A Great Alternative to Coax:
The Lynx Television Distribution System delivers digital and analog television (RF) on a Cat 5/6 cable.
The hubs and end converters use high frequency baluns to deliver frequencies up to 860 MHz without using any bandwidth on the network itself.
The Lynx Television Distribution System:
The Lynx Television Distribution System features a passive design with distribution hubs located in the wiring closets (IDFs) and end converters located at the point of use.
High frequency RF baluns convert 75 ohm unbalanced signals into 100 ohm balanced signals that travel on pair four of a twisted pair cable.
External amplifiers compensate for signal strength losses in the cable and splitter losses in the hubs. One external amplifier typically supports up to 24 TVs.
RF balun technology uses the copper pathway in the network cable, but not the data network itself. No network bandwidth is consumed!
The sixteen port hub shown above has two 8 port hubs mounted side by side. RF signals enter the hub through the two F connectors on the back side. Then each signal is split 8 ways and sent to RF baluns. The resulting "balanced" signals are delivered to the RJ-45 jacks on the front of the hub.
Lynx converters installed at the point of use are shown above. They convert the RF signal back to coaxial form for delivery to the F connector on the back of the television. The converters are available in a decora wallplate style or as a freestanding unit.
- Lynx has the following benefits relative to coax:
- Simple - One type of horizontal cabling handles data, voice, and television – compared to two types of cable with coax.
- A universal infrastructure is cleaner, less expensive, more flexible, and easier to maintain.
- Flexible - Moves, adds, and changes are easy with Lynx. MAC work with coax is extremely time consuming and expensive because you have to pull new cable.
- Reliable - Lynx uses a homerun design with no taps and splitters between the wiring closet and the TV.
- This eliminates problems with oxidation of the connectors and provides better picture quality over time.
- Cost Effective - Lynx and Cat 5e is 16% less expensive than coax. Lynx and Cat 6 is 10% less expensive than coax. Contact Lynx for supporting information.
- Future proof - Lynx sets up a twisted pair infrastructure between the wiring closet and the TV that is available for future technologies like IPTV, when these technologies become less expensive and use less bandwidth.
- In addition, Lynx features a passive (unpowered) design, which has many benefits relative to active products.
- Simple - Keeping amplifiers and other active components outside of the hub and the converters keeps the design simple, small, and trouble free.
- Reliable - Active products have up to 24 amplifiers in each hub and 24 amplifiers in the related converters (as well as a power supply and fan in each hub).
- This means there are 50 active components that will eventually fail. Ultimately the expensive hub and all the expensive converters will have to be replaced.
- Cost Effective - The Lynx Television Network is 60% less expensive than active products – even when the price of an external amplifier is included.
