Denon rep told me to be careful with >12' HDMI run

[nasty_VW_habit]

I just got off the phone with a helpful tech at denon - My AV gear will be installed across the room from my TV and wires run up thru ceiling (we are pulling down the old plaster ceiling). He cautioned me on a run of over 12' HDMI from AVR to TV.

Have you guys heard this? Anyone have a long run and can vouch for issues or other?

[gregg3gs]

There are a few ways you can handle this.

First off; I have used 50' hdmi cable (active) on multiple avr receivers and did not observe any mayor issues. I have used shorter cables too and over all had no issue with cable.
The most important here is the brand of the hdmi cable you get.
There are many out there but the good companies make sure their cable passes the "hdmi eye" test.
With out getting into too technical discussion, if you get a monster cable something like ultra high speed, or better cable than that, then you will be fine. I do not prefer monster but they are available rather easily from Best Buy Magnolia or B & H Photo. Do get the best you can find.

Second: you can get hdmi trans-coders and not warry over the distance too much. This is more expensive and requires some technical know how. (gefen transcodes, cat6 cable combo)

Finally: there is a new cable (I have not used yet) that is hdmi to fiber cable. This cable apparently can get you farther distance than any other regular cable, even some transcoders.

If you have any more questions ask.

Do not try to save money on the receiver to tv hdmi cable.

[nasty_VW_habit]

There are a few ways you can handle this.

First off; I have used 50' hdmi cable (active) on multiple avr receivers and did not observe any mayor issues. I have used shorter cables too and over all had no issue with cable.
The most important here is the brand of the hdmi cable you get.
There are many out there but the good companies make sure their cable passes the "hdmi eye" test.
With out getting into too technical discussion, if you get a monster cable something like ultra high speed, or better cable than that, then you will be fine. I do not prefer monster but they are available rather easily from Best Buy Magnolia or B & H Photo. Do get the best you can find.

Second: you can get hdmi trans-coders and not warry over the distance too much. This is more expensive and requires some technical know how. (gefen transcodes, cat6 cable combo)

Finally: there is a new cable (I have not used yet) that is hdmi to fiber cable. This cable apparently can get you farther distance than any other regular cable, even some transcoders.

If you have any more questions ask.

Do not try to save money on the receiver to tv hdmi cable.

Thanks for the input !
I spent allot of time on the phone today with a local AV custom installer who shared gobs of info. I found him through a search for local dealer of Episode speakers. He told me to try and keep the length to 7.5 meters which may work if I raise the AVR to a higher point in my location. Won't know for sure until we rip out ceiling and run the conduit that will house everything. Another option is I punch thru to the sunroom behind the screen and put the gear in that location and setup remote everything.

He was saying $225 gets you a cable that has done very well for him and it's not Monster.

I'm still getting over the price of the speakers though... there goes any plans of a wheel upgrade this year.

[smittyATL]

Meh, 12' seems a little low for a limit.

Digital/DC signals do not like traveling long distances. Ask that guy Tesla. That said, 50' or less shouldn't be a problem. I see 50' CAT6 cables used for digital signals without issue all the time.

[osiris]

Meh, 12' seems a little low for a limit.

Digital/DC signals do not like traveling long distances. Ask that guy Tesla. That said, 50' or less shouldn't be a problem. I see 50' CAT6 cables used for digital signals without issue all the time.

This is not good advice to listen to. HDMI is very touchy at distances longer than 15-20'.

[gregg3gs]

This is not good advice to listen to. HDMI is very touchy at distances longer than 15-20'.

not sure if I understand you now.

I run the darn thing 150' no problem (yes, through transcoders)

What do you mean?
Are you talking about a regular hdmi cable, without any support hardware?

[nasty_VW_habit]

not sure if I understand you now.

I run the darn thing 150' no problem (yes, through transcoders)

What do you mean?
Are you talking about a regular hdmi cable, without any support hardware?

