Using Category 5/5e/6 for Audio and Video Applications

Steve Lampen
Multimedia Technology Manager
Belden Cable
ABSTRACT

With the rise of premise/data cables, such as Category 5, the

possibility of using such cables for non-data applications was
suggested1. Now it is common to find Category 5, Category 5e, or
Category 6 routinely used in many alternate applications. This paper
will concentrate on audio and video applications, both analog and
digital, with emphasis on whether UTP data cable can meet the
requirements of these systems, and what limitations there are.

APPLICATIONS

Table 1 shows the audio applications that will be examined. Table 2

shows the video applications that will be examined.

Application Format Cable Type Spec End-User

Analog audio Unbalanced Single-conductor shielded N/A Consumer
Analog audio Balanced Shielded twisted-pair N/A Professional
Digital audio Unbalanced Coaxial cable S/PDIF Consumer
Digital audio Unbalanced Coaxial cable AES3-id Professional
Digital audio Balanced Shielded twisted-pair AES3 Professional

Table1

Application Format Cable Type Spec End-User

Analog video Unbalanced Coaxial Cable Surveillance Consumer
Analog video Unbalanced Coaxial cable Home video Consumer
Analog video Unbalanced Coaxial cable Broadcast Professional
Digital video Unbalanced Coaxial cable SDI (601) Professional
Analog video Unbalanced S-video (dual) Y-C Pro-Sumer
Analog video Unbalanced RGB Component Professional
Analog video Unbalanced VGA Component Professional
Analog video Unbalanced Coaxial cable Broadband Consumer

Table 2
UTP AND BALANCED LINES

Category cables are most commonly unshielded twisted pairs (UTP).

The majority of domestically installed cables are UTP. These cables
are balanced line. Balanced line performance is one of the major
advantages these cables have over many other cables. The natural
ability of twisted pairs to reject noise is due to a number of factors.
The key is that the each conductor in the pair, and all other circuits
attached to them, has the same impedance with respect to ground
and to all other conductors. The entire path of both conductors is
electrically identical.

To arrive at this, the conductors should be the same size (AWG), the
same length, and as close together as possible (minimum spacing).
Arriving at these requirements is much more difficult than most users
might imagine. Being a manufactured product, there are natural
variations in all these parameters, leading to impedance variations.
Test parameters for each of these effects is shown in Table 3

Requirement Variations in Cable Parameter Measured in

Capacitance Capacitance Unbalance Picofarads (pF)
Spacing Impedance Return Loss Decibels (dB)
Size
Length Resistance Resistance Unbalance Ohms (Ω)

Table 3

Twisting the wires together, and ultimately, by bonding the

conductors together can control spacing between conductors.
Spacing is also dependant upon placing the conductors in the center
of the insulation. The size of the conductors can be controlled by
precise drawing and re-drawing. Precise pair twisting and matching
the tension on each conductor during the twisting process can control
the length.

Many signal types we will analyze are unbalanced, such as consumer

analog audio, consumer digital audio, video of all types, including
RGB, VGA, S-video, and CATV/broadband signals.
Unbalanced cables, such as coaxial cable, have none of the
requirements of balanced lines. The two conductors are not the same
size, not the same length (the braid is much longer than the center
conductor), and the two conductors are not close together. In fact,
they are moved apart to arrive at a specific impedance, such as 75Ω
coaxial cable.

To allow balanced-line UTP, a device is needed to adapt balanced

UTP to unbalanced cable, called a “balun” (indicating its BALanced-
to-UNbalanced application). Baluns are available from many
manufacturers3. Pictures in this paper were provided by Energy
Transformation Systems (ETS), Fremont, California.

COMPARING DATA CABLE TO NON-DATA APPLICATIONS

Parameters for data cables are well documented in TIA/EIA 568A. It

is then a simple matter of comparing those specifications with the
requirements for various audio and video applications. However, it is
not as “simple” as it sounds. To start, specifications for premise/data
cables don’t start until 1 MHz. (Some start at 772 kHz.) Thus, analog
audio requirements cannot be compared to existing parameters.

Further, many audio and video signal types do not have many
‘standard’ parameters. Therefore, we have inserted de facto
standards. If the reader disagrees with a particular specification, it is
a simple matter of inserting a different specification to come to an
appropriate judgment regarding suitability of a particular cable for any
particular application.

CONSUMER ANALOG AUDIO INTERCONNECTS

System Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6

Format Unbalanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 30pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
98 pF/m 49pF/m 49pF/m 49pF/m
Impedance N/A 100Ω 100Ω 100Ω
Gage 22/24 AWG (?) 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO

Table 4
Consumer audio interconnects exhibit a huge range in quality,
consistency, and performance. Gage size varies greatly, but the
resulting resistance has a very minor effect on performance,
especially with the common distances of these cables, generally 6 ft.
(2m) or less. These cables generally use RCA connectors.

