Although there are many new video standards offering higher and higher resolutions, composite video is still used in many different areas. One such area is security video, where video feeds are not only transmitted from the cameras to a monitoring location, but recorded and stored in case the video is needed later. Using a composite video signal helps reduce the amount of data storage required. As buildings and campuses get larger, so does the need to extend the distance between video camera and the monitoring station to cover these larger areas. Governments are now installing cameras in busy city areas for crowd monitoring, crime reduction and traffic monitoring, all increasing the areas that need to be monitored.

Another area is information distribution, for example sending images of information around an airport or shopping center. Composite video is the perfect signal to use for sending video over distances greater than 1000ft (300m). Coaxial cables have been the standard cable for video transmission for a long time, but they are expensive, bulky and not that easy to install. They are good for the high frequencies contained in the video signal, but they are also lossy (mainly at low frequencies) which limits the distances they can transmit video. Twisted pair cables, like Cat-5 and Cat-6 (Ethernet cables), have grown in popularity over the last decade because they are so cheap and easy to use. These cables were not designed for analog video and are very lossy, particularly at high frequencies, which historically has limited the distance over which they can be used. Intersil’s new MegaQ range of equalizers overcome the limitations of these cables and enable video transmission to reach up to 5 times further (1 mile/1.6 km) than before.

MegaQ: 1 Mile (a600M) Adaptive Composite Video Equaliser:

The ISL5960x are a family of single-channel adaptive equalizers designed to automatically compensate for long runs of Cat-5, Cat-6 and Coaxial cables, producing highquality video output with no user interaction. The ISL59605 can compensate for up to 60dB of signal loss and so can extend video transmission to 1 mile of Cat-X or Coax cables.