Wireless HDMI / HDMI over Cat6

[professorhat]

Hi all,

Been away from forums for a while as have finally moved into our new home in Surbiton and away from sunny Croydon (hurrah!).

Moving into a smaller flat has presented me with an issue and it looks like the resolution will be to move my AV rack to a position at almost 90 degrees to the viewing position. This has presented me with two issues:

1. I need a long (probably around 15 metres) HDMI and speaker connection to the TV and front and centre speakers from the AV receiver. Speaker cable is obviously okay, but HDMI presents an issue in terms of length. I'm wondering if the best bet is switch to either a HDMI over Cat6 converter based solution or wireless HDMI solution - has anyone tried either / both and their experiences. Clearly the Cat6 solution looks the cheaper, but does it work?

2. The AV receiver will then be out of line of sight of general remote usage. I know you can get remotes such as the Harmony 900 which will include the "IR mini blasters" - will this allow me to send remote control signals to both the AV receiver + other sources on the AV rack and the TV (which would be at completely different angles to each other). Again, anyone had any experience of using these?

Thanks guys!

 

[Xanderzdad]

Hi Prof

I am using reasonably priced HDMI cable over 15m and it all works fine in a Full HD projector set up. Running from my AV amp providing it with Bluray and Sky HD.

It was only £34 http://www.thatcable.com/product/15m-HDMI-Cable

I am really pleased as my old cable would not work at full HD. This is much cheaper and probably simpler than going wireless or via Cat 6.

 

[The_Lhc]

15 metres to go from the side wall to the front wall, how big is this penthouse flat?

I'm doing that but luckily the KRP-500a has a separate media box, so only one "hdmi" (the system cable, it isn't hdmi but sort of is) cable needs to go from the rack to the screen, along with the speaker cables, as the media box sits on the rack with everything else. I got the 10m system cable for the TV but the reality is it only needs about half of it, this is in a 5mx4.8m room, although the rack is nearer the front of the room than the back. 10m would still be easily long enough even if the rack was next to the sitting position (we initially tried everything in the room facing the other way around where the rack was nearer the sitting position than it was the TV).

I can't remember what TV you've got or whether anyone still makes them with separate media boxes now but that might help and would be a good (ok, quite weak) excuse to get a new TV!

 

[professorhat]

Thanks Xanderzdad - yeah, a long HDMI cable is one solution, but I'd quite like to do it with the smaller cable if poss - HDMIs of that length would probably be quite chunky? So I'm thinking Cat6 might be better (and wireless best of all). The other temptation on wireless is possibly getting the signal sent to another TV in the kitchen in the future, but this is by no means justification for spending hundreds of pounds more on its own!

The_Lhc - not a penthouse unfortunately(!), just unfortunate door positioning and wiring already round the door makes it very tricky to go that route, meaning it's much easier to have a longer along the floor the other way round.

EDIT - having said that, £34 to solve the problem rather than faffing with converters etc. is quite tempting. Will have a proper measure tonight and see if this will do the job. Thanks v much!

 

[professorhat]

The other temptation on wireless is possibly getting the signal sent to another TV in the kitchen in the future, but this is by no means justification for spending hundreds of pounds more on its own!

You wouldn't need to, with wireless HDMI you could probably microwave your dinner without leaving the sofa...

Mmmm, lazy

 

[The_Lhc]

The other temptation on wireless is possibly getting the signal sent to another TV in the kitchen in the future, but this is by no means justification for spending hundreds of pounds more on its own!

You wouldn't need to, with wireless HDMI you could probably microwave your dinner without leaving the sofa...

 

[professorhat]

Ooo, any one had any experience of any RF remotes? This is my other worry as those Harmony 900s aren't cheap. Anything I could use with the current Harmony 555?

 

[Pittodriered]

I'm using HDMI over cat 6 to send a signal from the second HDMI output on my amp to give me sky hd in the bedroom. Yes its more expensive but i've had no problems since installing. I bought the extenders from hdcable.co.uk and use 0.5m thatcable hdmi's to connect the extenders. You can get extenders that use only one cat 6 cable but these are more expensive. It was an ideal solution for me as I had tried to use a 10m hdmi cable but wasn't able to pull it the the wall cavity.

I would thoroughly recommend using the cat 6 extenders.

 

[professorhat]

Thanks Pittodriered - good to know these things work if I do go down that avenue!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Prof, I used to have the harmony 895 (basically the old version of the 900) and it worked perfectly well, no problems what so ever. As a cheaper alternative you could keep your 555 and buy a complete IR receiver / distributor kit from somewhere like www.letsautomate.com or www.lektropacks.com they are about £26 upwards and work well.

 

[professorhat]

Thanks Mark. Yes, was snooping around the IR extenders and I have ordered the following Marmitek PowerMid XL infrared extender set, so will see how it performs.

Thanks again all!

 

[The_Lhc]

I have ordered the following Marmitek PowerMid XL infrared extender set, so will see how it performs.

I'm guessing you'll either love it or hate it...

 

[professorhat]

I have ordered the following Marmitek PowerMid XL infrared extender set, so will see how it performs.

I'm guessing you'll either love it or hate it...

Well, they're here - look good so far but will run them for a few days in anger before I commit to saying I love them

Looks like there's actually about 12m round the three walls between my destined AV rack location and the TV so I reckon a cheap HDMI cable is the way to go for now until I decide on a longer term strategy.

Thanks all!

 

[The_Lhc]

I have ordered the following Marmitek PowerMid XL infrared extender set, so will see how it performs.

I'm guessing you'll either love it or hate it...

Well, they're here - look good so far but will run them for a few days in anger before I commit to saying I love them

Don't worry, it was just a weak pun on Marmite(k)...

 

[professorhat]

Yup, I got it - hence the wink. Although I could have equally put someone playing the guitar :rockout:

Not sure why, just seems like a nice thing to do on a Friday.

 

[chudleighpaul]

I have ordered the following Marmitek PowerMid XL infrared extender set, so will see how it performs.

I'm guessing you'll either love it or hate it...

Well, they're here - look good so far but will run them for a few days in anger before I commit to saying I love them

Looks like there's actually about 12m round the three walls between my destined AV rack location and the TV so I reckon a cheap HDMI cable is the way to go for now until I decide on a longer term strategy.

Thanks all!

Surely a solid gold cable with platinum connectors would better. I'm amazed you are going for a cheap cable !