While a capacitance for consumer audio cables is shown as 30 pF/ft,

(98 pF/m) many cables exhibit much greater capacitance, often 50
pF/ft. (164pF/m) or more. Capacitance, and capacitive reactance,
compared to the source impedance (usually 10k) means that, with a
cable of even 15 pF/ft (49 pF/m), these cables are severely distance
limited. (-1 dB at 20 kHz at only 28 ft.)

Since consumer audio interconnects are unbalanced, matching them

to balanced Category cables therefore requires a balun, as shown in
Figure 1. Single channel and two channel (stereo) baluns are shown.

Figure 1
Courtesy www.etslan.com

Note that this balun has an RCA connector on one side and connects
to one pair of the 4-pair RJ-45 on the other side. Because only one
pair is used, crosstalk is not a consideration. We will show data later
in this paper regarding multiple audio signals on a single four-pair
cable.
IMPEDANCE MATCHING AND DISTANCE

A balun used for unbalanced analog audio also effectively alters the
source impedance from a typical 10kΩ to a much lower value. (600Ω
for the balun shown in Figure 1). This then allows the user to escape
the severe distance limitations (30 ft./9m) and go many hundreds of
feet. Table 5 shows the distance limitation for audio cable based on
the source impedance and the capacitance of the cable2.

The destination (load) impedance must be at least ten times the

source impedance for these distance numbers to be accurate. Table
5 shows the distance at which a 20kHz audio signal will be
attenuated by 1 dB. Any other frequency or loss, or the loss of a
cable with a different capacitance value, can be easily calculated.

Source 15 pF/ft. 20 pF/ft. 30 pF/ft. 50 pF/ft.

Impedance (49 pF/m) (66 pF/m) (98 pF/m) (164 pF/m)
50 Ω 5406 ft. 4055 ft. 2703 ft. 1622 ft.
1648m 1236m 824m 495m
100 Ω 2707 ft. 2030 ft. 1353 ft. 812 ft.
825m 619m 413m 248m
150 Ω 1873 ft. 1352 ft. 901 ft. 541 ft.
571m 412m 275m 165m
600 Ω 451 ft. 338 ft. 225 ft. 135 ft.
138m 103m 68.6m 41.2m
1 kΩ 271 ft. 203 ft. 135 ft. 81 ft.
82.6m 61.9m 41.2m 24.7m
10 kΩ 27 ft. 20 ft. 14 ft. 8 ft.
8.2m 6.1m 4.3m 2.4m
50 kΩ 5.4 ft. 4 ft. 2.7 ft. 1.6 ft.
165cm 122cm 82cm 49cm

Table 5

Table 5 indicates that, at low audio frequencies where impedance-

matching is not required, a low source impedance will get you a lot
farther than a high source impedance. And Category cables, at 15
pF/ft. (49 pF/m) offer excellent analog audio performance based on
their low capacitance alone.
ANALOG AUDIO FACEPLATE ADAPTORS

There are a number of manufacturers who are producing modules

that fit into faceplates with the ‘footprint’ of an RJ-45 connector.
Among these are modules that connect RCA, unbalanced consumer
audio, to “110-block” twisted pairs.

However, these modules contain no balanced-to-unbalanced

circuitry. These adaptors unbalance the balanced pair affecting pair-
to-pair and cable-to-cable ‘alien’ crosstalk. They also connect directly
to the source impedance of the audio consumer device feeding the
line and, as shown in Table 5 above, are therefore limited to
approximately 27 ft. before there is noticeable signal loss.

These are not baluns at all, and their use is not recommended.
Whether these could be made with a true balun built in, or whether
potential customers would pay the extra cost, has not been
established.

BALANCED ANALOG AUDIO

System Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6

Format Balanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 30pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
98 pF/m 49pF/m 49pF/m 49pF/m
Impedance N/A 100Ω 100Ω 100Ω
Gage (?) 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO

Table 6

The two key differences between unbalanced consumer analog audio

and balanced professional analog audio are level and format.
Professional balanced analog audio systems run at peak levels of +4
dBm or +8 dBm, where consumer audio is typically –10 dBv. Thus
moving between systems might require amplification in one direction
and attenuation in the other, as well as a balun to match balanced to
unbalanced.
The other difference with balanced audio is that it is, obviously,
balanced. As shown in Table 6 above we are attaching balanced
Category cables to a balanced-line system. This means that no
adaptor or balun is required to use UTP in such a system. It does
look a bit odd to an audio engineer to see unshielded twisted pairs
going into a connector (such as an XLR), but applications like this
work very well. The only consideration might be when four signals
are run down the four pairs of UTP. What about crosstalk? Of
course, these are unshielded twisted pairs. And every audio
engineer has grown up with shields around ever pair.

