HDMI over Cat5e problems and solutions, read before posting - Page 9

568b is what every extender I have seen recommends using. I have gotten 568a to work, but a crossover cable would not work ever. Glad to hear everyone has had some measure of success.

Here's a new HDMI HDBase-T Extender with IR and RS232 unit that tested amazingly well. It's from Asia and I don't yet know the mfg but here's a picture if you can find it online somewhere. Both the pcb and case are made very well with good attention to detail.

I'm running Keynote presentation from an iMac 27" Quad core with a mini displayport output.

I'm splitting the HDMI signal to two TVs and one projector. Since the computer negotiates with the slave to find the EDID, adding a 1x3 monoprice splitter makes it so the computer can't detect any monitor. The projector is 720p, the TVs are 1080p.

I've tried two inline solutions, neither have worked. The first was a DVI Doctor, which is supposed to pretend to be a single EDID device that you set up. The second was a Blackmagic Intensity Extreme, which would also not play with my computer.

I'm now looking at a KanexPro Mini Displayport to 2x HDMI unit. Other options might be to hook up to a A/V Receiver and put the splitter after this device, or if there are any TVs that have HDMI out (doubtful?). Perhaps converting to component video might be the choice to make?

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Greg

anyone have experience with the Key Digital balun? Home installer I'm working with says it is very reliable.

I ordered the monoprice HDbaseT system and it should arrive soon. I plan to run it over what I think is a connected Cat5e for what I assume is about 50 feet... we'll see how it works. I'll report back.

I've been using the monoprice HDBaseT system for more than two months, and I'm happy to say it's been working flawlessly over a 50' run with a single cat6. I even use the integrated IR blaster, no problems. It was a great price when compared to all the other HDBaseT units on the market.

I just replaced 3 old fiber optic runs my new puppy destroyed with HDBaseT extenders:

using the Accell E090C-003B (which also passes RS 232) and the Monoprice units: both work great over single CSAT-5E runs (my runs are about 100 feet each): all worked first time without a glitch

Do you know if you can use different IR Recieving eye's with this unit? rather than the eye that came with it. I ask because I would prefer an IR eye that is a little more low profile

I need help:

I have a need to connect the back of the room to the front of the room over HDMI. Each side of the room had a blue cat5e cable, however, I no longer thing they are the same cable. I terminated each end to the best of my ability, and then connected the HDBaseT system but got no link light... When I connect a preterminated 1 foot cable to the HDBaseT, it gives me a solid link light. I found the real cable upstairs that is the other end of one of the cables, and when I terminated that end and connected it, it gave me a blinking link light.

Does the blinking "link" light on the HDBaseT indicate that it's the right cable but something is wrong? Did I terminate it incorrectly? Is the cable too long, not strong enough, etc.?

Does anyone live in Dallas, knows terminating cables, wiring, etc. and wanna help me out for some money?

Have a 50' run with a Sony 1000ES 4k projector to source. I can run the HDBase-T Atlona Baluns AT-HD4-V110SR with a 50' cat 6 shielded solid core cable or do a diagonal shortcut/detour out of my wire mold metal conduit and run a high quality 35' hdmi cable spec' at 21 gbps from projector to blu-ray player.. What is the best and more future proof solution?

If I run the 35' hdmi, could it still pass high speed specs at 35'? If I add a Lumagen then I need another 4' hdmi cable... will this put the cable length over the edge, or is the second small hdmi run reamplified with the video processor so it's not part of the equation?

Wonder if this Atlona has any of the flickers or drop outs (when ac kicks on etc...) that has plagued many of the earlier baluns? Has anyone tried this new Atlona Baluns. It can handle 4k 3d to 60hz...so it seems very future proof.

http://www.atlona.com/ATLONA-HDMI-EX...-SUPPORT..html

For your 35' cable, you can try the new RedMere cables from Monoprice. http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...02&cp_id=10255

It's directionally active cable that supports 3D, 4K, etc. at long distances. The ETA shows available in July though. Monster also has cables with RedMere, most likely at outrageous prices.

I am currently using Atlona HDMI extenders over 100' CAT6 runs and they are very reliable. They are not the HDBase-T models though.

