HDMI - a long cable run 10m

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › HDMI - a long cable run 10m - 15 m

davidcole

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#23910 11-Jul-2008 09:06

Hi

Just been told by my brother in law that he's probably going to upgrade to the new mySky HD. At the moment he has MySky - how it's connected i don't know (Component or composite).

The problem is on his house the cables run through the walls and the unit wiht the mySky is about 10m away from where the tv sits.

Now obviously to get MySky HD he needs to be using an HDMI cable - the question is - is any HDMI cable long enough going to do tht ejob, or should he look for a better "quality" one. I've heard the "it's digital" arguments, but I thought cable quality became an issue after a certain lenght.

Recommendations on where to purchase such a cableowuld be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Previously known as psycik

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davide

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#146608 11-Jul-2008 10:04

Take a look at this thread in another forum.
I wouldn't bother with Monster cables or anything like that, just go for a reasonable branded one if possible.
There are some 15m ones on Trademe at the moment as well, that seems (to me) a not unreasonable price to pay ($299)

Cheers

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stuzzo

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#146610 11-Jul-2008 10:08

davidcole: Hi

Just been told by my brother in law that he's probably going to upgrade to the new mySky HD. At the moment he has MySky - how it's connected i don't know (Component or composite).

The problem is on his house the cables run through the walls and the unit wiht the mySky is about 10m away from where the tv sits.

Now obviously to get MySky HD he needs to be using an HDMI cable - the question is - is any HDMI cable long enough going to do tht ejob, or should he look for a better "quality" one. I've heard the "it's digital" arguments, but I thought cable quality became an issue after a certain lenght.

Recommendations on where to purchase such a cableowuld be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Psycik, there is still a suspicion that the component output from My Sky HDi might be HD capable ie not down-rezed to SD. Sky have been pushing the HDMI only line though. There may be some forum member with the inside info on this.

If component is HD he could use his existing component lines. Why not get the installer to set the box up close to the TV with Sky's HDMI cable and then test the component output later, instead of doing anything that involves destroying walls yet!

As far as an HDMI cable goes, if 10m is sufficient then there are plenty of relatively cheap cables that will surfice. You can tell if an HDMI cable is working if you get a picture. If it is not working you will get no picture or random pixelation called "sparklies". There is nothing inbetween, there is no "this HDMI cable gives a slightly sharper picture" arguement .

HDMI cables tend to use 24 AWG to 28 AWG cable with the former size recommended for longer runs 10m and above.

There are plenty of sources of good cables for 10m . I use this one from Jaycar which transmits 1080p fine. However, if you are going to put one in a wall I'd suggest getting a cable that is rated for HDMI 1.3B performance so it can handle future bandwidth requirements. RapalloAV is another supplier many recommend but they are a bit more expensive.

I suppose the use of cat 5 with baluns as queried in the above posters link might be an option here as you might be able to pull cat 5 through the wall using an existing cable but you certainly couldn't pull an HDMI cable through. The cat 5 would be handling a huge bandwidth though so you would have to avoid damage.

cyril7

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#146614 11-Jul-2008 10:12

There are potential issues with HDMI on lengths over 5m, although with suitable cables these are readily fixed. Cables under 5m are typically made with 30gauge wire, those between 5-20m are normally made with 28 or even 24gauge, the heaver gauge is needed to reduce transmission losses. Cables that are not suited to their length will produce sparklies which results from the onset of data errors due to excessive transmission loss and clock skew/jitter, using a heavier gauge reduces this.

Also keep in mind that there is a large variation in data rates on HDMI depending on what frame rate and data depth (bits/video channel) is in use. For broadcast applications it likely that we will never see high bit depth colour (ie greater than 24bit (8bit/ch) nor frame rates such as 1080/50p only modest 1080i and 720p. The lower the frame rates and colour depth the lower the data rate on the HDMI cable.

I have found Selbys in Aus have good value and quality cables, and good service to NZ, a reasonable price to pay is around A$80-100 for a 10m cable, and $150 for 15m. Murray at RapalloAV in auckland also has a good range, albeit a bit dearer.

Cyril

davidcole

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#146619 11-Jul-2008 10:26

Thanks for all the replies.

I don't think my BIL is destroying walls, but getting the new cable pulled through. He may get it connected the same as mySky currently, and then add the HDMI later on..

I'll send his the links.

stuzzo

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#146628 11-Jul-2008 10:43

Just for the record, HDMI cable 1.3a is the most common way of labeling the highest specified cable. 1.3b that I mentioned above is a compliance testing spec.