fiber optic hdmi cable

[apostolakisl]

Anyone have experience with this?  I need to make a roughly 100 foot run of hdmi and it is either fiber optic or figure out something totally different.

[paulbates]

There are media conversion devices that will take HDMI input and extend longer over other media like CAT6 and fiber, including +100'.

This is something you can get at Best Buy (and buy / make your own 100' CAT 6 cable). It's not cheap, but this will be one of those "you get what you pay for" scenarios. There are more devices at best buy if you go to 4 star ratings.. some are 100', some longer, but get more expensive the longer they go.

Paul

[Scottmichaelj]

Paul is right however it also depends on what your looking to do. If your just wanting 1080p then its a good solution but I would make sure to get one with HDBaseT bc that will handle HDCP HDMI handshaking better.

Since you stated you wanted fiber it makes me think your wanting to push 4K. If thats the case it greatly increases the cost and TBH I havent seen a good quality full 4K HDR 4:4:4 with 18GBps (uncompressed) over CAT balun thats not been compressed on the transmitter side and then uncompressed on the receiving side.

So it all depends on what your source is, what the receiving video is and then how large that video is. If you pushing 4K from say a Bluray UHD to maybe a 60” 4K TV the compression maynot be noticeable to care. However if your putting it on a 120” projector there might be some artifacts and noise.

If you can direct wire with HDMI for a long run look at the Redmere cables. If your going direct wire on full 4K I would recommend to make sure you are using a good quality 18GBps rated cable so your future proofing yourself somewhat.

Fiber is good but the tools to terminate and the connections are still expensive and the adoption rate for most customers to 4K is really low. I saw a lot of Video over CAT for the last few years but now things seem to be going back to “local” installs as PCs, streaming sticks, AppleTVs are shrinking in size. You can now get a Middle Atlantic in wall 14x14 box that holds this stuff behind a TV hanging on the wall with an outlet in them. Add to the fact we are still waiting to see some standard to shake out a bit more especially with HDR so maybe hold tight for a bit longer unless you need to do something now.

https://www.middleatlantic.com/products/display-mounts/av-storage-solutions/proximity-in-wall-boxes.aspx

[apostolakisl]

2 hours ago, Scottmichaelj said:

Paul is right however it also depends on what your looking to do. If your just wanting 1080p then its a good solution but I would make sure to get one with HDBaseT bc that will handle HDCP HDMI handshaking better.

Since you stated you wanted fiber it makes me think your wanting to push 4K. If thats the case it greatly increases the cost and TBH I havent seen a good quality full 4K HDR 4:4:4 with 18GBps (uncompressed) over CAT balun thats not been compressed on the transmitter side and then uncompressed on the receiving side.

So it all depends on what your source is, what the receiving video is and then how large that video is. If you pushing 4K from say a Bluray UHD to maybe a 60” 4K TV the compression maynot be noticeable to care. However if your putting it on a 120” projector there might be some artifacts and noise.

If you can direct wire with HDMI for a long run look at the Redmere cables. If your going direct wire on full 4K I would recommend to make sure you are using a good quality 18GBps rated cable so your future proofing yourself somewhat.

Fiber is good but the tools to terminate and the connections are still expensive and the adoption rate for most customers to 4K is really low. I saw a lot of Video over CAT for the last few years but now things seem to be going back to “local” installs as PCs, streaming sticks, AppleTVs are shrinking in size. You can now get a Middle Atlantic in wall 14x14 box that holds this stuff behind a TV hanging on the wall with an outlet in them. Add to the fact we are still waiting to see some standard to shake out a bit more especially with HDR so maybe hold tight for a bit longer unless you need to do something now.

https://www.middleatlantic.com/products/display-mounts/av-storage-solutions/proximity-in-wall-boxes.aspx

There are quite a few hdmi fiber cables that come terminated.  I would not be terminating myself.  Amazon has several in the $200 price range at 100 feet.  I once tried cat5 setup and it was 100% useless.  Reviews are good for these wires, but reviews are hard to know for sure.

[Scottmichaelj]

There are quite a few hdmi fiber cables that come terminated.  I would not be terminating myself.  Amazon has several in the $200 price range at 100 feet.  I once tried cat5 setup and it was 100% useless.  Reviews are good for these wires, but reviews are hard to know for sure.

Just make sure they are full spec and legit. Lots of fakes and BS. Otherwise you’ll be fine.

[apostolakisl]

45 minutes ago, Scottmichaelj said:

 

Just make sure they are full spec and legit. Lots of fakes and BS. Otherwise you’ll be fine.

 

Yeah, that is why I posted here.  Hoping someone could say "I bought x from place y and it worked great".  Amazon is pretty safe, though, I can always return it.

[oberkc]

I just installed a projector at a school.  They purchased a long HDMI cable that was, apparently, fiber-optic cable.  (I was definitely curious how it worked, but not so much to actually look it up.  I assume it is extracting a small amount of power through the HDMI for the conversion from electrical to light and back.)   It worked great as far as I can tell.  Resolution was probably 1080.

[Scottmichaelj]

Interesting article and overview on HDMI cables (informational only - I have never used these cables or the manufacturer)

 

http://www.accessories4less.com/mas_assets/theme/accessories4less/images/manuals/ethhdmi.pdf

 

Edit: This is an reputable AV industry site with additional details

 

https://www.residentialsystems.com/blogs/hdmi-copper-vs-fiber-4k

[larryllix]

It would be nice to see bandwidth specs on copper HDMI cables vs length.
I typically use the cheap ones but with short lengths. I am not a believer in better grades of copper wire but I am a believer in varying grades of insulation capacitance  between the conductors..

[Scottmichaelj]

It would be nice to see bandwidth specs on copper HDMI cables vs length.
I typically use the cheap ones but with short lengths. I am not a believer in better grades of copper wire but I am a believer in varying grades of insulation capacitance  between the conductors..

This is becoming more of an issue bc you need the bandwidth. 1080p and previous HDMI were more than capable. With 4K its becoming more prevalent. I have heard about cables being sold as 4K blah blah blah but during tests they find its not. TBH most customers wouldn’t even know. It becomes more apparent the larger the screen, and mostly for projectors. Then most 4K projectors still are $5,000 USD or more for anything decent. JVC is just now shipping their true 4K without EShift and Sony has had some for about a year.