To answer this question, tests were made on a Category 5 UTP

cable. In choosing the cable, it was suggested that the poorest
performance would be found in Category 5 patch cable. Most data
installers are aware that patch cable is so much lower in performance
that patch cable has its own standards within the TIA/EIA
specifications. The cable used for these tests was Belden 1752A.
The only added feature in this patch cable is the use of bonded pairs;
otherwise it is standard Category 5 patch cable.
1752A FEXT Average

-85
1000
1000
1000
1000
2000
2000
2000
2000
3000
3000
4000
4000
4000
4000
6000
7000
8000
8000
9000
10000
13000
14000
16000
18000
20000
24000
27000
30000
35000
39000
-90 45000

-95
dB

-100 Series2

-105

-110

-115
Frequency

Figure 2
Figure 2 shows FEXT (far-end crosstalk) averaged between all four
pairs between 1 kHz and 50 kHz. This is past the range of hearing,
which typically ends at 20 kHz. You will note that the worst case is
around 43 kHz, where the average crosstalk between all pair
combinations is just under –95 dB. Some believe that the ‘far end’,
where signals are weakest, may not be a true representation of
audio, and that the ‘near-end’ crosstalk or NEXT would be more
appropriate. Figure 3 shows the NEXT from 1 kHz to 50 kHz.
With the NEXT data, worst case is now at 48 kHz at –95 dB. In both
cases, at 20 kHz, typical crosstalk is –100 dB.

1752A NEXT AVERAGE

-85

11333
13125
14857
16833
18000
20600
24400
27667
30667
35400
40200
45500
1000
1317
1634
1951
2212
2462
2712
2962
3306
3667
4043
4609
5174
5739
6412
7200
8042
8583
9300
-90

-95
dB

-100 Series1

-105

-110

-115
Frequency

Figure 3

Further testing was done with Category 6 (Belden MediaTwist

1872A). Unfortunately, at 20 kHz the crosstalk pair-to-pair is below
the noise floor of the network analyzer (-110 dB) so no data is
available.
POORLY BALANCED PAIRS

Using unshielded twisted pairs shifts the noise rejection from a shield-
twisted-pair combination, to a twisted-pair-only. Essentially, the user
is depending on the common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of the
source and destination devices to drive and receive the signals and
reject the noise. Category cables make excellent balanced lines, but
many older audio devices may not have good common-mode
performance. Table 7 below shows what constitutes good or bad
CMRR. If this performance figure can be obtained, the performance
of this particular piece of equipment on UTP would be predictable.

CMRR QUALITY
-50 dB Poor
-60 dB Good
-70 dB Very Good
-80 dB Excellent
-90 dB Outstanding

Table 7

There are devices that can ‘force’ the balance on a balanced line.
That is, they can re-balance a poorly balanced line to allow minimum
CMRR and maximum noise rejection.

WHAT CROSSTALK DO WE NEED FOR AUDIO?

For many, many years, the ideal signal-to-noise requirement in

broadcast, recording, and other audio applications was –60 dB. With
the advent of digital, the noise floor requirement was changed to a de
facto –90 dB. It should be noted that even lower-quality patch cable
can easily meet this requirement, and high quality Category 6, gives
in excess of 20 dB further noise floor.

Thus baluns, such as the four channel home audio balun shown in
Figure 4, are eminently useable and provide more pair-to-pair
isolation than required.
 Figure 4
Courtesy www.etslan.com

From this point on, a crosstalk specification will be included with each
signal type, assuming the user would want to put four identical
signals down the four-pair UTP. Mixed signal ‘shared sheath’ will be
examined at the end of this paper.

DIGITAL AUDIO

Digital audio comes in three variations:

1. Consumer, called S/PDIF (Sony/Phillips Digital Interface)

2. Professional unbalanced (AES3-id)
3. Professional balanced (AES3)

We start with RCA-based unbalanced consumer digital, or S/PDIF.

S/PDIF

System Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6

Format Unbalanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 20pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
66pF/m 49pF/m 49pF/m 49pF/m
Impedance 75Ω 100Ω 100Ω 100Ω
Gage 23-24 AWG 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO
Crosstalk 6 MHz 30 dB (?) -52 dB -52 dB -62 dB
PSNEXT PSNEXT PSNEXT

Table 8
There are three considerations in Table 8 (S/PDIF). First is the
unbalanced nature of the signal (compared to balanced UTP).
Second is the use of 75Ω source impedance, to allow the use of
standard video coax. Our balun will have to match both the balance
and the impedance. Figure 5 is an S/PDIF balun. From the outside, it
looks the same as the single-channel analog balun in Figure 1.

Figure 5
Courtesy www.etslan.com

The last consideration is crosstalk. We are now into the megahertz,

where required measurements on Category cables is easily available
from the TIA/EIA standards. The crosstalk numbers shown are
PSNEXT (power-sum near-end-crosstalk). This is an excellent
choice for these applications because ‘power sum’ indicates that all
pairs are driven with the signal except the pair being measured,
precisely what we wish to do with our digital audio signal.

