Digital Coaxial Cable?

[Farquaon]

Where can I buy this type of cable or is it just normal shielded network cable?

 

[Goobie]

I used a stereo RCA cable, ripped the one channel off and used that, worked fine.

 

[Farquaon]

Quote: "USB cables can only be about 5 meters before the require amplification or other solutions, a USB cable is 4 cords and a shield

So i made a combined USB and Digital Coax cable using the same Shielded Networking cable.

2 pair + Shield is used for USB

1 pair is used for digital Coax– since a twisted cable can function as its own shield

The last pair in the cable is unused."

I need to run a USB cable ~ 20m, so that is why i need to get the right cable. But cable is inexpensive so its worth a try, the only signal i want to send across the cable is IR signal.

 

[AjqNic]

Firstly, cable is not digital itself, what passes over the cable is interpreted as digital (0's & 1's) or analog (based on wave height) by the devices making use of the cable.

When people refer to digital coaxial cables, this is usually in reference to transmitting Dolby digital or DTS audio and as Goobie quite rightly said, a standard RCA cable can be used.

With regards to USB, as you quote says, USB cables can only be 5 meters. You cannot simply extend this by using a longer cable, as a minimum the cable needs a signal repeater after every 5 meters and even then this does not always lead to a working solution. Things become even more complex if you start dealing with USB 2. For a list of your available options in extending a USB cable, have a look at this document. It lists such solutions as active cable repeaters, USB over cat5 and even USB over your network.

As you are wanting to extend an IR signal there is an easier option. IR receivers can transmit their signal over a stereo cable. There is no limit to the length that this cable can be, I have an IR receiver located more then 20 meters away from my PC which works without a problem. I am not sure what sort of IR receiver device you are using but I can assure you that going this route (and even getting a new IR receiver device) will be significantly cheaper then trying to extend a USB cable.

 

[Person]

Coaxial Cable
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