Review of SY CatX DVI 180 Transmitter/Receiver Pair

The SY DVI 180 transmitter and receiver pair sends DVI and HDMI video over a single Cat6 cable at resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 and up to a distance of 180m.

Designed for ease of installation, this unit will broadcast HD digital video, 2-way audio, USB and bi-directional RS232 over the Cat6 UTP cable. The USB can be used for keyboard and mouse or any touchscreen devices. Designed for interactive signage displays, museums, entertainment venues, medical teaching and broadcast applications the DVI 180 is also available with a fibre output for extended transmission distances up 2 km.

Why did you choose this product?

We chose this primarily as it transmits over standard Cat5 cable up to 180m at 1920x1080 (Full HD). There aren’t any other products on the market that will do anything near that; it’s nearly twice as far as HDBaseT. It’s also a KVM extender which is the application I needed it for. If you wanted to go over 150m normally you’d have to use fibre. However, on the installation we had to use the existing Cat6 infrastructure to do all our signal transmission.

What did you like about it?

The product is quite cheap for what it is. I also like fact that you’re able to speak to the person who physically designed the unit – this really helps if you have any technical questions. I was using it as a KVM extender with a touch screen but when I plugged it into the display it didn’t work. However, I was able to send the monitor to the guys at SY in the UK and they programmed a new driver and gave it back to me. If you were dealing with a larger company it is very unlikely they would be able to modify something on the fly for you like that. In fact I had exactly the same situation using a product from a bigger manufacturer and I had to send the monitor to the USA. It took me from August to Christmas to get the same thing done. It’s SY’s own technology as well; you’re not buying into somebody else’s technology chipsets - they developed it themselves. It’s also got nice mounting potential; it’s got holes so you can screw it to the back of a wall and so on.

To read the rest of the review, including limitations of the product and where it has been used, open the free, digital edition of InAVate here.

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