Folks,
I just got my extender from Monoprice today. It works. No issues. But as someone else pointed out earlier, the receiver unit heats up.
Trying to figure out the best way to mount the unit. It will go next to my ceiling mounted projector.
With the supplied brackets, the face of the extender would be flush with the dry wall. And its the face that heats up.
Cannot mount on the sides since thats where the ventilation holes are located. Any ideas?

I had issues with a customer's signal dropping out when a light was turned on. It also would turn on when the AC would come on. He also said when the system was completely off, the tv would turn on when they turned on a light in the bathroom!

Thanks to this forum I had a good idea that it was something to do with the balun. Everyone I spoke to thought it was an issue with the TV. I switched everything to component since that's what the customer had installed with his previous tv (new TV is a samsung plasma). Once I found out that the problem disappeared when on component I knew that it was the hdmi balun. I also had tried putting a power conditioner in (that didn't help at all).

This morning I checked the attic (i was not the one who installed the cat 5) I made sure all the cat 5 was away from all electrical wires. I did have to move it a bit, but the cat5 was no where near the bathroom area that would cause the dropout almost 100% of the time. I then re-terminated the rj45 plugs on the cat5's. My boss had me install the RJ45EZ jacks the first time. The manufacturer for the balun (SnapAV HD-2CAT-1080P-130) recommends using the regular RJ45's as the EZ version can create crosstalk.

I tested it & it worked great! I went around flipping switches and had the AC kick on a few times & it never dropped picture.

these are the components in the system: Samsung Plasma TV, snapav HD-2CAT-1080P-130 balun, UTP cat5, Anthem MRX300, Oppo BDP-93, and a directv box, all video being switched through the anthem. All HDMI sensing is off.

getting 1080p off the oppo, 1080i on the directv (it doesn't do 1080p even though in the settings it says it will)

Be aware of individual instructions for each balun, almost everything we install is terminated to 568A, but this particular balun needs the RJ45's terminated to 568B.

One thing I noticed is on SnapAv's single wire baluns it says to use shielded wire, on the dual cat5's it doesn't specify that. So far in my experience the dual UTP cat5 is working out after changing the RJ45's.


Thanks to everyone who posted on this thread, it helped me alot!

This thread is great, I figured I'd post my experience. Based on others experience here I have a lot of devices to research and buy something newer and powered to try to still use my builder installed Cat5e which is currently flakey on 1080p with the cheap monoprice extender.

I'll stick to the format in the first post on my attempts.
Attempt 1:
- Source-end: PS3
- CatX Adapter: Monoprice HDMI Extender Wallplate ~$19
- CatX Cables: ~20ft Cat6 UTP x 2 (T568B terminated)
- Far-end: Sammy 40" LCD (not sure model off hand)
- Resolution(s) tested: 480i/p 720p 1080i/p
- Status: Works perfectly

Attempt 2:
- Source-end: PS3
- CatX Adapter: Monoprice HDMI Extender Wallplate ~$19
- CatX Cables: ~20ft Cat5e UTP x 2 (???, termination not listed)
- Far-end: Sammy 40" LCD (not sure model off hand)
- Resolution(s) tested: 480i/p 720p 1080i/p
- Status: Works perfectly

Attempt 2:
- Source-end: PS3
- CatX Adapter: Monoprice HDMI Extender Wallplate ~$19
- CatX Cables: 6" Cat6 UTP patch cables(T586B terminated) x 4, 30' cat5e (builder installed, STP v UTP not listed, T586B terminated) x 2, leviton cat5e plates x 2
- Far-end: Sammy 40" LCD (not sure model off hand)
- Resolution(s) tested: 480i/p 720p 1080i
- Status: Works Ok, some artifacting occasionally @1080i. 1080p is really bad, looks like analog station not tuning in, sound works, but pretty worthless at this resolution.

I picked up the Monoprice hdmi over cat5 4x4 matrix as well.

For my initial tests, I'm distributing from a closet to two rooms over builder installed twisted-pair (assuming cat5e). The run lengths probably around 40' and 60'. For now, I'm using end-to-end runs, no patch panels or wall jacks.

Displays are Samsung 6000 32" and Samsung B450 46".
HDMI cables are Monoprice 1ft 28AWG w/ baluns.

