Whats the safest max distance for HDMI cables? I have noticed on some sites 50-100 foot HDMI cables.. will these suffer and signal drop outs or any sort of issues due to their length.

I wouldn't want to guess at anything further than about 30-35'. The longer the cable, the more likely you are to have issues with the signal. I use DVI and HDMI to about 25' with no discernible problems. Buy a cable (make sure you can return it) and try it out if distance is a question.

Whats the safest max distance for HDMI cables? I have noticed on some sites 50-100 foot HDMI cables.. will these suffer and signal drop outs or any sort of issues due to their length.


I use a 50ft run of a single HDMI cable with no signal loss..


Cable length

The HDMI specification does not define a maximum cable length. As with all cables, signal attenuation becomes too high at a certain length. Instead, HDMI specifies a minimum performance standard. Any cable meeting that specification is compliant. Different construction quality and materials will enable cables of different lengths. In addition, higher performance requirements must be met to support video formats with higher resolutions and/or frame rates than the standard HDTV formats.

The signal attenuation and intersymbol interference caused by the cables can be compensated by using Adaptive Equalization.

HDMI 1.3 defined two categories of cables: Category 1 (standard or HDTV) and Category 2 (high-speed or greater than HDTV) to reduce the confusion about which cables support which video formats. Using 28 AWG, a cable of about 5 meters (~16 feet) can be manufactured easily and inexpensively to Category 1 specifications. Higher-quality construction (24 AWG, tighter construction tolerances, etc.) can reach lengths of 12 to 15 meters. In addition, active cables (fiber optic or dual Cat-5 cables instead of standard copper) can be used to extend HDMI to 100 meters or more. Some companies also offer amplifiers, equalizers and repeaters that can string several standard (non-active) HDMI cables together.

I am also planning a long HDMI cable run at about 50 ft and would like to see some more responses from those who have long HDMI runs. GD

I've got dual 50' HDMI monoprice cables from my plasma to my wiring closet.

I notice some sparklies at 1080i but since my plasma is only 720p I just run it in that resolution. I'm not sure if its the cables, eletrical interference or my HR20 that is causing the problems. The HR20 directv receiver is much better on HDMI than the old Directivo HR10-250 -- I used to get a ton of dropouts with that thing.


Cable I purchased

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024001&p_id=2804&seq=1&format=2&style=

I wouldn't go over 50' and in fact keep it to more like 35' if you want to avoid any issues.

I imagine if i complained to monoprice they would give me another cable, but since its already in the walls I'm not going to go rip it out -- fishing it through was a B*TCH!

I've been using a 50 ft run. If I have connected to my HD-DVD player it works fine. However when I tried it with my standard DVD player, I noticed sparklies.

Since I wanted to extend the run a bit, I connected the 50 ft cable to a 10ft foot cable, using an "HDMI repeater ampilfier".

Using that combination, the DVD player worked fine, no "sparklies".

So I'm thinking your success may be somewhat dependent on how strong of a signal the source device is sending.

I've been using a 50 ft run. If I have connected to my HD-DVD player it works fine. However when I tried it with my standard DVD player, I noticed sparklies.

Since I wanted to extend the run a bit, I connected the 50 ft cable to a 10ft foot cable, using an "HDMI repeater ampilfier".

Using that combination, the DVD player worked fine, no "sparklies".

So I'm thinking your success may be somewhat dependent on how strong of a signal the source device is sending.

what brand repeater are you using

I'm using a 66' cable to bring the Comcast HD signal to my projector. No problems at all with the signal.

Ray

I am using monoprice 50ft hdmi cables and works great. You do want to make sure though that you stay clear of any lighting, electric cables etc (just to be safe)
to avoid any interference.