HDMI extender

Podagrower

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My BI server is about to be relocated about 40' from it's current location at the living room TV. I'm spending part of the upcoming holiday weekend in the attic running cabling for cameras and access points. Is there any difference in the various HDMI to Ethernet adapters? Or is there a better way to accomplish getting video/audio from a desktop to a TV?
 

eggsan

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for such a distance (40 FT), you should not have any problem with most HDMI over single CAT5e/6 Extender. There are many Chinese products available, but I normally use Vanco International products, like HDMI-EX50 (164 FT) or the more advance Evolution series, EVEXHDB1 with HDBaseT Technology (230 FT). You may also consider an active HDMI cable, which should be OK for that distance (up to 65FT), but frankly speaking, I prefer the extender solution.
 

Jessie.slimer

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dryfly

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What is the longest "standard" HDMI cable that will work in a situation like this??
 

Jessie.slimer

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I have a cheapie ebay 50 ft standard hdmi from my AV receiver to TV, works good, but get an occasional ARC audio return channel dropout. Probably a bad cable, planning on replacing it with a better one.
 

tigerwillow1

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I had to run a long HDMI cable and went the route of cat6 with extender so the holes wouldn't have to be big enough to get the hdmi connector through. Went with HDBaseT from Monoprice and so far, so good (less than a year in operation).
 

TL1096r

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I ran a 50 foot Monoprice Luxe active hdmi cable from my BI machine to my living room tv. Works perfect. No need to go the ethernet route for runs under 50 feet. They come in a bunch of sizes.

This is interesting. I always thought you could not run a HDMI cable past 50' without an extender. Does it work at 100'?


For 40' you can run 50' cable without issue. It is what I did. I opted for something cheaper than the monoprice and has been good so far:
 
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Jessie.slimer

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This is interesting. I always thought you could not run a HDMI cable past 50' without an extender. Does it work at 100'?


For 40' you can run 50' cable without issue. It is what I did. I opted for something cheaper than the monoprice and has been good so far:
Monoprice has lengths up to 100ft for their active hdmi cables. And there are cheaper versions than their luxe series, but I went with luxe because mine is run through a crawlspace, hoping for long term reliability.

With standard non amplified cables, I doubt I would try more than 50 feet unless there was free returns in case it didn't work. And I wouldn't run it through a wall until I verified it was bench tested and working flawlessly for a couple days.
 
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eggsan

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I will not go further than 50ft with active cables, even thou longer distances are offered. In those cases, I better go with HDBaseT or better. Look always for cables offering higher bandwidth, in case you are working with 4K/HDR signals, and remember they are directional (source/display)
 

bp2008

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Not all HDMI extender devices are the same. There are in fact many different kinds. All of them add complexity and increase the chance of failure.

  • Some are simply long cables that utilize circuitry in the plugs to amplify the signal. e.g. "Redmere"
  • Some use internal fiber optics to extend the range (again, using one cable with additional circuitry in the plugs).
  • Some systems encode the video and audio into a data stream and decode it at the other end. Such systems work over IP networks (switches, routers, wifi, etc), but cause quality loss and delay.
  • Some systems use dongles on each end of a cable of some kind (often cat5e), but don't actually speak network protocols, only using the cable as a set of wires with known physical properties.
  • You could chain together regular HDMI cables and signal repeaters.
 

tigerwillow1

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Add to that list HDbaseT which operates over a catx cable using its own protocol. Compared to HD over IP, it is lossless, supports higher resolutions, has less delay, carries IR and USB, and can carry power to the far end interface box so AC power is needed at only one end of the link.
 

bp2008

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HDBaseT falls under the "dongles on each end [of cat5e] but don't actually speak network protocols" category :)
 

tigerwillow1

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The things I've been reading say that HDbaseT is a network protocol, just different than IP. For example "Two of the more popular protocols are TCP/IP (AV over IP) and HDBaseT. In both protocols, the data is packetized and carried over standard media, but they aren’t compatible with each other", from Going Long: Tips for AV Distribution Over Distance
 

bp2008

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I figure it doesn't really matter if they call it a network protocol, as long as it doesn't work with IP network devices like switches.
 
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