Results:
PS3 gaming at 1080p: works great, no issues.
PS3 general use: changing resolution (gaming->menus->netflix, etc) will cut the picture for 1-5 seconds. This isn't a showstopper, but it's annoying.
PS3 dvd: unacceptable. Screen went solid green for 1-3 seconds every few minutes during playback

Samsung DVD player: unacceptable. Screen went solid green for 1-3 seconds every few minutes during playback

HTPC: no issues at 1080p

Installation:
The Samsung 6000 32" is a slim unit, and I got the monoprice "ultra-slim" mount. The total depth from bezel surface to wall is 2 3/8". Getting the monoprice receiver tucked in behind this was a major hassle, but it managed to get in. I'm using a USB to DC barrel connector adapter (Startech brand, from amazon) in place of the 5v wallwart to power the receiver balun from the TV. This made the whole thing possible...I only had one recessed power receptacle. It looks really clean, and the fiance is thrilled. (Enough to soften my budget caps a little :-)

The Samsung B450 46" will have oodles of room behind it. The TV is still sitting on the floor, but I don't foresee any installation problems.

IR passthrough.
So far, I haven't gotten the IR passthrough to do jack ****. I'm going to ignore its IR capabilities and solve that problem separately. The IR eyes are built into the units themselves, which means you need the balun visible to the viewer. This is IMO a really, really stupid design decision, since I'm assuming most people buying a consumer level hdmi-over-cat5 matrix are trying to hide their AV gear. The baluns also have blindingly bright blue leds right next to the sensor, so good luck covering those with electrical tape and still getting a decent angle for the remote to work with.

Audio return channel
Untested. I still have a pre-HDMI surround receiver.

Thoughts:
I started with the cheapest matrix switch out there with the plan of trading up if needed. I don't know if I'm keeping it yet. It seems to be unable to deal with HDCP content and blinks out frequently. Undecided on whether this is a showstopper.

I've done so much reading in this thread and around the web that I should be an expert by now but it's very overwhelming...

Looking for some advice:

I'm planning on a central machine room for a new house I just purchased (it's already built, so I'm hiring a company to fish new wire around the house -- fun!). The machine room is centrally located in the basement of the house.

I have 3 video zones I need to accomodate.

1. Main Floor living room - this is the closest to the machine room. I estimate perhaps maybe a 30-35 foot run.

2. Master Bedroom - this would need to go up through a conduit into the attic, to the back of the house and drop down to where the tv will be placed. I'm guessing this might be 75-80ft (this might be more, but better over estimate right?)

3. Guest Bedroom - again, up through the conduit, to the front of the house and drop down -- perhaps 55-60 feet.

Questions:

1. Can i simply use a long HDMI cable for the Main floor living room? It will be our primary viewing space so the least amount of "weirdness" the better. If the answer is yes, what is the best type of cable for the job?

2. Looking at extenders for the 2 second floor rooms -- I want extenders that are pretty much bullet proof - no drop-outs, hdcp issues etc. I also need them to have Dual band IR capability, and preferably no power supply on the receiver end. I'd like to pay $300-$350 or less if possible. HDbaset would be nice but not strictly required. Any recommendations?

Apologize in advance if this was asked and answered. Searched thread and nothing came up.

My builder pre-wired SHIELDED twisted pair Cat5 for 3 balun locations in a new construction. I have searched endlessly for the answer to this question:
Do I need to use Shielded RJ45 connection ends for both locations or just one location for the baluns? In other words, do I need to ground both ends of the shielded Cat5 or just one (for concern over a ground loop) for a balun?

I'm planning to use the Vanco 280725 Balun that uses 2 runs of Cat 5 or Cat 6 and is powered.
Vanco 280725 HDMI Wall Plate Extender.pdf 197k .pdf file

Manufacturer calls for UTP, not STP, so I would guess the gear is not designed for use with shielded plugs. If so, using shielded plugs is pointless. If the gear does support them, then just put them on both ends.

FWIW manufacturer also calls for Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable, not Cat 5. Using Cat 5 STP may reduce performance below that of Cat 5e UTP. You won't know if it is significant until you start using it.

I decided to write the manufacturer of the Vanco baluns and this is the response I received which will likely help anyone else who happens to have STP instead of UTP and questions about which end to ground:

"1. You can certainly use the shielded twisted-pair (STP) Cat 5e with the Vanco 280725 HDMI wall-plate extenders.

2. In North America unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cables are normally used, but in Europe, particularly in France and Germany, shielded twisted-pair cables (STP) are normally used. The shielding helps to eliminate any external electrical interference, but does constrain the radio frequency signal in the cable which slightly increases the attenuation (loss) of the signal. From a practical standpoint both UTP and STP are interchangeable in most applications.

