HDMI via a Cat6 cable works surprisingly well
It’s unfortunately become quite a rare occurrence where I’m impressed by a new device. Bucking the trend though, this week I bought something inexpensive to do a simple job, on the off chance that it could work… and it ended up working out so well that I just had to make a video about it.
https://youtu.be/ZP5XuKK9jNg
This was not intended to be the only video video I'd have put out by now, unfortunately external events have conspired to make it that way. A long bank holiday weekend resulting in various family commitments combined with some hospital visits, have deprived me of quite a few of my usual working days. Fortunately things are now returning back to normal. In addition, a (very) long awaited and (hopefully) interesting device has just arrived so I plan to move straight on to making a video about this.
I hope you’re doing well. Thank you for your support and your help, have a good week and take care.
UPDATE: Spent the evening editing out any use of the word Ethernet. The updated version of the video is embedded and linked to above.
Comments (35)
As someone once said to Indiana Jones "you have chosen wisely" - the B wirig is the correct one for wiring access points. Option A is for wiring a crossover cable, used for connecting two PCs back-to-back. Some laptops & routers can detect which wiring scheme is being used and adapt, this is why it wasn't a problem in the past. The HDMI bridging boxes must need the same wiring at both ends..
I reluctantly used those boxes for an install in my bar. Cable box/dvd/laptop (all in different locations) matrixed to a tv and a projector in separate rooms. Then had to use hdmi audio extractors to mate with the sound system. No one was more skeptical than I and no one was more surprised than me when it worked. Only failure in 7 years has been one wall-wart power supply. As always, thanks for the video, Mat.
As the official 'elderly guy', I have to say, I'm amazed at all the different ways one can occupy their free time at home with their television. We still use the over-the-air via antenna broadcast signals, although we do have a Roku smart TV. We hardly watch anything other than the major networks. The one exception is the weather channel for the missus. Not sure why she needs to know what the weather is doing on the other side of the country... Enjoyable video this week.
Mat what a fantastic bit of kit. I'm going to get one so I can watch Freesat satellite TV in a different part of the house. I read it needs its own cable that's not hard with our cavity wall.
It’s great to see a positive reaction to the video - I wanted to share a tip about something that worked well just in case it proved useful to others. Good luck.
Yep, I did this at a previous job. I think the device was rated for 100m, but it actually worked fine close to 200m. Customer had a display screen that just displayed static images, but their server closet was way on the other side of the building. Afternoon's work, and they were happy with it. Also, I love the little Morecambe and Wise joke you snuck in there!
I used to use this as well but switched over to optical HDMI cables. They're more expensive, but they can do 4K at 120hz.
but is that a complete hdmi cable using a fiber optic inside. That still gives the issue of making a large hole for running the cable around the house, as shown at the end of the video.
You might want to put an affiliate link to the Ethernet cable tester. I have a connection in the house for which that would be perfect. Don't worry about doing it for me though, using the power of looking it up I've got one.
as an IT guy, who also does cabling and AV stuff - I was very triggered by this LOL if it works and you're happy then it's ok although the termination in the boxes with the plastic tool, and the cheapo tester ( which can show 1-8 OK but still be wrong ) made me a little sick in my mouth fun though, they are useful and in my experience, some work and some don't ( I have abox of ones that only work on very short runs or with only proerply terminated shielded cable waffling now - point being if it looks janky but works and you're happy - then it's fine
I am pretty sure...and I didn't hear you mention it (but I might have missed it) this requires a dedicated direct Cat6 connection...it is not a network device. BTW I have a variety of that company's video devices (switchers/splitters etc) and they all work well.
I bought house a couple of months ago and it needs full renovation. I was on the fence as to whether to wire in some Cat6 whilst the internal walls are exposed and thus easy to get to due to a lack of plasterboard. I think I will now. Thanks for helping me make my mind up, Mat.
I did similar last year while I was reflooring the upstairs. I took advantage and ran a mix of CAT 5E and CAT6 around each room and also ran cables down an access hole in the void so I could use Link Aggregation between downstairs and upstairs. It was a mix of CAT5 and 6 as I had a tight deadline to completion and could only get CAT5E after running out of CAT6. :-( Another benefit is my mesh wifi backchannel is over ethernet so the wifi speed and coverage is a lot better. Even though my wifi hubs are at the front of my house, I still get wifi at the end of my garden. Great for when I'm cutting the grass. :-D Do it while you can!
I work as an engineer in the connector industry. I was doing ethernet during the switch from Cat 5 to Cat 6. It's amazing the amount of technology that goes into those tiny things - I'm surprised any of it works!