This is all new to me as I haven't had an AVR in 10+ years and it wasn't HDMI back then (been running a BOSE all in one box system). From what I can tell the HDMI will be the only thing running from my AVR to the TV. Cable/DVD/Wii/AppleTV etc all go via HDMI into the AVR. The custom install guy mentioned cat5 something something - all french to me, but said if I can keep it to a high end 7.5 meter HDMI then it should fly w/o issues. I'd really like the AV gear in the built in bookshelf diagonally across the room though.... and it's 20' plus by the time you go up 3+' from TV to ceiling - across room and down 4-5' to gear

This is going to be a $5k+ install and I need it to be dead on - no issues

[dtrain88]

I think this (or somthing similar) is what Greg was talking about: http://www.avovercat5.com/products/hdmi.htm

There are a lot of different companies that make the cat5 baluns (wirepath, niles, binary, etc) but that site has some nice visual aids to explain how it works. Basically you run a cat5 (typical network/data) cable through the wall and put a small (3.5"x3.5"x1.5") box at the AVR and one at the TV with 2 short hdmi cables to connect them to the AVR and TV. I think typically the max recommended length of the cat5 cable is 150'.

The other option is to put all the equipment so that a 7.5 meter hdmi cable will work, but it's a lot hard to fish the end of an hdmi cable through the wall, rather than a cat5

[bruno110]

thank you[IMG]http://www.********************[/IMG]

[osiris]

not sure if I understand you now.

I run the darn thing 150' no problem (yes, through transcoders)

What do you mean?
Are you talking about a regular hdmi cable, without any support hardware?

Correct.

[Jesse]

HDMI is all about bandwidth.

720p/1080i -- long runs are typically fine.

1080p -- Needs "High Speed" HDMI cables for intermediate runs, and "High Speed" and low gauge cables for longer runs, and you may have issues with runs of 25+ feet with poor cables.

1080p 3D -- Needs "High Speed" low gauge HDMI cables, and you aren't going to have much success with very long runs.

I am currently passing 1080p through this run without any issue whatsoever:

HDMI out from Onkyo receiver -> 3 ft High Speed 28AWG HDMI (Monoprice) -> 1x2 powered HDMI splitter (Monoprice).

One output from splitter -> 25 ft High Speed 22AWG HDMI (PCH Cables) -> 1080p projector.

The other output -> 25 ft High Speed 22AWG HDMI (PCH Cables) -> 6 inch High Speed 28AWG "port saver" HDMI cable (Monoprice) -> 1080p plasma.

Don't waste your money on expensive HDMIs, BUT, not all High Speed cables actually live up to their supposed rating, so you should still buy from reputable companies. Monoprice, BlueJeans, PCHCables all work well for longer runs.

I would be extremely surprised if you had issues passing 1080p over a 7.5 meter (25ft) High Speed 22 or 24AWG cable from one of those companies. No need to spend extra on hdmi -> ethernet adapters for 25ft runs.

[nasty_VW_habit]

Thanks a bunch you guys - I'll get an exact measurement next week when the ceiling comes down

[GeoffD]

Don't waste your money on expensive HDMIs, BUT, not all High Speed cables actually live up to their supposed rating, so you should still buy from reputable companies. Monoprice, BlueJeans, PCHCables all work well for longer runs.

I would be extremely surprised if you had issues passing 1080p over a 7.5 meter (25ft) High Speed 22 or 24AWG cable from one of those companies. No need to spend extra on hdmi -> ethernet adapters for 25ft runs.

I have a flaky 25' Monoprice high speed cable in a wall in my summer place. Fortunately, I also have a parallel Cat5 run to the plasma. At the moment, I'm just using a shorter, visible cable but I plan to change over to HDMI-over-Cat5 rather than screw around trying to replace the HDMI cable.

[Chilledman]

1080i with 50' hdmi cable and no issues


Pic taken with my iPhone quickly ,146" screen

[Flavo Cadillac]

I run a 50' cable up to my bedroom from the main receiver. The cable is from mono price and I have never had an issue.

[nasty_VW_habit]

1080i with 50' hdmi cable and no issues


Pic taken with my iPhone quickly ,146" screen

146" I'd like to have space for that.

I run a 50' cable up to my bedroom from the main receiver. The cable is from mono price and I have never had an issue.

What exactly does that HDMI do? Does your receiver have a way of letting you control cable TV viewing in the bedroom? I'm imagining they may with todays new ipad integrated apps. The Pioneer Elite I'm now looking at has crazy app based integration with Apples products.

[devnull]

I'm running a 45' mono price 1.3a cable (thick ropey thing) between my Marantz and an LG panel -- including 1080p 3D material without any issues. I'm sure YMMV and that "high speed" or 1.4 cables would be recommended -- but this works for me every day.

I've occasionally had a HDCP hiccup at power-on requiring some device rebooting -- but typically chalked that up to the AVR or device being squirrelly.