Accessories
Chord's new budget shielded speaker cable, the Carnival SilverScreen, claims to be a highly affordable upgrade to your existent sound or home theatre system.
The SilverScreen, which retails for $20 per metre, has similar features to the Carnival Classic range, but its unique feature set includes a jacket heavily overlapped by a twin-foil shielding system, which in turn is surrounded and protected by a low Q translucent PVC outer jacket, the company says.
Kingcable Australia Pty Ltd has been ordered to recall an undisclosed number of King Power Surge Protector Power Boards because they do not comply with Australian Standards. The power boards, which were sold between January and July this year at specialist computer resellers, have six socket outlets and two telephone sockets with surge and over-current protection, and are fitted with insulated active and neutral plug pins - a combination which goes against local rules.
A new speed rated HDMI cable has been announced by Monster Cable. The product comes as several manufacturers question the longevity of HDMI over of Cat 5 and 6 data cable which can be used to deliver 1080p content as efficiently as HDMI.
Monster's line of speed-rated HDMI cables feature five different levels: Standard Speed, High Speed, Advanced High Speed, Ultra High Speed and Ultimate High Speed
Denon has launched a no-expense-spared HDMI cable, complete with 24K gold plated contacts, which the company says will correct what was previously the weakest link between A/V components.
The new cable is HDMI certified, 1080p compliant and can be used to hook up any two audio / video devices, such as a DVD player, A/V receiver, set-top box or TV with an HDMI terminal.
Denon says it has spared no expense in constructing the cable, with 24k gold plated contacts to minimise signal degradation, an external mesh for reducing vibration and triple layer shielding to eliminate interference inside the cable and prevent external noise.
An ingenious invention from two Australians helps you keep track of all your cords. Kableflags is a set of labelled identification tags, which you tie around the end of an electrical cable.
Monster has begun shipping overseas a line of high-performance cables designed specifically for Apple TV, the forthcoming device that streams movies and other media to a TV from a Mac or PC and will be available in Australia soon
The iTV cable line is shipping in advance of the Apple TV, which was originally slated for a February release but has since been delayed until "mid-March" according to Apple.
The new CINDE PowerManager is designed to cut down equipment rack cord clutter, replacing multiple external DC plug packs with one central AC-to-DC converter.
The company says it's a great solution to lack of outlet space and is ideal for use in a range of A/V applications and industries using a number of low-voltage products such as IT and security. (Note that it is not a surge protector though, it is a power manager).
Fed up of having to handle cable calls where the question is which cable goes in which hole? At the recent CES Expo the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) intoduced a single-cable solution designed to replace a variety of standard connectors on PC monitors and flat panels.
VESA first introduced its DisplayPort digital technology in May 2006 primarily to provide PC manufacturers with an option to replace the DVI connector for PC monitors, the LVDS interface for flat panels and the analog VGA connector. A VESA newsletter from December explained "DisplayPort is not being positioned to compete with HDMI, but rather to complement it for PC and PC-based products."
With so many AV devices on the network, troubleshooting is becoming a critical skill for AV integrators. Here are some tips for solving the most common network cabling problems.
Cheat Sheet: Troubleshooting Network Cabling
COMMON CABLING FAILURE CAUSES
1. Installation errors.
2. Bad connectors.
3. Inappropriate tester set-up.
4. Bad cable.
5. Bad patch cords.
6. Any of several types of crosstalk.
The structured wiring enclosure is the communications crossroads in the digital home. It is the point from which all communications-related wiring-data network, telephone, video, and security-emanates. It performs for communications and signal management what the electrical service panel does for the home's power wiring. In the words of Gordon Waldhausen, product manager for On-Q Legrand, "The structured wiring enclosure is the hub of home technology."
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