The What: ARISTA Corporation has announced the ARS-200-HD HDMI Audio to Dante Audio converter and the ARS-200-DH Dante Audio Stream to HDMI Audio converter.
The What Else: The ARS-200-HD extracts audio from devices like DVD players and converts the audio stream to Dante format. This enables the audio signals to be transmitted over long distance and used with public address (PA) systems—ensuring that everyone can hear the sound that accompanies the visuals. The converter/interface uses an HDMI Type A female connector for HDMI input and an HDMI Type A female connector for video loopback output. The HDMI input and loopback output maximum supported video resolution is 4096x2160 / 3840x2160 at 60Hz (4:4:4).
Related: The Integration Guide to Dante-Enabled AV
ARISTA’s ARS-200-DH Dante Audio Stream to HDMI converter is well suited for presentation environments where audio is being handled via Dante in order to cover long distances, such as in a large hall while audio and video is desired in the most outlying areas. In such cases, Dante audio is being received by the ARS-200-DH while it is also receiving video input via HDMI. In this case, the ARS-200-DH merges the audio with the HDMI signal so that it can feed external displays. The ARS-200-DH outputs stereo audio (20Hz–20kHz) with a frequency response of 20Hz–20kHz. Maximum video resolution is 4096 x 2160 / 3840 x 2160 at 60Hz (4:4:4) and both the video input and the video loopback ports are HDMI Type A female connectors.
Power for both the ARS-200-HD and the ARS-200-DH can be handled via either a DC 12V feed or PoE (Power over Ethernet). Both units are housed in a rugged metal housing, and the dimensions for both units are 3.3 x 3.9 x 1.1 inch.
“The ARS-200-HD and ARS-200-DH are two new building blocks adding to Arista’s Pro Audio products baseline and filling the products gap in the audio installation market,” said Paul Shu, ARISTA’s president of sales and marketing. “The ARS-200-HD enables the integrator to add HDMI audio into a Dante audio network and the ARS-200-HD enables integrators to add Dante audio to HDMI audio output in a very quick and easy installation. I believe these two new products can help integrators streamline their installations, saving time and effort in the process.”
The Bottom Line: The ARISTA ARS-200-HD and ARS-200-DH are designed for presentation environments where audio needs to be converted from one format to the other and where long-distance transmission is involved.
