Valens Unveils 4K Reference Design for HDBaseT Transmission of HDMI 2.0

Valens used the Integrated Systems Europe show in Amsterdam to announce a reference design for HDBaseT transmission of 18 Gbps HDMI 2.0, including 4K 60 4:4:4. The design uses Lattice Semiconductor’s video connectivity technology to enable Ultra HD video transmission using visually lossless compression, while limiting latency to a few microseconds, said Valens in a Tuesday announcement from ISE. It combines Valens' Colligo chipset and Lattice’s low-power HDMI 2.0 transmitter and HDMI 2.0 receiver to create what Valens calls a turnkey reference design to enable long-range transmission of 4K 60Hz HDMI 4:4:4 and HDR-enabled content. Gabi Shriki, head of Valens’ AV business line, called it a precursor to the future HDMI 2.1 spec, which will use “visually lossless” compression to support higher format resolutions. Also at ISE, the HDBaseT Alliance and contributor member UL announced a certification program for Power over HDBaseT (PoH) cables. The program evaluates the ability of a cable to carry DC power of up to 100 watts over the four pairs of the cable, per the PoH standard, and to maintain HDBaseT data transmission performance, the groups said. The PoH standard is based on the IEEE 802.3at standard (power over Ethernet -- PoE), with the necessary modifications to enable safe delivery, they said.