HDMI Baluns help needed

bazzachazza

OK basics are. I want to run HD signal from Sky HD box in sitting room to HD ready TV in kitchen.

I have,

HDMI baluns
RJ45 cat 6 cable
HDMI splitter.

The cable will be run behind plaster board at skirting board level, through block walls and then over doors behind plaster board to TV point in kitchen. Total run is about 17m. Holes in plaster board and removing skirting board is no issue as foundation is being removed to repair a pyrite issue. Note option of ducting direct to kitchen wall and then up behind the plasterboard is possible reducing run to maybe 10-12m but not my preferred routing due to increased cost of buying ducting and getting into house at the right time when the foundation has been dug out and before they lay the infill which could damage the cabling when compacted.

The Problem

Ok so I bought the above equipment and the baluns and splitter do the job, but I found when I connected the 2x25m lengths of CAT6 cable there was no picture. The picure and sound appeared for a split second and crackled and hissed and disappeared and repeated this cycle every 5 seconds or so. So I retested with 2x1m Ethernet cables and I got a perfect HD image and sound. Strange I thought so I tested the system with 1x1m cable and 1x25m cable and again got a perfect HD image and sound. I swapped both cables out for the other two to check and see if there was a problem with one cable again I got a perfect HD image.

The problem only happens with 2x25m cables connected at the same time. Any ideas? I have till mid June to get this system working before my window closes to put the cabling in the wall and get the plasterer to repair the holes etc.

I only bought the 25m cable to have some spare in case I made a mistake crimping the new RJ45 connector on.

Is it the cable length ?

This is the Balun I bought http://cgi.ebay.ie/30m-60m-HDMI-1080p-Signal-Extender-over-Cat5e-6-Cable-/300539934043?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item45f993755b#ht_1194wt_934

akaSol

bazzachazza wrote: »

OK basics are. I want to run HD signal from Sky HD box in sitting room to HD ready TV in kitchen.

I have,

HDMI baluns
RJ45 cat 6 cable
HDMI splitter.

The cable will be run behind plaster board at skirting board level, through block walls and then over doors behind plaster board to TV point in kitchen. Total run is about 17m. Holes in plaster board and removing skirting board is no issue as foundation is being removed to repair a pyrite issue. Note option of ducting direct to kitchen wall and then up behind the plasterboard is possible reducing run to maybe 10-12m but not my preferred routing due to increased cost of buying ducting and getting into house at the right time when the foundation has been dug out and before they lay the infill which could damage the cabling when compacted.

The Problem

Ok so I bought the above equipment and the baluns and splitter do the job, but I found when I connected the 2x25m lengths of CAT6 cable there was no picture. The picure and sound appeared for a split second and crackled and hissed and disappeared and repeated this cycle every 5 seconds or so. So I retested with 2x1m Ethernet cables and I got a perfect HD image and sound. Strange I thought so I tested the system with 1x1m cable and 1x25m cable and again got a perfect HD image and sound. I swapped both cables out for the other two to check and see if there was a problem with one cable again I got a perfect HD image.

The problem only happens with 2x25m cables connected at the same time. Any ideas? I have till mid June to get this system working before my window closes to put the cabling in the wall and get the plasterer to repair the holes etc.

I only bought the 25m cable to have some spare in case I made a mistake crimping the new RJ45 connector on.

Is it the cable length ?

This is the Balun I bought http://cgi.ebay.ie/30m-60m-HDMI-1080p-Signal-Extender-over-Cat5e-6-Cable-/300539934043?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item45f993755b#ht_1194wt_934

HDCP issue by the sound of it .
Couple of questions for you :
Are the Extender's powered or passive ?
In what way does the HDMI splitter work ; one into two or is it switched (one on one off )

Sol

( You might want to drop your video out put to 480p / 720p and try with the long cables as well )

basill

I had no end of problems with my 4 by 4 HDMI splitter so have unplugged it and now its in a box in the loft. All of my AV gear is located centrally under the stairs in the hallway and the idea was that if I routed things like sky boxes and a dvd player through the HDMI splitter then I could choose which TV to "send" them to. The problems started to arise when I tried changing the source inputs on the HDMI splitter and I started getting picture break up or blue screens of death.

I think the root cause of the issue was with various devices being unable to handshake correctly. I think that is what is referred to as HDCP. Also it was only a cheap HDMI splitter from ebuyer. Maybe one day I will save enough and splash out on some Gefen gear which seem to be the market leaders.

http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=5307 (They have a nice manual which provides some background to what goes on inside the box)

From reading loads of threads on various websites it seems it is unfortunately a well known issue. To be fair the technology is still relatively speaking in its infancy. I suspect that these sorts of issues will only really be solved once and for all when the manufacturers of each device build to a consistent standard.

PS: As an aside have you closed the walls up yet? You might want to consider running some additional cable for the future.eg: a run of coax for a magic eye. Also additional Cat 5 or 6 if your TV supports ethernet. You can never have to much cable sitting in your walls, trust me.

PPS: If your up for it here is an interesting article on HDCP and its many pitfalls.

http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/hdcp-1.html

Stinicker

I have a similar setup and it works perfect except my cable run is easily over 25metres, I used 2 x Cat5 and the cable runs through the hotpress as part of its run and whenever someone switch off the light on the wall opposite it pixelates and loses signal for half a second, so a piece of advice would be to use well shielded cable to avoid any outside interference. Every so often you will have to power everything down (about once a fortnight) as it give me a purple screen of death, having to plug out everything and reboot them and it works great again.