So what crosstalk is necessary? Until the use of UTP, this

application was one signal per shielded cable. Now that we are using
digital signals, it is very resistant to crosstalk. The –90 dB crosstalk
of analog is not needed here. We have put –30dB in that box above,
but many chip designers say this number is way too conservative and
should be more like –3 dB. As long as you can resolve the bitstream,
the amount of noise present is much less of a factor than in analog.

THE ADVANTAGE OF ONES AND ZEROS

As long as a digital bit stream arrives at its destination unchanged,

the resulting audio (or video or data) will be as perfect as the original
bit stream. This is one of the major advantages of digital signals; the
thousandth copy, even having gone on tape, through a satellite, down
a thousand miles of fiber, will be exactly the same as the original, as
long as all the bits arrive as they left.
The quality of the resulting signal is determined the sampling rate, the
quality and precision of the analog-to digital (A/D) and digital-to-
analog (D/A) conversion, and the integrated circuits inside that
equipment.

AES BANDWIDTH

Professional AES specifications allow a large number of sampling

rates and bandwidths. Table 9 below shows the possibilities. In the
following tables, 192 kHz sampling (24.576 MHz), is used to
determine performance, and is simplified to 25 MHz for these
comparisons. Lower sampling, and lower bandwidths, would make
matching performance even easier. The standard for home digital
(S/PDIF above) is 44.1 kHz sampling. For S/PDIF calculations, the
bandwidth of 5.6448 MHz has been simplified to 6 MHz.

Sampling Rate To Determine Bandwidth Actual Bandwidth

32 kHz x128 4.096 MHz
38 kHz x128 4.864 MHz
44.1 kHz x128 5.6448 MHz
48 kHz x128 6.144 MHz
96 kHz x128 12.288 MHz
192 kHz x128 24.576 MHz
352.8 kHz x128 45.1584 MHz
384 kHz x128 49.152 MHz

Table 9
Each sampling rate has a specific purpose, shown in Table 10 below.

Sampling Rate Bandwidth Application

32 kHz 4.096 MHz Low quality, answering machine/reportage
38 kHz 4.864 MHz FM broadcast quality
44.1 kHz 5.6448 MHz CD-audio
48 kHz 6.144 MHz Audio channels with professional video
96 kHz 12.288 MHz High-quality, recording studios
192 kHz 24.576 MHz Ultra-high quality, cutting-edge
8x44.1, 8x48 352.8/384 kHz AES5 proposed X-140 “SuperMAC”

Table 10
The highest sampling rate for digital audio, 192 kHz, results in a
bandwidth of almost 25 MHz, more than a thousand times higher than
the bandwidth of analog audio. Obviously, the requirements for
digital audio cable are considerably different than analog audio cable.

The proposed X-140 “SuperMultipleAudioChannels” uses Category

5e, 6 UTP or Category 7 ScTP. (Category 7 is individually shielded
pairs, currently available in Europe.)

We continue below with the unbalanced professional coax version of

digital audio, known by its AES standard AES3-id. The key difference
between S/PDIF and AES3-id is the source voltage. Consumer
S/PDIF runs at a source voltage of 0.5v, AES3-id runs at a minimum
of 2v and often as high as 5v, or even higher. Naturally, the higher
voltage allows considerably extended distances.

AES3-id

This is professional digital audio on coax. Note that the crosstalk

numbers on UTP are more than acceptable, especially when one
considers that the –30 dB crosstalk requirement is very conservative.

System Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6

Format Unbalanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
49pF/m 49pF/m 49pF/m 49pF/m
Impedance 75Ω 100Ω 100Ω 100Ω
Gage 23-24 AWG 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO
Crosstalk 25 MHz -30 dB (?) -41.4 dB -41.4 dB -51.4 dB

Table 11

BALANCED AES

Balanced digital audio requires shielded twisted pairs. Therefore, no

balun is required. But the AES specifications clearly state, “shielded
twisted pairs”. If your installation is required to meet these standards
then, obviously, UTP cannot be used. If it is a question whether UTP
will work in this application, the answer is clearly yes.
 System Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6
Format Balanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 13 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
43 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m
Impedance 110Ω ±20% 100Ω ±15Ω 100Ω ±15Ω 100Ω ±15Ω
Gage (?) 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO

Table 12

In Table 12 we have also added the tolerance to the impedance

requirements of both the digital audio and the category cables. As
can be seen in Table 13 below, there is a potential mismatch
between the cable and the AES format. The resultant mismatch
‘return loss” and the match percentage is also shown.

Category Category Category Return Match

Minimum Nominal Maximum Loss
AES Minimum 88:85 -35 dB 99.97%
AES Minimum 88:100 -24 dB 99.6%
AES Minimum 88:115 -18 dB 98.42%
AES Nominal 110:85 -18 dB 98.42%
AES Nominal 110:100 -26 dB 99.75%
AES Nominal 110:115 -33 dB 99.94%
AES Maximum 132:85 -13 dB 94.99%
AES Maximum 132:100 -17 dB 98%
AES Maximum 132:115 -23 dB 99.5%

Table 13

When the two tolerances are at their most extreme, return loss is the
worst value (-13 dB) with a 5% mismatch. This may not sound like a
lot, but this is different than a resistive loss of 5%, used up as heat in
the cable. In this case, we’re talking about a mismatch, where a
portion of the signal is reflected back into the transmitting circuit.
Many chips do not do very well with highly reflected signals and 5%
can certainly have an effect on the signal produced.
It is more common to find the AES devices to have more precise
impedance, since it can easily be adjusted by passive components in
the source and destination devices, shown in Table 12 as “AES
Nominal”.

