NVT's New Ethernet Over Coax Adapter (NV-EC1701)

In a first for a company normally known for analog UTP products, Network Video Technologies (NVT) has announced an Ethernet over coax (EoC) product, the NV-EC1701 [link no longer available]. This product joins manufacturers such as Veracity, Vigitron, and Comnet in the EoC market with features similar to other products in the space: plug-and-play operation, no IP addressing required, transparent to network protocols, while adding some unique functionality.  

First, the NV-EC1701 provides PoE up-the coax capability. Most manufacturers of EoC product do not send power along with signal on the coaxial cable. This requires power to be supplied on both ends of the cable.  In retrofit situations, this is not necessarily a problem, as power cables are usually pulled along with the coax to each camera location, and existing 24VAC power supplies may be used to power the new converters. 

In camera installations where remote cameras may be located over 300’ away, out of the reach of UTP Ethernet cables, however, PoE over coax becomes quite useful.  Cameras may be located in areas which do not have available power, up to 2,600’ as per NVT’s spec. Many designers will choose fiber in these situations, which requires power at both ends, and technicians trained in fiber termination and testing.  This is a definite advantage to the NVT product.  

To our knowledge, the only other major name manufacturing PoE over coax transceivers is Comnet, with their CWFE1POCOAX model [link no longer available].  This model only supports 15.4W PoE, however, versus NVT’s 45W, and only at a maximum distance of 750’. 

The NV-EC1701 will be available June 1, with an MSRP of $378.

The second interesting feature of the EC1701 is its 4:1 transceiver ratio.  Up to four remote units may be connected to a single head end unit using BNC T couplers.  This drastically reduces the amount of equipment required at the head end of a system, allowing sixteen cameras to be connected to only four receiver units.  This greatly reduces cost, power, and space requirements: NVT claims 30% savings per four cameras.

Veracity is announcing the next generation of their own EoC products at ISC West, so it will be interesting to see how their improvements compare to the NVT product.