HDMI over ethernet/cat6 purchase, confused though

[ranj]

Hi All

 

I am looking for some help with an issue I have with my newly acquired STB box.

 

So my LED is on the wall and all my cabling is hidden within the wall.

 

For some reason the STB doesnt want to play ball with the audio when using any one of the HDMIs already in the wall trunking. They are all the same make and brand. Video signal is fine.

 

I have tried a different HDMI cable altogether and that works fine with video and audio but it now looks messy as I have a cabling trailing. Problem I have now is the HDMI head also is too large to fit the entry in wall and then filter in whilst all the other cabling is in there. Even I was to pull a cable out I struggle to get a HDMI cable. The cables I brought originally were low profile and thin HDMI cables and I think this might be the reason why the Zgemma is having problems with the audio.

 

So I have been looking at a cable and the only one I can see to get through would be a cat6 cable, cut it off from one end and once its through the wall, recrimp the cable which I have done in the past so dont have an issue with this. So I am looking now at one of these HDMI over Cat6 extenders.

 

However I am confused with different models, using ebay as an example (as I dont want to spend too much money on an expensive solution) I can see there are no powered ones and powered ones, ones which require 2 CAT6 cables etc. the more expensive ones (£30+) require external power which shouldnt be an issue.

 

Could I get away with a cheap non powered one though, what is the difference? I am struggling to find a good comparison and what I WONT get with the non powered one. Why do some require 2 CAT6 and some only require 1? I am looking for audio and video delivery from the STB box so would 2 be better?

 

Examples are:

 

Non powered: HD 1080P H cAAOSwuzRXfKRW | eBay

 

Powered: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neet%C2%AE-.../dp/B002ECYEYA

 

If anyone has played around with HDMI over ethernet and has some recommendations please get in touch as I really want to sort this pain out once and for all.

 

Thanks

[Mic_Impero]

I have done some HDMI over ethernet for a friend who wanted to send the output from a DVR to multiple TVs (without using a browser etc, just wanted the CCTV camera thumbnails available in multiple rooms on the tv).

I ended up using a HDMI over Cat 6 distribution box which converted the signal and then distributed, and decoded at the other end. It was a really expensive solution in the end, nearly into 4 figures, which was partly because we ended up with ones which could cope with switching and I set them up on their own VLAN.

 

What I remember about HDMI over Cat 6 is that Cat 6 doesn't have enough twisted pairs to do it over one cable. So that's why you need two. Those boxes are literally connecting the HDMI wires to one of the coppers in the twisted pair and then back again at the other end. From what I can see it's no different to lopping the ends of the cables together and joining them (which you could do with some solder and heat shrink).

 

The ones that do it over one cat 6 are converting the signal completely and sending using the TCP protocol and then decoding at the other end - hence can carry it over one cable. All of those I've seen are powered but the one I ended up with was PoE for the decoder at the TV end so it was a small box inline with no external power needed.

 

I think if you find one which does HDMI over a single cat 6 with no power at either end it's probably going to be lacking some of the HDMI wires, presumably audio.

 

I hope that helps in some way!

 

 

N.B - This post is provided as is by Mic, as an individual, with no warranties / guarantees and is intended as personal help, independently from Impero Solutions.

[rich_tech]

The only advice I would give on these devices is that if you can run the proper cables to the device I would say do that always and every time, this isn't a helpful shortcut with these devices from what I have seen, they can be very quirky and problematic.

 

We don't use Audio here, but we have had a major PITA in work with the extender and one of of our PCs - it needs to be sent to an area over 50m away and these devices are always troublesome, our first sender died about 2 months back and the lindy replacement has been not without issues with the displaying of the image onto the screen, the replacement image works, but won't do extended desktops and they have to be reset in a certain order, which is always painful as the receiver unit is up above the ceiling tiles here.

[seustice]

We've a few of these in use for our Fitness room, with multiple TV's each attached to an STB in a rack, works really well.

 

https://www.startech.com/uk/AV/Extenders/HDMI/HDMI-Over-Single-Cat-5e-Cat-6-Extender-with-Power-Over-Cable-230-ft-70m~ST121HDBTE

 

Have a look at HDMI over IP distribution from Just Add Power. Send 4K and Full HD 1080p HDMI over ethernet. if you wanted to do distribution, we've got these for our performance space for projection and repeater screens.

[Alis_Klar]

Anyone had any experience with Fibre optic HDMI cables like this one? Hoping it might solve our issues with long HDMI runs.

 

https://visionaudiovisual.com/techconnect/cables/hdmi/ (second item down the page).

 

We have an issue with artifacting of HDMI image and sometimes the screen is unable to lock onto the signal at all.

 

Techconnect also do HDMI over Cat6 https://visionaudiovisual.com/techconnect/tc3_hdmitp/

Edited November 28, 2017 by Alis_Klar

[Garacesh]

Anyone had any experience with Fibre optic HDMI cables

The reason you chose fibre optic over copper is speed/latency. Regular ol' copper HDMI should be good enough for transmitting audio/video, and if it isn't, you want to not be using HDMI, no?

If copper HDMI isn't working, I'd say you want to start looking at DisplayPort

 

Edit: Unless your problem is range? Are you in dire need of a longer cable run?

Edited November 28, 2017 by Garacesh

[keyboards]

We had HDMI over Cat 5/6, pictures was absolutely fine but sound only worked with the first box we had, second refused to work full stop, both the same brand and model as well