Occasional dropouts on 25m Ruipro 8k cable

[fullshred]

Hi folks, it feels like my home theatre is cursed! I recently upgraded to a (faux) 4k Projector (Epson EH-TW9400W / 6050UB) and therefore replaced my old HDMI cables with Ruipro 8k. There's a 25m run from my PC (Nvidia RTS 2070 Super) to the receiver (Anthem AVM-60), and a 20m run from the receiver to the projector. Both runs went through the walls and ceiling. I live in an apartment and it was extremely difficult to get the cables through the walls - there just isn't any space. It took a sparky half a day to get the cables in (about $AUD400). Unfortunately laying conduits wasn't an option.

These worked perfectly for about a year - no glitches or dropouts. I was delighted. Then the 25m cable failed completely. I contacted the supplier and they said there was a problem with that generation of Ruipro cables and that the chipsets sometimes failed, and sent me a replacement free of charge. Because running through the walls was so hard (I didn't want to spend another $400!), I elected to just tack the cable around the edge of the ceiling (behind blinds etc so it's less noticeable). I used these clips. You can see the clips in the photos also.

Two months later, the second cable (20m) failed completely. Again, they sent me a replacement cable free of charge. With a big sigh, I tacked this cable around the ceiling next to the first one.

I'm suffering occasional audio and picture drop-outs - particularly on Atmos content. It doesn't matter if I set the resolution to 4K or drop it to 1920 x 1080. Sometimes it's just the sound that drops for about a second. Sometimes, the picture disappears for about 10 seconds (but sound continues).

Here's what I've tried:

• Using a Ruipro voltage inserter on the first cable (PC to Receiver)
• Using a voltage inserter on the second cable (Receiver to Projector) - I couldn't do both cables at once because I can't find the 2nd Ruipro inserter in my box of spare parts. Note that I didn't need any inserters for the previous cables that run through the ceiling, so I don't see why I'd need them now.
• Upgrading BIOS on my PC
• Upgrading drivers on my video card
• Setting resolution down to 1920 x 1080

There are two places where the cables bend around corners... I've attached photos. Could the bend radius be an issue? Should I remove all the clips and run them across the floor as a test to see if that fixes the problem? I'd rather avoid that if I can (as it was a pain in the ass clipping them up in the first place But not sure what else to do.

Thanks in advance.
Tim

 

[Otto Pylot]

Those bends should be ok but I certainly wouldn't bend them any sharper. If it were me, I'd go ahead and lay the cables out on the floor and thoroughly test them before reinstalling/installing new cables. Your cable run is fairly long (25m/75' and 20m/60') so that's a long way to push a signal, even going thru a receiver. If the cables work with being on the floor, then something happened during the installation process, and without conduit and a pull string, it's difficult. When you pulled the cable the first time, did you pull from the connector ends or did you attach a pull string to the body of the cable, protect the connector end from bending back on itself, and then gently pulled?

 

[fullshred]

Those bends should be ok but I certainly wouldn't bend them any sharper. If it were me, I'd go ahead and lay the cables out on the floor and thoroughly test them before reinstalling/installing new cables. Your cable run is fairly long (25m/75' and 20m/60') so that's a long way to push a signal, even going thru a receiver. If the cables work with being on the floor, then something happened during the installation process, and without conduit and a pull string, it's difficult. When you pulled the cable the first time, did you pull from the connector ends or did you attach a pull string to the body of the cable, protect the connector end from bending back on itself, and then gently pulled?

Thanks for your reply Otto. The first two cables were installed by an electrician. Because the cavities are so tight, he used a combination of a conduit mouse and a pullstring. The head of the cable and the same length again were mummified in electrical tape to minimise cable damage. These cables worked perfectly for about a year, before failing one after the other. The distributor said it was a known issue with that generation of Ruipro cables.

The replacement cables weren't moused or pulled, as they aren't installed inside any cavities. They're just tacked up the wall and across the ceiling.

I'm thinking an alternative to pulling the cables down would be to temporarily connect a much shorter cable from my PC to the receiver (along the floor, 10m should do it). If the problem goes away, then the 20m cable is OK and the 25m cable is the problem.

 

[Otto Pylot]

Sounds like a plan. I know when I had LV electricians install cable in our house, I quietly supervised just to make sure that they didn't pull the cabling too tight trying to get it around bends etc.