CybrGuy
04-15-09, 06:22 PM
A friend and I run a 850 seat theater for a regional FAN convention and I am trying to come up with the best solution for getting a 1080P signal from my control booth to the projector which is 85ish feet away by cable run length. So naturally about 100 feet is ideal to allow slack and a little bit of flexibility for placement of our equipment in the booth.
I thought my experiments may help someone else so here's what I did and what happened.
This year we bought the Tartan 22AWG 100ft HDMI cable from Blue Jeans Cable since it was just a few miles from the Wa State convention center. Our goal was to output 1024x768 to the projector by using a dvi adapter. The projector displayed 1024x768 with green dashes and lines on all black parts of the image when we started with a DVI adapter on each end. We swapped one of the adapters from a cheap one from monoprice to the one that came with one of our ATI cards and that reduced the degradation but now there was blue noise in all the black spaces, better than the green lines, but still annoying. We ended up swapping to 800x600 and that worked fine. It was a native 1024x768 projector so running at 800x600 was less than ideal. It turned out in the end to be the older DVI native equipment's fault for not performing.
After the event, I tested this between computers and my Samsung 67A750, as well as a cheap HDMI 1080P monitor. I managed to get any combination to at least do 1080i, but nothing would work at 1080p at 100'. (one side with hdmi to DVI adapter)The difference between the ATI dvi to HDMI adapter and the cheap ones I got from monoprice was usually one full resolution step worth of signal quality going over the 100ft cable. Over the 50 foot cable, there was usually no difference. Our Tartan 26AWG 50' cable worked fine for 1080p to and from all devices with or without DVI adapters.
Blue Jeans cable has the Tartan 22AWG cables on sale right now. And based on my experience they are good for long runs, but I would stay below 80 feet if you want 1080P. If you want 80+ feet, Blue Jeans Cable has BJC Series-1 Belden Bonded-Pair HDMI Cables. They have tested these cables to 1080P up to 125 feet. So a 100 foot run should be reliable but they don't sell over 100 foot cables just to be sure they are solid. The price tag was also a bit much for me at $266. Considering the Tartan 80' 22AWG cables are $72 right now, that is basically $200 for an extra 20 feet.
What I learned from my experiments:
1. Less expensive but thick cables max around 80ft for modern HDMI devices
2. ATI's low bandwidth HDMI option didn't help in my tests.
3. Older equipment, especially DVI based don't do nearly as well, but still worked with the 50' and under cables.
4. The DVI/HDMI adapter quality made a noticeable difference(on >50 foot runs)
5. Right now the dual cat6 devices seem like my best bet for >80 but <150ft runs.
http://videogame.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00507
And the other option is the HDMI repeaters I see for $30-50, but I haven't found any reviews on them yet.
6. These cables are really heavy and not very flexible, so be sure to screw in adapters tightly(when applicable) and be aware of the forces on your HDMI ports
Has anyone else tried any 90+ foot cables out? What have your experiences been? Has anyone used an amp/splitter to allow for 2 50' lengths to be coupled to allow for a 100' run? I see them advertised but no reviews on people using them for two 50' segments or longer.
I thought my experiments may help someone else so here's what I did and what happened.
This year we bought the Tartan 22AWG 100ft HDMI cable from Blue Jeans Cable since it was just a few miles from the Wa State convention center. Our goal was to output 1024x768 to the projector by using a dvi adapter. The projector displayed 1024x768 with green dashes and lines on all black parts of the image when we started with a DVI adapter on each end. We swapped one of the adapters from a cheap one from monoprice to the one that came with one of our ATI cards and that reduced the degradation but now there was blue noise in all the black spaces, better than the green lines, but still annoying. We ended up swapping to 800x600 and that worked fine. It was a native 1024x768 projector so running at 800x600 was less than ideal. It turned out in the end to be the older DVI native equipment's fault for not performing.
After the event, I tested this between computers and my Samsung 67A750, as well as a cheap HDMI 1080P monitor. I managed to get any combination to at least do 1080i, but nothing would work at 1080p at 100'. (one side with hdmi to DVI adapter)The difference between the ATI dvi to HDMI adapter and the cheap ones I got from monoprice was usually one full resolution step worth of signal quality going over the 100ft cable. Over the 50 foot cable, there was usually no difference. Our Tartan 26AWG 50' cable worked fine for 1080p to and from all devices with or without DVI adapters.
Blue Jeans cable has the Tartan 22AWG cables on sale right now. And based on my experience they are good for long runs, but I would stay below 80 feet if you want 1080P. If you want 80+ feet, Blue Jeans Cable has BJC Series-1 Belden Bonded-Pair HDMI Cables. They have tested these cables to 1080P up to 125 feet. So a 100 foot run should be reliable but they don't sell over 100 foot cables just to be sure they are solid. The price tag was also a bit much for me at $266. Considering the Tartan 80' 22AWG cables are $72 right now, that is basically $200 for an extra 20 feet.
What I learned from my experiments:
1. Less expensive but thick cables max around 80ft for modern HDMI devices
2. ATI's low bandwidth HDMI option didn't help in my tests.
3. Older equipment, especially DVI based don't do nearly as well, but still worked with the 50' and under cables.
4. The DVI/HDMI adapter quality made a noticeable difference(on >50 foot runs)
5. Right now the dual cat6 devices seem like my best bet for >80 but <150ft runs.
http://videogame.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00507
And the other option is the HDMI repeaters I see for $30-50, but I haven't found any reviews on them yet.
6. These cables are really heavy and not very flexible, so be sure to screw in adapters tightly(when applicable) and be aware of the forces on your HDMI ports
Has anyone else tried any 90+ foot cables out? What have your experiences been? Has anyone used an amp/splitter to allow for 2 50' lengths to be coupled to allow for a 100' run? I see them advertised but no reviews on people using them for two 50' segments or longer.