It is much more likely that the cable has a very high or low impedance
tolerance. The conclusion here is to obtain category cable with tighter
impedance tolerance than the TIA/EIA standard, such as bonded-pair
versions.

ANALOG BASEBAND VIDEO

System Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6

Format Unbalanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 20 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
77 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m
Impedance 75Ω 100Ω 100Ω 100Ω
Gage 20 AWG 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO
Crosstalk -60 dB (?) -53.3 dB -53.3 dB -63.3 dB
4.2 MHz PSNEXT PSNEXT PSNEXT

Table 14

Analog video has a bandwidth of 4.2 MHz (NTSC). In other

countries, where PAL is the standard, the baseband video signal has
a bandwidth of 5.5 MHz. Some may choose to put 6 MHz in for
comparison. This is the size of a video channel in both systems, as
transmitted by cable or through the air. Any of these bandwidths can
be substituted above and appropriate numbers calculated.

A balun is required for all unbalanced video signals. A typical one is

shown in Figure 6. The key problem is crosstalk. There is no
standard for crosstalk, since video is commonly carried on single
coax cables. We have inserted a figure of –60 dB, as advised by a
number of video engineers. Of course, any other number could be
inserted instead and a comparison made.
 Figure 6
Courtesy www.etslan.com

And crosstalk is the most interesting factor here, since ‘standard”

Category 5 or even Category 5e cannot meet this –60 dB
specification but Category 6 can pass this requirement. So, does this
mean these lesser cables cannot be used for analog video? It
depends on the actual application. Table 15 lists a number of analog
video applications, with a suggestion to a crosstalk requirement for
each.

Video Application Suggested Crosstalk

Surveillance -40 dB
Standard home video -50 dB
Professional analog video -60 dB

Table 15

Surveillance, the lowest quality video, requires minimal performance,

and will easily work with standard category cables. Home video,
whether over-the-air or cable, has very high noise levels, and
marginal signal-to-noise. Only broadcast-quality video has a serious
requirement even though, as previously mentioned, there is no
standard specification for crosstalk.

The crosstalk shown in Table 14, and following tables, is “power-sum

near-end-crosstalk” (PSNEXT). This is a test for data cables where
all pairs are energized except the pair under test. Testing is done at
the ‘near end’, the source end, where signal strength is greatest and
where crosstalk is most likely to appear. This is an excellent test to
verify the ‘shared sheath’ multi-pair performance of these cables and
is especially appropriate to non-data applications.
A NEW TWIST IN SURVEILLANCE OVER CATEGORY 6

Anixter (www.anixter.com) is offering a video surveillance system that

runs over UTP called CCTP (Closed-Circuit-over-Twisted-Pairs).
This particular UTP is 22 AWG, larger than ‘regular’ Category 6. The
larger gage, lower resistance, allows video signals to run for greater
distances than standard cables. Made by Belden, it features bonded-
pairs for excellent balanced-line noise rejection (CMRR), impedance
tolerance and low return loss. The intent is to run analog video down
such a network and be ‘future-proofed’ for digital or networked
surveillance architecture in the future. To be sure, many surveillance
video cameras now offer an RJ-45 connector, a data connector,
instead of the standard BNC or other coaxial connector.

S-VIDEO, S-VHS™, Y-C

Super Video (S-video) is also called Super Video Home System (S-
VHS) [VHS is a trademark of JVC], and also called Y-C. This last
designation refers to the fact that the video signal is split into two
signals, the (Y) or luminance (brightness) information, and the (C) or
chrominance (color) information.

S-video, like consumer audio, is severely distance-limited, often as

little as 50 ft. For most home applications, this is not a problem. When
used in larger installations, such as feeding ceiling-mounted
projectors, this distance limitation can be a problem.

However, just like analog consumer audio, a balun can not only
match the balanced-unbalanced cables but can also reduce the
source impedance and dramatically increase the effective distance,
such as Figure 7. This balun also features stereo audio, which
would then be the distance-limiting factor as shown in Table 5.

S-video cables are very small, most often 30 AWG center conductors,
so they can fit into the 4-pin DIN connectors required. Adapting to 24
AWG category cables is a major improvement in ruggedness.
 Figure 7
Courtesy www.etslan.com

Table 16 shows the requirements.

System Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6

Format Unbalanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 17 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
56 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m
Impedance 75Ω 100Ω 100Ω 100Ω
Gage 30 AWG 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO
Crosstalk -60 dB (?) -53.3 dB -53.3 dB -63.3 dB
4.2 MHz PSNEXT PSNEXT PSNEXT
Timing 40 nsec 45 nsec 45 nsec 45 nsec
(Delay skew) (292 ft.) (292 ft. (292 ft.)

Table 16

The other ‘unknown’ is timing, also know in the UTP world as “delay
skew”. Since the video signal is now divided into two parts, they must
arrive and be combined at the destination at the same time.
However, there are no standards for timing in S-video, since common
cables are so short. The number inserted here (40 nanoseconds) is
for RGB timing, the next application we will be examining.

If this number applies to S-video, then standard category cables

cannot go the entire 100 meters (328 ft.) as outlined in the TIA/EIA
standards. Instead, they can go 40/45 x 328 = 292 ft. Compared to
the 50 ft. limit of standard S-video cable, is still a great improvement.
S-VIDEO FACEPLATE ADAPTORS

Just like consumer analog audio, there are a number of connector

companies who are offering S-video jacks that fit into the footprint of
an RJ-45. These connectors feature 110-style punch down blocks on
the back to terminate UTP. However, these connectors have no
conversion from unbalanced S-video to balanced UTP. Nor do they
have conversion from 75Ω coax (S-video) to 100Ω UTP.

These ‘adaptors’ offer no increase in the limited distance of S-video

and crosstalk pair-to-pair and cable-to-cable is compromised. Use of
these adaptors is not suggested. Whether dual baluns, for the two
channels of video, can fit into this footprint, or if users are willing to
pay the increased cost, has yet to be established.

RGB COMPONENT VIDEO

RGB splits video signals into “component” parts, red, green, and blue.
Well established in the professional video world, based on the BNC
connector, RGB is also becoming common for high-quality home
monitoring and other applications, based on the RCA connector.

System Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6

Format Unbalanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
49 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m
Impedance 75Ω 100Ω ±15Ω 100Ω ±15Ω 100Ω ±15Ω
Gage Wide range 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO
Crosstalk ?? -47.3 dB -47 dB -57.3 dB
10 MHz @ 100m PSNEXT PSNEXT PSNEXT
Timing 40 nsec 45 nsec 45 nsec 45 nsec
(Delay Skew) (292 ft.) (292 ft.) (292 ft.)

Table 17

Now we definitely have multiple signals to be converted to multiple

pairs. An RGB balun is shown in Figure 8.
 Figure 8
Courtesy www.etslan.com

RGB with a synchronizing signal (RGBS) can easily be

accommodated on four-pair UTP. There are RGB systems with
separate horizontal and vertical sync (RGBHV). One might think that
is impossible to send down four pairs of UTP. Actually, this is quite
possible, by adding one sync signal on top of the green signal, a
common approach with general coax-based RGB systems.

You will note the crosstalk numbers are determined at 10 MHz. Many
RGB systems are “wideband” to provide better linearity for each
component, some as wide at 25 MHz per component. For consumer
RGB, crosstalk numbers would most likely be the same as standard
4.2 MHz analog video. At 10 MHz, you will see that the crosstalk
numbers for UTP are not particularly wonderful. Even Category 6
crosstalk at 10 MHz is not better than –60 dB.

The question then would be, how much crosstalk protection is

necessary? Since these signals are all ‘components’ of one total
picture, an argument could be made that protection between them
may not be essential. An opposite argument, to avoid the color
subcarriers ‘bleeding’ into each other could also be made. It is
certainly true that RGB applications are among the most popular for
UTP, as can be seen in the next section.
“SKEW-FREE” CABLE

Timing (Delay Skew) RGB Distance

45 nsec 292 ft.
40 nsec 328 ft.
35 nsec 374 ft.
30 nsec 437 ft.
25 nsec 525 ft.
10 nsec 1312 ft.
9 nsec 1458 ft.
2.2 nsec 5963 ft.

Table 18

So what timing or delay skew is required for multiple-delivery

applications? You would think that standard Cat 5 (45 nsec) with an
effective distance of almost 300 ft., would be enough for almost any
application. But apparently it is not, because very early on in the use
of UTP, it was recognized that Belden MediaTwist (1872A/1874A)
had the lowest skew (25 nsec max, typical skew 7 nsec) and is still
widely used where tight tolerance and low skew are required.

This ‘search for skew’ eventually led to a new type of cable made by
a number of manufacturers, including Belden, which has identical
twists (“lay length”) for all four pairs. Belden “Nanoskew” 7987R and
7987P (riser and plenum rated) are intended to reduce the delay
skew (timing) to the lowest value possible for use with RGB and VGA
applications. The delay skew on Belden’s versions, for instance, is a
maximum of 2.2 nsec/100m, and typically 0.5 nsec, for all four pairs.
(Readers are cautioned that there is no four-pair UTP with no skew,
despite what some literature may say.)

