I have a less than 50 ft HDMI cable that is defective. I also have a less than 50 ft Cat5E that i am using for control...

I was thinking i could re-purpose the Cat5E for HDMI extenders. Most extenders come with control ports but if i choose extenders that do not have control ports...

Can i chop off the head of the HDMI and use the conductors for control? i know that i can i just wondered if there is some vudu in the HDMI cable that would stop it from working

Has anyone had to do this before? Results?

Before cutting off the heads, can you tell me whats defective?

Not until i fly to Florida tomorrow. I haven't seen/tested the issue myself. It could be anything at this point.

I am on site for specific period of time so im trying to make sure i have all my options thought through so i can present them Monday afternoon after some troubleshooting.

TV is on a moving Trak-Kit track. HDMI cable runs through an Igus(brand i think) cable track then down through the pipe that the TV is mounted to. If its the cable i would guess the issue is with the point where it comes into the igus from above (attic space) or where it leaves the igus to run down the mounting pole.

Or it could be the TV HDMI input or something to do with the fiber terminations between the Crestron DM switch and DM-RMC. Who knows. I really hate HDMI.

Brent,

Do you have a recommendation for a 50' HDMI cable that can take a lot of movement? Something super flexible or super durable?

It may even be the point of entry is at too much of an angle. When there, look at the point of failure and see if it could be modified so that the hdmi and/or any other cable doesn't have to bend so much.

Of course check the other cables too. If the hdmi failed along that point, I would be worried about the power cable. Granted it would be many more years.

KOT

Put in the 15 meter MHX/HDM-GA1 & a 2 meter MHY cable.
This will give you length + Signal Restorer (4K/60, HDR, 4:4:4) and flexibility.

You did say Florida. Thunderstorm over a city. There goes 50 HDMI ports.

With respect to IR/RS-232 over the HDMI conductors, I expect that this will work for 50 feet, but you should research exactly how the HDMI cable failed. If the problem is confirmed to be at a connector, great, but if the failure is out in the wire somewhere, I'd be concerned that this failure will be followed by another failure that eats the control signal too. You could hedge this a bit with parallel connections.

Some of the CAT-5 extenders will also handle IR or RS-232.

I don't know which control system you are using, but Global Caché can send IR and RS-232 over WiFi.

Maybe you could have Brent's cable ruggedized - with a metal external jacket added.

[Link: l-com.com]

Add a couple ruggedized cat6 cables while you're at it.

From the other thread - is there an aspect of the cable movement you could change, to avoid future failure? Add a flexible cable tray?







Off the shelf solution http://www.trak-kit.com/

I suspect IR would work (and possibly 232), if you have enough conductors left with continuity. HDMI is made up of some shielded twisted pairs...small diameter, but STP nontheless; may have to double up on some.

[Link: s1160.photobucket.com][user]=145428172&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0" />Wire gauges used for RS-232 are normally 22AGW, if you think the conductors are too thin - then double them up.

Equipment are mounted on moving rack, i normally use these from Key Digital to avoid of trouble shooting on something is not necessary to be investigated and trouble shoot.

This is the exact product i am dealing with. The Igus (the plastic cable track/chain) doesn't operate as elegantly as you would imagine. It takes quite a bit of taming and could be whats causing the problem.

I'm working a lot with igus tracks (I'm a field engineer for industrial machines).
When inserting a cable in an igus track it's important that is is not twisted at some point - otherwise it will twist and break the conductors over time when moving.
Also don't tighten the cables without moving it back and forth a few times - this way the cable will adjust itself in the track.
Make sure the cables don't touch each other (igus sells separators) and don't tighten the cable ties too much.

Regarding cables, usually lapp cables are used in those tracks - they are designed for this kind of application.

A client would want to know: about how much would that TV mount cost, installed, including the lateral travel? He's got a 65" Sony with a Triad speaker bar and that would just be the spiffiest thing!

Lapp Cables sounds interesting, might want to check them out. Ruggedized and flexible by design.

Looks like Lapp offers flexible fiber solutions as well, not sure if that's an option here, for extending HDMI.

Maybe 4K isn't imperative in this location?

Seems to me like fiber is the future for extending long HDMI runs. Of course, the near future would be Brent's Ethereal/Metra products; I'm eyeing that HDM-GA1 for my family room's 40 foot run, in conjunction with a Belden/BJC cable (already purchased).