Atlona's Omega 2 puts 4K video, USB and Ethernet on one Cat 6A cable

On Oct. 22, 2026, Atlona, a Hall Research brand focused on AV-over-IP, signal extension and control, added Omega 2 to its Omega Series of presentation and collaboration products, TWICE reported. The new lineup runs on HDBaseT 3.0 and consists of an AT-OME2-E2311 transmitter, an AT-OME2-D2311 receiver, an AT-OME2-E2321-WP wall plate transmitter and an AT-OME2-R2742 4×2 presentation switcher with Dante audio. rAVe [PUBS] reports that two pieces are already available: the AT-OME2-E2311 transmitter and the AT-OME2-D2311 receiver. The AT-OME2-E2321-WP wall plate and the AT-OME2-R2742 switcher are due to ship in mid-November.

For the AV or IT lead who sets the standard design for dozens of rooms, the useful question is what this generation actually changes. Most of the answer sits behind the display, where the integrator mounts the boxes and the facilities team inherits the power bricks.

What rides on one Cat 6A run

According to TWICE, the AT-OME2-E2311 transmitter and AT-OME2-D2311 receiver move HDMI, USB 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet over one HDBaseT 3.0 link and support HDR formats such as Dolby Vision and HDR10+. Power travels over HDBaseT in both directions, so either the transmitter or the receiver can feed the other and the whole link needs only one power supply.

For integrators who want less equipment behind the display, the receiver could take on more of the work. According to Atlona's announcement, it adds four USB ports at the display end for cameras, keyboards, mice and other peripherals. It also passes Ethernet through, de-embeds analog audio, and provides bi-directional RS-232 for display control. Consider a room where the PC sits at the table and the camera is mounted on the screen. One cable could carry the picture, the camera's USB link, the display's control line and a network drop.

Ken Eagle, chief executive of Hall Research, framed the launch around two groups of users. In the announcement, he said the Omega line has always aimed to make rooms simpler to use, and that Omega 2 pushes that goal further by adding HDBaseT 3.0. Presenters, he said, want to "walk in, plug in one cable and start," while integrators want fewer boxes and fewer power supplies mounted behind the display.

Eagle said the features both groups had asked for are a USB-C connection at the wall, power carried over the link, and Dante built into the switcher. That list is a handy map of the lineup: the extender pair delivers the power-over-link piece today, while the other two features belong to the products still on their way.

Same 330 feet, more inside it

The distance figure has been around for years. When Atlona previewed new OMEGA products ahead of ISE 2019, held Feb. 5-8 that year at the Amsterdam RAI, rAVe [PUBS] reporter Jacob Blount described the AT-OME-SR21 receiver as taking 4K/UHD video at 60 Hz with 4:2:0 color, up to 330 feet over category cable. It also accepted USB data over HDBaseT and had a built-in USB 2.0 hub. The AT-OME-EX-KIT extender from the same launch covered 330 feet too.

That 2019 receiver was also doing processing work Omega 2's extenders are not pitched around. The SR21 scaled content up and down between 4K and 1080p for rooms mixing UHD and HD displays, and carried a built-in dual-port network switch. Its sibling, the AT-OME-ST31A 3×1 switcher and transmitter, paired mirrored 18 Gbps HDMI and 10 Gbps HDBaseT outputs.

Five years later the line had grown. In March 2024 Atlona added two 3×1 switchers, the AT-OME-CS31-SA and AT-OME-CS31-SA-HDBT. ProSoundWeb and UC Today both reported that the pair combines AV switching, USB routing, audio mixing, amplification and control in one low-profile box. The HDBaseT model's remote input extends HDMI, Ethernet, power, control and USB 2.0 up to 100 meters, again 330 feet. Atlona product manager Tommy Gay called Omega the company's broadest product line at the time.

Both 2024 models could switch between two host devices and included a four-port hub for cameras, speakerphones, interactive displays and other peripherals. Omega 2 puts its four USB ports on the receiver instead, at the display end, which is where a screen-mounted camera actually lives. Hall Research's product catalog now lists 29 Omega products: 17 extenders, eight switchers and four power products.

The improvement in Omega 2 looks to be about how much one cable can carry, not how far. According to Atlona, Omega 2 can move uncompressed 4K/60 4:4:4 video as far as 330 feet on a single Cat 6A cable, and that same cable also carries Gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0 data.

The one-cable idea isn't new to the line, though. According to rAVe [PUBS]'s 2019 report, the OME-EX-TX transmitter is powered from the OME-EX-RX receiver via Power over Ethernet (PoE), allowing installation below a table or at another remote location without local AC power, and the 2019 AT-OME-ST31A already accepted laptops over a USB-C AV input.

The ST31A could also run power in either direction: it took PoE from other HDBaseT-equipped Atlona devices, or supplied PoE to a compatible receiver when fitted with an optional power supply. Set beside that, Omega 2's bi-directional power over HDBaseT reads as a long-running Omega habit made standard on the new extender pair rather than a brand-new trick.

The design philosophy has a long tail as well. In 2019, Atlona director of product management David Shamir said integrators and end users had recognized the series' approach to "the market trend away from rigidly-defined AV systems in purpose-dedicated spaces." Omega 2's pitch, planning rooms around people rather than equipment, extends that same argument.

USB-C at the wall, Dante at the switcher

According to TWICE, the AT-OME2-E2321-WP puts both an HDMI input and a USB-C input on a standard two-gang wall plate. A single USB-C connection handles video, USB data and the laptop charging listed above, so one plug gives a presenter picture, peripherals and power. Because the plate is a standard two-gang size, an integrator could mount it at an existing table or wall location rather than designing around a separate box.

Atlona says that offering HDMI and USB-C inputs across the compact, wall plate and switcher models lets integrators design a room around the way presenters connect, rather than around the hardware. In practice, a room design would begin with the connector a presenter brings, and the integrator would choose the Omega 2 form factor that fits it.

The AT-OME2-R2742 is a 4×2 presentation switcher with Dante audio. It could be most useful in buildings that already run Dante audio networks, where a switcher with Dante built in could join the existing audio system over the network instead of needing a separate converter.

That is a different audio story from the 2024 CS31 pair, which handled sound inside the box. Those switchers offered an onboard mixer for three line inputs, 2 x 25-watt amplifier outputs, audio ducking that lowers program audio when an instructor speaks into a connected microphone, and muting by contact closure or automatically when a school public address announcement is detected. The series could therefore give a designer two routes: in-box amplification for a classroom with local speakers, or Dante for a building whose audio already runs over the network.

Two now, two in mid-November

The staggered release decides what can be specified right away. The extender pair available today covers the point-to-point case: a PC at the table, a display on the wall and one Cat 6A run between them carrying video, USB, network and power from a single supply. A room built around that link doesn't need to wait.

Rooms designed around the wall plate or the switcher are a different matter. Those are the products carrying two of the three features Eagle singled out, USB-C at the wall and Dante in the switcher, so a standard that depends on either one is tied to the mid-November ship date. A team writing a multi-room standard could reasonably test the extender pair in a single room now and save the presenter-facing wall plate and Dante switcher for the next round of drawings.

If the wall plate and switcher arrive on schedule, the full Omega 2 room should be buildable before the end of the year: HDMI or USB-C at the wall, Dante-equipped switching for rooms with several sources, and the HDBaseT 3.0 extender pair handling the long run to the display. That is the version of the room where Atlona's one-cable claim gets its real test.