We are in the process of performing an install in a house where a customer has some older equipment. We are going to have to run about 100' of video cable from the switcher to the customer's t.v. as they want everything in the basement. This being said the DVD player they currently have only has s-video or component video outputs. What I'm thinking of doing, considering we want to make the run from the switcher to the t.v. with HDMI cable for future upgradeability, is taking the component video, adapting it to DVI via a monoprice adapter, and then adapting from DVI to HDMI via another monoprice adapter, and then runing the hdmi into the switcher. Is this a viable option or are there better options for switching with s-video? Thoughts???

We are in the process of performing an install in a house where a customer has some older equipment. We are going to have to run about 100' of video cable from the switcher to the customer's t.v. as they want everything in the basement. This being said the DVD player they currently have only has s-video or component video outputs. What I'm thinking of doing, considering we want to make the run from the switcher to the t.v. with HDMI cable for future upgradeability, is taking the component video, adapting it to DVI via a monoprice adapter, and then adapting from DVI to HDMI via another monoprice adapter, and then runing the hdmi into the switcher. Is this a viable option or are there better options for switching with s-video? Thoughts???

Just throwing this out there - I am not familiar with the monoprice adapters. It's possible that the Component -> DVI will give you a DVI-A signal, which doesn't convert to HDMI without an active component (can't just use a passive adapter).

A DVD player with HDMI out can be had for, what, $50 for a basic one?

Might just be time for an upgade

It's possible that the Component -> DVI will give you a DVI-A signal, which doesn't convert to HDMI without an active component (can't just use a passive adapter).

I believe romantcnj is correct - component to HDMI (DVI-D) would have to be an active device.

A DVD player with HDMI out can be had for, what, $50 for a basic one?

This would probably make more sense financially - since the labor of pulling wires is likely the biggest expense.

While your at it - if possible - you may want to consider running additional wires to be safe, while the walls are open. We usually run (at least):

- 1 HDMI
- 1 mini-RGB (5 wire: component video + stereo audio)
- 4 Cat5e
1 for control
1 for network
2 for baluns, future-proofing, whatever replaces HDMI :-)

You can make a 100' run to the television with three coax's for component video. To run a HDMI cable 100' would require an active cable or some type of fiber optic or CAT5 HDMI link.

You could use a Lumagen HDP or HDQ video processor to switch the video sources. This would also give you great scaling and a way to fully calibrate the video system.

If I were hooking up this system I might look at running two CAT5 cables between the video sources and the television. I would use one CAT5 with a DVI/HDMI adapter (with HDCP support) to distribute video to the television and another CAT5 to run an IR blaster back from the television to control the equipment in the basement.

Randy

To run a HDMI cable 100' would require an active cable or some type of fiber optic or CAT5 HDMI link. . . . I would use one CAT5 with a DVI/HDMI adapter (with HDCP support) to distribute video to the television

You are correct. I missed the 100ft part. HDMI is difficult at these lengths, either with an active cable or a Cat5 adapter.

FYI - most Cat5 HDMI extenders I've seen require TWO Cat5's (not just one). Also, many of them recommend or require shielded Cat5e or Cat6. (I have not personally tried any of these in installations.)

What do you guys think about 100' of HDMI via two silver 50' lengths of HDMI cable from monoprice and joining them with the extender listed below?


Product ID: 3394
PREMIUM Metallic HDMI Active Equalizer Extender Repeater - Extend Upto 100FT


$23.20 $22.80

Thanks for the other advice too guys, we have decided to quote using the HDMI and a mini-RGB cable for the run from the components to the TV.

A 100' HDMI cable sounds risky even if you use an active equalizer. I would still pull three CAT5 cables, with the HDMI cable, as cheap insurance. What resolution are you feeding to the television over the HDMI cable? On such a long cable a lower resolution might work and it might fail with a higher resolution signal. Before the installation, you can test the HDMI cable to make sure that it works with a 1080p signal. Then your customer won't have an unpleasant surprise some day when he upgrades his equipment.

You could contact BlueJeans or Monoprice tech support and ask for their advice on this installation.

Randy

I've used several Extron HDMI 201 extenders in a commercial installation with great success. The application was extending wall-mounted HD video conference cameras located in rooms throughout several floors of a building to the farmed codecs in the first floor head-end. Each one requires two CAT5e cables (regular UTP, not CAT6). The furthest run was a little over 400'. I was very skeptical with those distances, but the video was immaculate. You couldn't tell that the cameras were not plugged directly intothe codecs. I'm not sure what they cost though. I'm sure that they were overly expensive as is most Extron stuff, but at least they work as advertised.