Is it Possible.....

[Trundle]

To use XLR Cables for Video ?

 

This may seem like a stupid question, But at an event at my school last year, He had one camera and 2 porjectors behind the projector screens. I asked 'How are you getting the cabling over to the porjectors?' (I asked because it was a long distance) he replied 'video out, convert to XLR and XLR cabling to the distance needed and then convert it back to video...'

 

 

Is this Possible? Or did I mishear him? I unfortunatley never got a chance to look as I was tied down with Lighting.

 

Trundle

[Bryson]

Not recommended, but it would probably work. I've found that Video is surprisingly tolerant of dodgy cabling practice.

[Colin]

A friend tried something like this a while ago and it wasn't very successful there was an image but it was fuzzy and not great quality cant remember the reasoning he gave but he was mubbling something about bandwidth.

 

I would much more recommend using BNC as the quality will be much higher.

[James]

A friend tried something like this a while ago and it wasn't very successful there was an image but it was fuzzy and not great quality cant remember the reasoning he gave but he was mubbling something about bandwidth.

 

I would much more recommend using BNC as the quality will be much higher.

 

Huh,

 

Neither XLR nor BNC are types of cable I recognise.

 

Personally I would rather use 1km of PSF1/3 terminated with XLRs end for composite video than 0.5mm bell-wire terminated in BNCs

 

Irrespective of whatever transmission medium you are using if it is a considerable length of cable you should have appropriate gain, eq and sufficient test equipment to line up your driver amp.

 

 

 

James

[kitlane]

I've done this a number of times, sending composite video down our hard wired mic patch. It worked, but it is hardly industry standard practice. To be honest though, if you are concerned about image quality then composite video is hardly state of the art.

[J Pearce]

I've done it many times to provide a backstage feed from a camera sitting FOH, normally gives a usable quality.

[3guk]

I may have misread but I think the OP assumes that converting to XLR gives an extra distance, it in fact doesn't instead you are just "converting" from one cable type to the other, it doesnt make the signal any less prone to noise or for that matter, able to travel any futher.

 

If you want to send video long distances then use some CAT5 and a Video Balun, these devices actually convert the video and amplify it such that the signal can and will travel a long distance.

[BlueShift]

XLR is not a cable type. It is a connector type. As is BNC (X-series latched Rubber and British Naval Connector respectivly)

 

The cable types you are alluding to in calling them by a coonector name are balanced audio and coaxial video.

 

In a nutshell, video needs a specific type of cable. Cable that you find terminated in XLRs usually isnt it. However, it may work passibly over short distances, but I wouldnt be surprised if it didnt.

Different types of signal require cables with different characteristics (typical impedance, sheilding requirements, capacitance, etc....). All cables made from copper will allow an electric current to flow, but this doesnt mean they'll work with any signal.

 

The comment about baluns is also not accurate. A balun doesnt convert the signal type itself, it merely serves to balance and unbalance it. Most VGA -> Cat5 boxes infact do nothing more than balance the RGBHV information and put it doen cat5 cable. Some units may amplify and/or provide some kind of compensatory circuit but this is certainly not implied in the function of a balun.

[Toxopholist]

Or even BNC as in Bayonet Neill Concelman (see wiki here )

 

edit to close brackets

[3guk]

XLR is not a cable type. It is a connector type. As is BNC (X-series latched Rubber and British Naval Connector respectivly)

 

Jeez, some people on these forums, would you rather I said, Cable with XLR on the ends. It seems some people tend to browse the forum looking for minor mistakes and then they pounce on them.

 

You will notice that the OP used the term

To use XLR Cables for Video ?

 

Without wishing to confuse, it tends to be preferable to use the same term in the reply, regardless of weather the term is 100% correct.

[J Pearce]

I've used XLR cables made with 1.5mm mains cable, with 1 core and screen, with 2 core and screen, and some with power cores and signal cores in one cable...

 

XLR cable is sufficiently ambiguous to cause confusion, hence the subsequent comments.

[gnomatron]

I've used sound multicores and phono-XLR converters to lug video signals about the place. It's a bodge, really; you're much better to run coax that's designed for Video, but if you run out of that or it's otherwise difficult, then it's worth a try.

[dbuckley]

If you're going down mic cables, then a Cat5 balun at each end might not be a bad idea...

[broadcast_techie]

Perhaps there is a gap in the market for an 'video - balun - mic cable' adaptor, mic cables (terminated with XLRs) are generally available by the bucket load, and with audio mulit's commonplace it's not that bad a solution for the 'suddenly need a video feed to front of house so lighting can see vision mixer output, and we forgot to plan it' kind of situations.

 

Kris