Sky over HDMI

Forums › Sky, Neon, Lightbox › Sky over HDMI

elmo111

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#270423 8-May-2020 16:15

Hi Folk's

After some advise please.

We have just finished building our house, and have a central media cabinet to house all the various gear.

Our electrician has installed an HDMI cable around 20m long to run from the media cabinet to the main tv to transmit the sky signal.

We have just installed sky, and all channels appear fine except for sky sport which can get quite glitchy, upon querying the HDMI cable supplier he advised that the signal may be getting lost due to the length of the cable.

My thinking is, is if all other channels are fine surely the problem would be with the signal itself and and not the HDMI cable.

Any help/comment would be appreciated as the current HDMI runs through the first floor joist space, so impossible to get to in in order to run a shorter cable.

Thanks in advance.

ZollyMonsta

3009 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 379

ID Verified

Trusted

#2479399 8-May-2020 16:18

Is it all HD channels that look glitchy? Or only Sky Sports channels?

Sounds like you might need something like this...

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/KVMSTT3300951/StarTech-HDBOOST-HDMI-SIGNAL-BOOSTER---115-FT---10

Cheers,

Grant

Edit.. Ok, maybe not this unit, since it has some caveats which won't work in your scenario:

System and Cable Requirements
The HDMI cable connected to your video source must be longer or equal to the length of the cable connected to your display.
The maximum supported video source cable length is 82 ft. (25m).
The maximum supported display cable length is 33 ft. (10m).

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

ZollyMonsta

3009 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 379

ID Verified

Trusted

#2479402 8-May-2020 16:19

Just to add to this.. it could also come down the the 'quality' of the HDMI cable the Electrician chose to install.

Did they tell you brand/supplier info?

Cheers,

Grant

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

SirHumphreyAppleby

2939 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1860

#2479404 8-May-2020 16:24

It's highly improbable that only one channel would be affected by the cable unless it was the only channel with a higher resolution, frame rate or perhaps a different colour space (unlikely). I don't watch sport, but from what I have seen, the quality can be downright awful at times. If everything is blocky, it's probably the video. If you are seeing signal drop outs or weird colours on the screen (such as green dots all over the place), it's likely the cable.

Over that distance however, I would be looking to use an HDMI over Cat5e/6 extender instead of an HDMI cable.

elmo111

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2479416 8-May-2020 16:40

Hi Grant,

Thanks for the reply, it's only sky sport that is glitchy, all other sky channels are fine, we have tried a signal booster but it made no difference.

Thanks for the reply.

wratterus

1687 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 678

#2479417 8-May-2020 16:41

Would make sense to check with something plugged right into the decoder with a short cable first, but....

I have found the older Sky Decoders to have a weak as piss HDMI output. Couldn't even get 5m out of it. Put in a powered switch, 15m easy and probably would have got more. That might be an easy fix and cheaper than HDMI over CAT6, especially if the house wasn't wired with that in mind.

https://www.digitus.info/en/products/video-and-audio/video-splitter/ds-46304/

Maybe something like that.

Edit - what 'signal booster' did you try? Was it just a splitter like I linked to? It is odd that it's just the sports channels, but I wonder if these could be higher bit rate or something? But would think once they leave the decoder it would all be the same.

elmo111

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2479422 8-May-2020 16:51

Hi, Sir Humphrey,

Yes that's my thinking also.

No signal drop-outs or weird colours, just the odd glitch, reading through the forum it appears this is common with sky sports.

We did run a spare Cat5 but the electrician used this for the red eye, (I think) so that may be an option also.

Thanks.

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

elmo111

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2479430 8-May-2020 17:01

Hi Wratterus,

That was my next step, to try a shorter cable to see if there was any difference. The splitter looks like a good option.

Sorry I'm unsure re the booster the electrician tested it while I wasn't here, I do know it wasn't a powered one though.

Thanks

wratterus

1687 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 678

#2479435 8-May-2020 17:12

elmo111:

....I do know it wasn't a powered one though.

Definitely would need to be powered. I would plug something in with a short cable and confirm it works OK. If it does, I would try a booster like was linked to earlier, or a switch like I linked to. In this situation I would tend to go for the splitter rather than the booster - the booster is generally designed to go at the far end of the cable, and 20m is probably going to be pushing it. Splitter is good for at least 15m. Maybe try and buy one from somewhere that will let you return it for a credit on a HDMI over CAT6 extender.

Dunnersfella

4100 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 887

#2479480 8-May-2020 19:42

If Sky is HD and other channels are not, then that could explain it.

Or the fact that MySky boxes are made to hit the cheapest price possible, sadly.

Traditionally I wouldn't recommend running an HDMI cable over 7 meters in length. After that I would recommend HD BaseT.

However, the advent of active cables changed my opinion... BUT then some of the Redmere variables seemed to have issues with compatibility between certain products.

Then fibre + copper cables came onto the market and I'd be more than happy to have one of them in my system at home as they 'should' be able to handle higher resolutions than Sky boxes (4K and 8K potentially in the future)!

Re: Your existing cabling.

Some better (not from JayCar) HDMI extenders will be labelled HD BaseT and will offer IR pass through for an IR transmitter / blaster system. So not only can you use the Cat5 cable for your video, but also use the same cable to facilitate the IR control of your Sky box.

You will want to make sure the Cat5 cable is terminated by someone who genuinely knows what they're doing and terminates both ends to either A/A or B/B as true HD Base T products enable POH, so you only need a power pack at one end (typically the Sky box end as there's normally more space there).

snnet

1413 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 556

#2479482 8-May-2020 19:47

As a rule I don't run these more than 10m for anything other than things like bar displays for TAB etc. Anything over that I run Cat6 and never had an issue. The units I use have infrared incorporated into them, and it's definitely the cheaper option to running a fibre HDMI cable (which is all I'd use if it were that long for any type of HD signal)