Novastar CA50E

NovaStar CA50E — 5G COEX receiving card

The CA50E is a high-end receiving card from NovaStar's COEX 5G generation. It drives 768 × 512 pixels at 60 Hz in both 8-bit and 10-bit, and 512 × 480 in 12-bit — a capacity that does not drop between 8 and 10 bits, where Gigabit Armor cards lose half their load.

It carries two 5G Ethernet ports and is driven through VMP with COEX 5G controllers; the CX40 Pro datasheet names it explicitly. Note that the CX40 Pro only accepts 5G receiving cards: a CA50E is not a drop-in for an Armor card on an MCTRL or MX controller.

Key specifications

Load: 768 × 512 @ 60 Hz (8 and 10-bit) / 512 × 480 @ 60 Hz (12-bit)
Ports: 2 × 5G Ethernet (CAT6A required)
Data: 32 parallel RGB groups or 64 serial groups (expandable to 128)
Dimensions: 80.0 × 45.0 × 8.6 mm
Weight: 25.5 g
Power: DC 3.8 – 5.5 V, 1.35 A, 6.8 W
Temperature: −20 °C to +70 °C

NovaStar CA50E — technical analysis

What decides a CA50E purchase is not its raw capacity but its behaviour in 10-bit. On a Gigabit Armor card, moving a source from 8 to 10-bit halves the load, because the port saturates. On the CA50E the load stays at 768 × 512: the 5G link absorbs the coding overhead. In practice, a wall calibrated in 10-bit for broadcast or film needs half as many cards as it would on Gigabit.

On image processing it carries the full COEX toolset: Image Booster (Rec.709 / DCI-P3 / Rec.2020 colour management, Precise Grayscale, 22bit+), HDR10 and HLG, Frame Rate Adaptive 3.0 from 23 to 240 Hz, Dynamic Booster, Full Grayscale Calibration, Thermal Compensation 2.0, and a minimum one-frame latency with driver ICs that have built-in RAM.

Pre-sales caveat: the CA50E requires the complete 5G chain — a CX controller, CAT6A cabling, VMP software. It does not slot into an existing Gigabit estate. And since 2025 NovaStar promotes the XA50 Pro on its 5G Series page: the CA50E remains catalogued but is no longer the featured part. Check availability before committing it to a new project.

• XR studios and virtual production — full-load 10-bit and Frame Rate Adaptive up to 240 Hz for shooting.
• Broadcast and TV sets — Shutter Fit and one-frame latency for live.
• Fine-pitch walls — 768 × 512 per card reduces the card count per cabinet.
• HDR projects — native HDR10 and HLG, full-grayscale calibration.
• COEX 5G estate maintenance — replacement card for cabinets already running CX40 Pro / CX80 Pro.

• Cabling — the 5G link requires CAT6A; standard CAT6 will not hold the bitrate over stage runs.
• Complete chain — 5G card, CX controller and VMP go together; no mixing with a Gigabit estate under NovaLCT.
• 10-bit — this is where the card pays for itself: the load does not drop between 8 and 10-bit, unlike Armor cards.
• Latency — the single frame is only reached with driver ICs that embed RAM; confirm with the panel manufacturer.
• Life cycle — NovaStar now features the XA50 Pro in the 5G range: validate long-term availability before a phased rollout.