This construction, with identical lay lengths, renders the cable

unusable for any premise/data application. It is not ‘Category’
anything, not even Category 3. If your intent is to use an installed
cable as a data cable, and when needed, for any non-data
component application, this skew-free cable would not be
appropriate.
This led to other products such as Belden 7988R and 7988P, which
are Category 5e UTP with an ultra-low 9 nsec of skew, and 7989R
and 7989P, Category 6 with 10 nsec of skew. For obvious reasons
these have been trademarked as Belden “VideoTwist” cables.

It’s really a question of “closed” architecture, where each cable has a

specific and unchanging application, or an “open” architecture, where
cable applications can change as time goes on. These “VideoTwist”
cables can have the low skew required of RGB or VGA systems and
yet still be used as Category data cables.

So, does Table 18 mean that these cables can go a thousands of

feet? Absolutely not! The basic attenuation of these cables, based
on the gage size of the conductors, limit distances dramatically.
What Table 18 indicates is that, as the signal disappears, it is almost
perfectly in time. Timing and delay skew is simply not an issue. You
can never go far enough for it to be a concern.

VGA – VIDEO GRAPHICS ARRAY

System Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6

Format Unbalanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 20 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
66 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m
Impedance 75Ω 100Ω 100Ω 100Ω
Gage Small (?) 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO
Crosstalk ?? -40 dB -40 dB -50 dB
VGA 39 MHz PSNEXT PSNEXT PSNEXT
Crosstalk ?? -35 dB -35 dB -45 dB
SVGA 61MHz PSNEXT PSNEXT PSNEXT
Crosstalk ?? -32.3 dB -32.3 dB -42.3
XGA 100 MHz PSNEXT PSNEXT PSNEXT
Crosstalk ?? N/A N/A -38.8 dB
SXGA 173 MHz PSNEXT
Crosstalk ?? N/A N/A -36.5 dB
UXGA 245 MHz PSNEXT
Timing 40 nsec (?) 45 nsec 45 nsec 45nsec

Table 19
As frequencies and bandwidths increase, the ability to determine the
performance of UTP becomes problematic. VGA, a common means
to attach computers to monitors, or to projectors, can run at very high
frequencies, as shown in Table 19.

The problem is that specifications for Category 5 or 5e end at 100

MHz, and Category 6 ends at 250 MHz. Table 19 shows that this
limits installers to specific cable types when used for high-bandwidth
high-definition signals. There are also cutting-edge cables, such as
Belden 7851A 600e with specifications out to 600 MHz.

How can standard VGA work with cables of low quality? The answer
is: distance. If your cable is less than a quarter-wavelength at the
frequency of operation, it makes very little difference what is in the
cable. As long as there is a connection (‘continuity’) and the cable is
short, it will probably work. Some very short, and very cheap, VGA
cables don’t even contain coaxial cables or twisted pairs, just multiple
conductors. You will note the lack of system specs on Table 19, and
those specs that are listed are probably wrong also.

When UTP is substituted, it is most often for long distances such as

ceiling-mounted projectors or multiple display devices. Then the
performance of the cable becomes important, even critical. Belden
has a data sheet on various VGA signal types and the distance they
can run, based on display resolution.4

SDI - DIGITAL BASEBAND VIDEO

Among the more unusual applications for UTP is SDI ‘Serial Digital
Interface’, also called CCIR 601. This is standard definition (4 x 3
aspect ratio) digital video (480 lines resolution) with a clock of 135
MHz. Since Category 5 and 5e specifications end at 100 MHz, only
Category 6 (bandwidth 250 MHz) has applicable performance specs.

The digital signals on this cable run at a data rate of 270 Megabits-
per-second, and a bandwidth of 135 MHz. Therefore, crosstalk at 135
MHz is shown. While this signal is component, the components run
serially down a single coaxial cable. Therefore, only a single pair in
the UTP is used and no delay skew or timing specifications need
apply. An SDI-UTP balun is shown below in Figure 9.
 System Specs Category 6
Format Unbalanced Balanced
Capacitance 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
49 pF/m 49 pF/m
Impedance 75Ω 100Ω
Gage 23-20-18 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO
Crosstalk -30 dB (?) -40.9 dB
135 MHz PSNEXT
@ 125 MHz

Table 20

Figure 9
Courtesy www.etslan.com

Again, we are in digital territory, where the cable easily passes the
required –30 dB crosstalk, still a very conservative number. It is
interesting to note that, due to the critical nature of broadcasting, this
application is the least popular of all those discussed in this paper.

