Santa Rosa, CA, January 2017 – Eric Wenocur, owner of Lab Tech Systems, has purchased Sommer Cable’s new HDMI 2.0 Engineers Toolkit. “I was looking for something that would allow me to do specific kinds of testing on HDMI equipment,” he explains, “and when I came across the Sommer product it offered the best combination of features at a reasonable price. The reason I needed both the analyzer and the generator is because I found myself working more frequently with HDMI and related connectivity in many different kinds of system installations.”

Lab Tech Systems, based in the Washington, DC area, provides consulting and engineering services for professional video and audio clients, with a focus on technology consulting and system design. Wenocur explains, “HDMI is becoming part of the professional and broadcast arena even though it wasn’t intended to be. It’s really a consumer interface, but it’s showing up on all kinds of equipment and is inescapable.”

Wenocur cites an example: “We recently built a TV studio with large LCD displays as backdrops and those were all being fed via HDMI. You run into these situations where something doesn’t work and you need test equipment that you know is generating the signal you expect and another piece that allows you to analyze what’s coming in. I’m looking at displays that are parts of production sets. I’m looking at HDMI extenders, and I want to find out what’s going on with the signal.”

The new battery-powered HDMI 2.0 Engineers Toolkit, part of Sommer cable’s Cardinal DVM electronic product line, is an easy-to-use compact measurement tool with numerous functions that make testing and controlling of HDMI sources, sinks, and cable lines effortless. Many inconsistencies that can result from faulty setups, cabling, EDID communication, or HDCP are easily analyzed and rectified.  The Engineers Toolkit is comprised of an HDMI signal generator plus an HDMI analyzer and can handle all common HDMI video resolutions and bandwidths.  Learn more at: http://tinyurl.com/jxmaxxk

Wenocur and other system integrators in the industry are increasingly faced with installation problems due to the restrictions imposed by HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection). “It can be extremely frustrating to have this equipment in professional environments, because we’re not planning to steal anybody’s material but we can’t get the HDMI signals to go where we want. When I was looking at test equipment, I found that the Sommer unit gave me the ability to control when HDCP is turned on or off on the generator, and the analyzer very clearly indicates what is coming down the line with regard to HDCP.”

He elaborates, “Everybody has it on their home equipment, but when you move it into a professional environment it just gets in the way. Oftentimes you hook the equipment up and you don’t see a picture and you realize it could be a HDCP problem. So having the analyzer and the generator that allows you to deal with that is very useful.”

In addition to solving problems in the professional arena, the Sommer Toolkit can be equally useful in high-end residential installations and home theaters. It generates test signals at different frame rates, in different resolutions for the testing of projectors and large screen televisions.  Wenocur concludes, “You can check for HDCP problems even though the home system should be set up to handle HDCP. If you get in a situation where you don’t have a picture and you’d like to know if that’s the source of the problem, the Sommer Toolkit can handle it.”

Contact Sommer cable America for complete printed manual and test-units for qualifying customers.

Lab Tech Systems utilizes a stable of freelance installers to construct systems and also provides high-level technical consulting for architecture, construction and building trades, with an emphasis on early conceptual planning, needs analysis, appropriate technology selection, and oversight of the design and installation process. Learn more at: http://www.lab-tech-systems.com/