The brief
GDS is a manufacturer of ruggedised, commercial-grade displays built to perform in harsh environments. A Fortune 500 company approached them to upgrade the digital signage in its drive-thru stores nationwide.
The job was to extend digital A/V media from a computer inside the premises to an interactive display outside, in the drive-thru lane — up to 100 metres (330 feet) over CAT6, HDCP compliant, in temperatures the lane actually reaches.
The challenge
A drive-thru cannot afford failures, disconnects or latency: every one of them is lost business.
GDS tested HDBaseT extenders from a range of manufacturers and the results were mixed and disappointing. Receivers failed repeatedly in thermal testing, and on multiple runs both video and power would disconnect and re-connect. Not all HD extenders are created equal.
The solution
After passing GDS's tests, the KanexPro HDBASE100ME was chosen and recommended to the end customer for the rollout.
It is a transmitter/receiver set routing ultra high definition signals up to 330 feet (100 metres), with two Ethernet ports on both units for standard network devices, and bi-directional RS-232 for controlling sources.
Both ends are built into sturdy metal enclosures with locking power supplies and locking HDMI connectors, so nothing disengages and no signal is lost to a knock.
The result
The extender was tested for an entire week, subjected to temperatures from 69°C down to −20°C for eight hours a day. It was still operational at −20°C.
GDS found the HDBASE100ME able to withstand extreme temperatures outdoors as well as in, and recommended it wherever an HDMI-over-CAT6 extender is needed.
The KanexPro HDBASE100ME extender was the only one which met our rigorous standards and provided a level of quality that our customer expected. It was easy to show the customer why this was the best solution for their project.
Robert Heise, EVP / General Manager, GDS Inc.