3. It does make sense to use shielded RJ-45 modular connectors at both ends so that the benefit of additional shielding from electrical interference is maintained. For short distances the cable can be grounded on both ends, but for long distances a single point ground is better since in a large installation ground potential can vary and this can make the shield act like a long-wire antenna. In your home either way will work, but in" a commercial application or business "a single-point ground would likely be required."

Hi All, having a intermittent hdmi dropout issue (usually 2 to 5 seconds) but here is the hitch..the issue only happens when i am using a HDMI switch(un-powered)...here is my set up...using the monoprice hdmi over cat 6 my run is about 35 feet, ..everything was working well for several months and i decidd to add a wd tv live to the tv..i ordered a basic monoprice hdmi switch and when i set it up i started getting intermittent drops ourts...it is tied to the power because when i put the exhaust fan on in the bathroom it triggers a short drop out..

if i take the switch off then there are no drop outs...i also just tried another hdmi switch but this one was powered...it did seem to help as the drops were not as frequent but they still happen

Hi all,

I am using a Snap AV B-300 4x4 matrix with both the Monoprice HDBaseT extender and the Snap AV single wire balun. Using the Monoprice on the longer run (roughly 40m max) as the Snap AV blanked too frequently. I also have a powered splitter after my Denon receiver (which is connected via the HDBaseT Monoprice balun).

Anyway, I am finding that both infrequently bank - and looking at the amp in question it loses the handshake so probably not linked to the splitter which is connected after the receiver. This seems to have become more frequent.

I'm not convinced it's directly related to EMI interference as it doesn't blank when the AC, dishwasher or bathroom fan come on, and it seems to happen in the afternoon more often than not (!!!).

I'm using Cat6 terminated at wall plates at both ends. I also tested the runs using a professional network tester from work which passed all gigabit tests with no issues - although obviously I presume that test is more focused on data performance. I also have a UPS at one end. The Cat6 (which I installed) does cross over power circuits at right angles at one point in the loft space.

So I'm assuming it could be:

1.) EMI interference - although no evidence to support this
2.) Badly terminated runs - or perhaps wall plates, i.e. additional terminations impeding things
3.) The patch cables - which are all cat6 professional ones I've tested which passed all quality tests
4.) Powerline noise - possible but again no evidence of this being locally caused (i.e. by appliances)

Any thoughts or ideas? One idea might be to re-run a STP CAT6 run but grounding it might be tricky (never run grounded STP but guess it can't be too hard!).

Thanks all,

Alex.

I had the exact same setup and problem as you describe using the Snap matrix switch and Mono HDBaseT balun on the longest run: and I tried other matrix switches and baluns with same results

I can tell you my fix which worked for me: put an additional HDMI splitter on the output of the Snap AV port that is giving you a problem: just connect it through the splitter in and out to balun (you don't have to connect other output ports) and it should resolve the problem: I think the extra handshake required by the splitter does the trick: worth a try

Thanks for the idea - any ideas why that would help? I had assumed it was either connections or EMI interference (as much as I can't see a pattern!)...

I have a spare equaliser - I wonder if that might help!? Having said that the signal strength should be fine at the matrix end!

Learning to really hate HDMI!!

not really sure: when you turn the distant tv on, its request for handshake is not getting to the switcher: the splitter seems to respond to it though

I hate HDMI too: except when everything is working

Continual And Random Drop Out Of Video But Not Audio Signal

Issue: I setup a HDMI over CAT 6 solution in my home with some new equipment a couple of months ago and for the most part it works basically okay however at random points the video signal will simply die but the audio will still keep going through the speakers. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when it happens and it seems to get worse as the amp warms up. The solution is to change the output to something else and then back to what I'm watching. eg. If I'm on Blu-Ray, change to the Apple TV and then back again and the video comes back.

Interesting Info: My Apple TV 2 never gives me a problem and neither does my analogue based cable box but the blu ray player always will. Also the distance between amp 1 and TV 1 is between 85 to 90 feet and the distance between amp 2 and tv 2 is 30 to 35 feet but both setups have the same issue.

Equipment: Denon AVR-1912 amp, Atlona AT-HD30SR for HDMI over CAT 6, Apple TV 2, Toshiba BDX-3200 Blu Ray Player and Samsung UA55D6400 TV.

