Providence Alaska Medical Center Selects NVT's UTP Solution For CCTV Transmission

Nov. 30, 2004
Company chooses unshielded twisted pair for faster installation, lower cost

Network Video Technologies (NVT) today announced that Providence Alaska Medical Center is using NVT equipment to transmit CCTV video signals from cameras to monitors via unshielded twisted pair (UTP) wire.

As the state's largest medical facility, with more than 340 beds, Providence needed a cost effective method to transmit video. "Primarily, the hospital wanted to be able to view the garage cameras from the main building control room," reports Bobby Alston, Electronics Design Manager for Simplex Grinnell, which performed the installation. "The project cost a lot less by using UTP as opposed to coax. If we had used coax, we'd never get the signal quality needed over the 1,700 feet from the garage to the main building. Plus, the installation was faster. I definitely recommend UTP, especially for longer distances."

NVT's passive transceivers and active receiver hubs allow the use of new or existing Category unshielded twisted pair wires for video transmission. This allows installers and end-users to deliver a high quality picture over the same wire used by phone systems, while simultaneously cutting costs. This simplifies installation and improves overall video signal quality.

Simplex Grinnell installed an NVT UTP transmitter to the back of each existing Vicon PTZ camera. "We installed a 100-pair Category 3 cable from the garage to the main building," Alston explains. "Once in the building, we punched down the cable and ran the video signals to the NVT NV-1662R active receiver hubs, and then into Vicon DVRs."

Since the initial garage installation, the hospital has upgraded all its existing fixed cameras throughout the hospital with NVT on Cat 3 and Cat 5 cable. "Coax is no longer used for video transmission except where it connects from the output of the NVT equipment into the DVRs," Alston adds.

UTP CCTV transmission offers state of the art technology with features and benefits beyond those of coax. No longer constrained by the size or tradition of bulky coax, one can design truly integrated, future-compatible CCTV transmission infrastructures. As testimony to this growing trend, many camera manufacturers now offer cameras with built-in UTP transmitters and it is the transmission of choice for almost all gaming applications. Eventually CCTV video will be transmitted digitally employing structured UTP cabling. Using UTP provides an excellent cost-effective solution for today, while providing a reliable upgrade path for future transmission technologies.