This video admittedly went over my head - although it sparked a particular lightbulb regarding housing construction specs. As time goes on, older homes fall victim to incompatibility new technologies in re: wiring high-speed internet etc. My apartment building, for example, was built in the 80's. Recently, large sections of drywall had to be sawed out in order for high-speed internet installation. I am now curious regarding modern home builds - how far do they plan ahead on what will be necessary 40 years from now, I wonder... In that aspect, this is a thought-provoking video. Take care. 🤍🤍
Went over my head, too. (No fault of Mat’s, I just know nothing about the topic.) Glad I wasn’t the only one.
I've got "mesh wifi" it's utter rubbish and I wish I could install this kind of thing myself. Sadly MS means I struggle with simple DIY!
Random question, but what is your MESH setup. I bought a very expensive Amplifi one a few years ago and am disappointed with its range and speed. Thanks.
It’s a very old one now - an original NETGEAR Orbi system. I’ve looked at the newer ones but they cost multiple times what I paid originally and I don’t need the extra speed, everything is still working fine. Besides that, the thought of starting all over again fills me with dread.
Were you channeling Eric Morecambe when you wired that cable?
No, but the wording of the voice over definitely was.
In my work as a professional TV installer I have used HDMI over both RG59/6 and cat.5 (and higher) for many installation in both private homes and hotels. This has also been useful for multi screen displays in shops with "jumps" between the groups of screens and their hdmi splitters are too long for HDMI. I have found that unshielded cat cable to pick up interference in some situations. So recommend shielded cable for anyone doing new installations! Have seen the use of HDMI over fiber in our local cinema to transfer signals from the UHD satellite receivers I installed for showing live events (opera, theater, concerts and so on) to the different projectors around the cinema complex.
I think T568A and B mixups are the most common errors when connecting those networks sockets. Happend to me a few times as well, for various reasons.
It's good that HDMI designers were thinking about transmission when they standardized ethernet channels in the spec. Would think 1080P cable wouldn't be an issue. I've never been impressed with the picture quality of live cable transmissions (especially on my current 4K OLED TVs). I've cut cable, but can still watch local HD channels over an antenna or live TV on Sling. But the best PQ quality for a network show is waiting for it to show up on a streaming channel.
Very interesting. Would this work with Powerline adapters, where the internet is transmitted through the ring-main? My mum needs her TV signal passed from one end of her long house to another, but doesn't have Ethernet at the other end.
The short answer is no.
I have four of the Orei 4K version to feed TV's around the house from an AV amp. The biggest problem is that the long runs of cable can pick up EMP from nearby lightning strikes and in the 15 years I've had this kind of system I've had things damaged twice in this way (last time the Denon amp, HDMI splitter, HDMI -> Cat 5 and Blu-ray recorder were all written off). From your test of the cable you have not connected the ground shield (the G light did not illuminate) which is the very least you should do. After the last round of damage I now use cat 7 cable which has much better shielding plus I run the cables in aluminium trunking which is also grounded. Hopefully this avoids thousands of euros damage the next time there is a thunderstorm. HDMI equipment is very susceptible to this kind of energy even though the lightning did not actually strike the house, power cables or phoneline. Only HDMI equipment was damaged.
Maybe Mat's cat6 cables are unshielded, so no possibilty to ground the cables... Btw a solution is HDMI over fiber which is an EMP safer alternative!
I think a lot of multi-room systems use ethernet? It's no fun drilling HDMI plug sized holes in the wall.
There are similarly good solutions for hdmi over coax (rg6/rg59) - works shockingly well.
It's all due to the coiled wires in ethernet cables. It's not (just) a structural feature. They essentially hack the electromagnetic field to reject interference and "boost" how far the signal propagates. Mr Bell himself had a patent on them!
It would be ironic if I adopted such a system in my house, as I installed the Cat 6 cables using the old cable tv wires as pull strings.
My pedantic mind is hurt a bit by calling this “HDMI over Ethernet”. I see that most devices and the thumbnail call it CAT6, and that would be the proper terminology. But maybe “HDMI over Ethernet-cable” would already be a bit better. If a vendor would use the term “HDMI over Ethernet” for such a device, I would consider that lying.
Very neat setup. The Bluetooth Virgin remotes are great, there's only one drawback. It doesn't look like it's as much of an issue with that new remote but it's far too easy to pick the old V6 remote up backwards and begin fast-forwarding instead of rewinding!
It’s a great technology. I work in a professional video environment and we use it for pretty critical playback, it’s kinda rock solid.