My Gut Feel: I think I need a powered extender instead of the current unpowered units. Something like an Atlona AT-HD4-SI40SR. I would love to be wrong of course and I would additionally love to get an understanding from somebody as to why the hell it's happening in the first place.

Read what Atlona has to say in the FAQ. They admit that the device will not even work with 10' of cable with some source devices, let alone 100'. Despite Atlona's attempt to put the blame on the manufacturers of the source equipment, the fault lies with manufacturer of the extender if they are stupid enough to power their device off the HDMI 5V line. The HDMI specification only requires source devices be able to supply 55 mA on the 5V line, primarily for hot plug detect. It isn't intended to power extenders.
Edited by Colm - 11/23/12 at 7:42pm

I have a problem with my extender (I think) which causes my Benq W6500 projector to act strangely when fed a 24p signal. The projector is connected to one of the HDMI outputs on my Marantz AV7005 pre/pro.

I have two sources, a PS3 and a HTPC. Both inputs on the Marantz have identical settings and all video processing is switched off. There are no problems with my other display - an LG TV - it works great in 24p from both sources so it is unlikely the problems with the projector are caused by the Marantz.

The Cat6 wiring is only about 10 meters and brand new shielded high quality stuff, self terminated, tested and routed through a conduit with no sharp bends and no stretching.

The extender is an NXG Technologies NX-HDEXT115 purchased at Amazon. It works perfectly when the signal is 50p or 60p. I would have thought 1080p60 would be harder to handle by the HDMI extender than 1080p24.

The projector behaves differently depending on the source when fed 24p material:

• PS3: Handshake with pre/pro results in 60p playback rather than 24p.
• HTPC: Handshake fails completely and the projector says "No signal". I have to power cycle both the projector and pre/pro in order for the projector to recover.

Can a low budget HDMI extender cause symptoms like this? I am thinking of ordering a new (returnable) HDbase-T extender to test with, I do not have a long enough HDMI cable anyway to test a direct connection.

Hello AVS folks, I hope your day is going better than mine! I just received my second balun in the mail, and am now having the same technical issue.

My setup...
Balun Attempt#1: Conversions Technology CT-HD100-E 330-feet HDMI Extender Over Cat5e/6
Balun Attempt#2: Accell E090C-003B UltraCat HDMI over Single Cat5e/6 High Speed Extender
Sources: Sony BDP-S790 || Nintendo Wii
Receiver: Onkyo HT-R990
Video: Epson PowerLite 8350
HDMI Cables: Monoprice UltraThin 6ft, Nintendo AV cable
Patch: Cable Matters 50ft Cat6a 550 MHz SSTP

Result for both balun attempts:

Blu ray player menu appears. I can traverse the menu, launch apps, but when I go to play a blu ray disc, I get a "not supported" message that flashes in the corner of the screen. I also get a "not supported" message for the Wii input. A DVD successfully displayed, but the video quality seemed bad.

I also used a 50ft Cat 5e cable that I had to test the Accell balun to no avail.

Tests conducted to isolate problem:
1) Connect blu ray player directly to projector. RESULT = SUCCESS.
2) Connect blu ray player through receiver to projector. RESULT = SUCCESS
3) Connect blu ray player through receiver via 50ft Redmere cable to projector. RESULT = SUCCESS

Blu ray player and Wii all displayed as normal in these tests.

Seems like some kind of handshaking issue with the balun and the projector? Please offer any tips. I turned on the balun transmitter with the hdmi connected directly to the projector to try and sync them, but that didn't help resolve the issue.

Ugh.

Very informative, if long, thread, thanks to everyone for your input. Basic question, what wires HDMI or Cat 6 should I run to a bedroom? About 30' away.

I'm finishing up running structured wiring to a central hub to the top of what will be a media closet. I've got, I think, one more long run to go between the hub and bedroom upstairs which is 15' away, plus maybe 5' to go up in the closet and 10' from the wall to TV/receiver in my bedroom so at about 30' long not that far. With a lot still exposed from other renovations, it's almost like a new construction.

With new construction/renovation, for distributed video, at 30', I'd run HDMI, a few cat6, and 1.5" (minimum) empty conduit.

Edit - And 1-2 RG6.
Edited by Neurorad - 12/22/12 at 3:20pm