BROADBAND/CATV

This application is truly the ‘king’ of bandwidth. Typical

broadband/CATV installations have a bandwidth of 1 GHz or more.
One-gigahertz bandwidth is beyond the scope of current UTP
designs. And yet, broadband/CATV is the most requested non-data
UTP application on our list.
 RG-6 Specs Category 5 Category 5e Category 6
Format Unbalanced Balanced Balanced Balanced
Capacitance 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft. 15 pF/ft.
49 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m 49 pF/m
Impedance 75Ω 100Ω 100Ω 100Ω
Gage 20 AWG 24 AWG 24 AWG 23 AWG
Shield YES NO NO NO
Crosstalk >80 dB -32 dB -32 dB -36 dB
@ 1GHz @ 100 MHz @ 100 MHz @ 250 MHz
Max Atten. -21 dB @ -22 dB -22 dB -33 dB
@ 100m 1GHz @ 100MHz @ 100MHz @ 250 MHz
Channels 158 @ 1 GHz 6 @ 100 MHz 6 @ 100 MHz 29 @ 250 MHz
SRL -20dB @1GHz -15dB@100 MHz -20dB @100MHz -17dB @250MHz

Table 21

The specification column in Table 21 now reads simple ‘RG-6” since

that is the industry standard drop cable for broadband/CATV
applications. The gage size (20 AWG) is misleading since the coax
center conductor is copper-clad steel, for applications above 50 MHz.
(Channel 2 is 54 MHz.) A balun for broadband/CATV to UTP is
shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10
Courtesy www.etslan.com

Crosstalk shown for the RG-6 is based on the shield effectiveness

(“transfer impedance”). –80 dB shield effectiveness, as shown in
Table 20, is easily met by a generic RG-6 cable with 40% braid/100%
foil shield. With high-coverage shields, isolation can be –105 dB or
even better. Basic attenuation of coax cable is dramatically better
than even Category 6. To handle 1 GHz of bandwidth (158 channels),
only coax is acceptable. So why would anyone be interested in this
application?
The main customer for this application is schools. They already have
a huge base of Category cables installed and would love to use them
for other applications. The real question is how many channels do
you need in a classroom? Twenty? Ten? Five? If you have dial-up
control, the answer might be ‘one’ since any classroom cannot show
more than one channel at any one time on any single television. And
even Category 5 can handle six channels (100 MHz). Category 6
(250 MHz) is 29 channels, and high-bandwidth cables, such as
Belden 7851A 600e (600 MHz) is channel 86.

Installers are cautioned, however. Twisted pairs are not coax cable.
UTP has a completely different slope (attenuation curve) than coax
cable. “Tilt amplifiers” intended for coax cables may be less effective
with UTP. The author is unaware of any tilt amplifiers specifically for
Cat 5, 5e or 6, although one could easily be built. There are active
distribution devices that do contain equalization for UTP and can be
found in another white paper3.

SHARED SHEATH

We have previously discussed multiple signals on a four-pair

premise/data cable. However, almost all of these were identical
signals (i.e. four audio signals, four video signals, RGBS etc.) What
about combining different signals? Audio and video ? Data and
broadband/CATV?

It should be emphasized that 568A only mentions shared-sheath

applications in regards to multiple 100baseT signals on 25-pair
Category 5 cable. There is no mention of any non-data application.
Therefore, if your installation must meet 568A standards, these
suggested non-data applications cannot be tested or verified by that
standard.

This does not prevent an installer from putting in a network, testing

and certifying it to 568A, and then using a portion of the network to
run non-data applications. That portion of the network simply won’t
apply to the standards, unless it is used at some later date to run
100baseT or some other recognized data application.
When considering multi-application shared sheath, there are four key
parameters:

1. The frequency range or occupied bandwidth of that signal type.

2. The level or intensity of the signal on the pair
3. The analog or digital nature of the signal
4. The CMRR (common-mode rejection ratio) of the source and
destination devices attached to each pair.

When considering (1) the occupied bandwidth, Table 21 below shows

the typical occupied bandwidth of the various audio and video signals
mentioned in this paper together with the occupied bandwidth of
10baseT and 100baseT networks. (1000baseT networks use all four
pairs and therefore leave no room for shared sheath applications,
even if they were possible.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Lampen is Multimedia Technology Manager for Belden Cable, a division of

Belden/CDT. He has worked for Belden for fourteen years. Prior to Belden, Steve
had an extensive career in radio broadcast engineering and installation, film
production, and electronic distribution. Steve holds an FCC Lifetime General
License (formerly a First Class FCC License) and is an SBE Certified Radio
Broadcast Engineer. On the data side he is a BICSI Registered Communication
Distribution Designer. His latest book, "The Audio-Video Cable Installer’s Pocket
Guide" is published by McGraw-Hill. His column "Wired for Sound" appears in
Radio World Magazine. He can be reached at [email protected]

REFERENCES

(1) Paper given by the author “Category 5 and Audio-Video” at BICSI, January,
1997, Orlando, Florida.
(2) This table is taken from “The Audio-Video Cable Installer’s Pocket Guide”
(McGraw-Hill)
(3) A list of balun manufacturers both active and passive, can be found in the
paper “Video and UTP”, in the ‘technical papers’ section at www.belden.com
(4) To obtain technical data on display bandwidth, resolution, and cable distance,
call 1-800-235-3364 (1-800-BELDEN4) and ask for a copy of NP 212