[exjmc]

Hi all, not sure if this is the right pace for this, I'm new here... so go easy on me.

I have a problem. Bought a new apartment in NYC, and during renovations I had the contractor put a channel inside the wall so I could snake an HDMI and an Ethernet cable. After the walls were closed up and painted, I snaked the cable through, and that was all good.

The spot where the Verizon FiOS box enters the apartment is quite far from the living room TV location, so I got a 75-ft HDMI cable made by Kanex off Amazon. (I can't post a link yet because I'm new to the forum, but if you search for "HD75FTCL314" you'll see the cable.) I hid it behind the crown molding going around the room. (To be clear, I did test the cable between the FiOS box and the TV before running the cable to make sure it worked.)

Since moving in on Tuesday and starting to connect everything, there have been two occasions where the TV picture suddenly stops, and the screen says to "Turn on my STB or check my HDMI connections." The first couple times, it suddenly resolved itself after some period of time. Tonight, the picture died again, and I can't get it back.

This TV is a brand new Samsung 65" JS9500, a gorgeous 4K TV. It has the external OneConnect box, which has four HDMI inputs. The cable is plugged into HDMI1. I tried some steps to isolate the issue, but it only confused the picture...

I have a small 7" screen that I use when I do some mobile video work. It has an HDMI input. I took it to the OneConnect box, pulled the cable out of HDMI1, and plugged it into the tiny screen, and the picture came right up. So this made me think that it wasn't the cable.

But then, I disconnected my Chromecast from HDMI4 and plugged it into HDMI1, and the Chromecast picture came up immediately. So that tells me the port and OneConnect seem to be working.

Here are my possibilities I can come up with:
- The cable is bad and sometimes fails
- The TV/OneConnect box has some kind of issue TBD
- The cable, which has a built-in adjustable amplifier, is sending too much/little signal to the TV. I've tried changing the amplifier adjustment dial to all possible values (from 0 to 7) and no noticeable change. The cable came with no documentation to explain proper settings.

(As an aside, I also had a 50-ft version of the same cable that I was planning to run to the bedroom TV but haven't yet. I currently have that strung directly across the floor from the FiOS to the OneConnect's HDMI1 and it's working perfectly. At the moment.)

I'm planning to order a new 75-ft cable without an amplifier on it and try changing the cable, if I don't find any other solution.

To say I'm frustrated is to put it mildly. Any ideas/suggestions/prayers/incantations are welcome.

Thanks in advance!!
Mike

 

[Joe Fernand]

Passive HDMI cables are Standard or High Speed - cables capable of passing the High Speed certification top out at 8m (26').


Active cables rely on power being delivered from either the Source or Sink (Display) depending on the chip set used within the cable 'amplifier'.


The 5v carried over an HDMI cable to circuitry in the Sink (Display) was not designed to deliver power to 'active' circuitry in cables so whilst it can work it can also be problematic.


For long cable runs you are far better to consider running a solid core CAT6 cable and use an HDMI Extender set (Transmitter + Receiver) to pass the HDMI signal over the CAT cable.


There are lots of Extenders on the market - the best units utilise an add on chip called HDBT.


Joe

 

[exjmc]

Thanks Joe, I'll do some research on those solutions. Is there anything in particular that I should be looking for, to ensure that I can pass 4K content over that connection? Just trying to future-proof a bit. (I know that some HDMI cables like mine are considered "high-speed" for higher bandwidth, just wondering if it applies here too.)

Thanks!!

 

[Joe Fernand]

High Speed - is a suite of approved tests a cable manufacturer can have its cable assembly certified against at an approved certification centre, it costs 10's of thousands of $$$ and should not mixed up with marketing mumbo jumbo by folk who don't want to pay the fees!


4K - is another can of worms. 4K today will likely mean 2160p @ 30fps with HDCP 2.0 which can be achieved by current Extender technology, once Ultra-HD Blu-ray arrives that all goes by the way side and you require a new level of Technology/silicon which has not hit the market as yet!


Solid core CAT6 - is about as 'future proof' as you can go currently.


Joe

 

[exjmc]

OK so I picked up an Avenview HBT-C6IR-SET, which is a pair of HDMI transceivers. I will try them out tonight. I currently only have stranded CAT6, not solid core, will this work? Even temporarily? Anyone have a recommendation for a good cable vendor?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mdavej]

Wouldn't Redmere or component be a lot cheaper than a pair of transceivers?

 

[exjmc]

My experience with the active HDMi cable I have now has been only problematic, and Joe above seems to offer similar advice. The cost of transceivers for $200 is small compared to the $6K for the TV, so maybe that deludes me into thinking it's affordable. I can still exchange the transceivers if someone can help me understand why I might NOT want to go this way...?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Ratman]

Just sayin'...
Perhaps you should have had the FiOS guys install/terminate the STB closer to the TV.

 

[Joe Fernand]

'I currently only have stranded CAT6, not solid core, will this work?' - it can work its just not that reliable and if you find you have a non-functioning system you need to consider the units are working but the cable is letting you down!


Joe