want to put a hdmi cable 15m through my roof and put a hdmi port on my wall to then plug into so I don't have a giant cable on the ground.
Any recommendations to future proof it, suchs as 4k? or alternative solutions to what I have proposed
I only have old tv as it is but may need to replace soon
https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/153936/101105/room.png
thanks
foxtel box, fetch box, and dvd player (yes im old) will be on one side of room, tv on other
Fair call, https://www.bunnings.com.au/antsig-15m-hdmi-cable-4k_p028646… probably can get it cheaper else where.
I don't see an in-wall rating on the specs (CL3 etc, it should be rated against heat and not too flammable, etc to be rated for running through the roof) nor any specification it can do more than the minimum 4k (24fps).
Even my crappy no name $2 yum cha hdmi cable supports 4k so that's no drama…
Are you just at frame stage at the moment, or are you actually crawling through ceiling space to run this?
If the latter I can only suggest to test it on ground first before running the cable out and securing as required.
Learnt that the hard way when i had to run a 20m ethernet cable up into a ceiling space then back down into the next room because the misso didnt want a cable visible along the wall skirt.
crawling through roof, well not me an electrician
If you are getting electrician to do it, you might as well do a dual cable run (ie run two cables at once). Use one for HDMI extender and leave the other as spare. You might end up using it for internet/network someday in future.
2 cat6 cables?
@Donaldhump: Yep.For my place, i ended up buying 305m box of Cat6 Ethernet cable and ran it through the walls and roof space. Since I had to cut/hack up wall it wasn't too much effort running an extra few cables. Usually run dual (2) or quad (4) cables for each location. You'll only want to do it once, so do it right with some redundancy and future growth.
If you are buying pre terminated cables (with the heads already done) buy a longer one than needed. Go shielded if you can; its pretty $$$
what did you learn, that it didn't work?
sorry was distracted when typing. Ran the cable, secured it all down neatly with cable clips..got to the other side, faulty (for some reason).
pulled it out, bench tested a new cable, worked fine.
got back up, ran it all in, no clips the 2nd time because i couldnt be stuffed.
worked.
now that we know a contractor is doing it, im sure he'll be down pat with all best practice etc
yum cha hdmi will probably not even send a 1080p signal across 15m, let alone 4k. Believe it or not cable quality does matter once you start trying to run decent lengths.
fair call - now that i think about it the longest I ever ran a HDMI is about 5m only and it was only doing 1080.
Never considered there would be issues with transmission over such a relatively low distance.
Even my crappy no name $2 yum cha hdmi cable supports 4k so that's no drama
You'd think so, but no.
For short lengths, cable quality doesn't matter much. But 5m and longer cables you do need high quality: larger gauge of wire, more shielding, or even fibre optic will be needed.
Otherwise you can't get good enough signal for uninterrupted high bitrate stuff like 4k @ 60 FPS, 8k, etc. The signal cuts out (screen goes black) unless you go back down to 1080p. Happens often with cheap cables.
For a 15m HDMI run you do need to a good quality cable.
Watch out for Amazon reviews where the reviews for different lengths of the same cable are all combined: For cheap cables, 98% of the buyers selected the 1m version of a particular cable, and love it, and give it 5 stars, but the 15m version of the cable simply doesn't work above 1080p.
HDMI over CAT6 adaptors at each end and just run CAT6 through the roof - can get 4K easily with the right units and room to upgrade later on as tech advances.
Well proven and available solution used everyday by AV professionals.
This can be more expensive than an HDMI cable, depending on lengths, and you have to check what exactly the adapters at each end support (some will promise 8k, some 4k @ 60 FPS, some only 24 FPS, some 1080p only).
run a piece of string too and leave it in place for next time
.
legend
If you're pulling the cable don't terminate it, use a brush panel and do an uninterrupted cable run from the source to the destination. It should be something like this on both sides:
https://www.bunnings.com.au/deta-white-brush-wall-cover-plat…
Termination can introduce connectivity issues and may degrade the path. It also just introduces another thing that can fail.
If you want to future-proof the cable run go with an 8K HDMI 2.1 cable, optical if it's too long to run using a normal cable. They're not cheap but they'll be good for the foreseeable future.
HDMI over CAT6 is an option but you need to look closely into the specifics. I'm not sure if you can get an 8K / 120hz model at the moment and in any case, my personal experience with a variety of different models was that none of them worked perfectly across the board. I varyingly had issues with HDR, 120hz, and Atmos. I'm sure they work great for others but they're never going to be as fool-proof as a purpose-made HDMI cable.
I didn't know these brush plates existed! Thanks for the link.
thanks, i like the ones that look like assholes better (cant wait for the comments)
With such a long run you'll have problems with the image quality on hdmi, every point of connection will degrade signal further, even an adaptor to make it fit nicely on the wall plate. 4k 60p might be even a struggle and you'll need to scratch your head to ration for the combination of cable, adapter type and even price for each point. Over such distance cable built quality will be a deciding factor and you'll have to pay decent amount for that. And when it reach that price point then you'll be asking yourself whether going through hdmi or hdmi over ethernet.
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09VXBP3SQ?th=1
This is what you want, the 1st fiber optic hdmi 2.1 certified cable.
Weirdly the 20m is only $93 vs the 15m at $157
And showing a 20% off voucher too…
might go the 20m cable, where is the 20% voucher?
Instead of worrying about getting in the roof and running cables, OP should just get a projector.
/thread
For working at 15m cable must be real thick, check AWG in specs. And try if its working before dragging it through the roof.
Keep in mind that hdmi cables do degrade signal the longer they get. It’ll be tough to futureproof without considering for that, I think. Above fibre optic options look ok.
HDMI signals degrade after 2m. I would be using an HDMI over Cat6 extender/converter if I were you.
Not if you're using optical HDMI - 70m runs are very doable at 8k/60hz & 4k/120hz.
What is the reason behind 15m cable ? your AV equipment not closer to TV?
Other solutions, something like this https://www.selby.com.au/brands/pro-2/pro-2-70m-hdmi-extende…