CAT5 and A/V Signals

[pixelmischief]

Are the wires in a CAT5 cable sufficient to carry analog video, line level audio, and 5V for 18"? The 5V is for signaling, measured in single-digit mA, I believe. I am wiring up an RGB mod in my Atari 2600 and I am hoping that a couple of small CAT5 lengths will turn the trick.

[ChildOfCv]

Do you just mean using wire from a CAT5 cable for short internal runs? If so, then it's a sufficient gauge. You'll want to unwind the pairs though so that they don't bleed their signals across.

 

But for running long cables, CAT5 isn't good for situations where one wire carries the signal. It is intended for differential pairs where both wires carry the signal but one wire carries the opposite polarity of the other. The tight paired twisting is done so that interference signals that enter one of the two twisted wires will also enter the other one and cause about the same amount of interference in both of them at once, canceling itself out. When one side is grounded and the other carries the signal, that interference protection is lost.

 

That's why VGA and RF cables are shielded instead of twisted. The shielding is grounded and it surrounds all of the internal wires, preventing interference from reaching them.

[pixelmischief]

Yo! Thanks for the education. Seriously, that was good stuff.

 

As far as the wiring, I decided to go with an old IDE cable.

[TheCoolDave]

Yo! Thanks for the education. Seriously, that was good stuff.

 

As far as the wiring, I decided to go with an old IDE cable.

 

You can get A/V extenders over CAT5/6... There is boxes, you plug A/V into one side, a power cord and a Network cable. On the other side, you do the reverse. These types of adapters are designed to go longer range with out noise.

 

The HDMI ones are high in demand now so getting one that just does composite/audio should be fairly reasonable price. Check ebay...

[+Nezgar]

I've used S-Video+L&R audio to Cat5 adapters for 15 years now. Works great. I got a pair of adapters from ebay years ago. (I don't see any listed there today) I still use it to take the analog svideo+audio from my satellite receiver to a TV elsewhere in the house. Works great because the original remote is RF, and I have a universal IR remote at the main unit.

 

For example, I got a homebrew version of this: https://www.svideo.com/svideobalun2.html

(One for each end) would be pretty simple to make your own too I guess. Just keep each signal+ground on it's own twisted pair for minimal interference.