issues and hot plug detects. The SUPERDAD also allows for some unique installation specific solutions. For example, the EDID and CEC can both be disabled via dip switches on the side of the chassis.