Octava vs HDelity HDMI Cat6 extenders

[r1chi3x]

Hi,

I am currently using an Octava 4x4 HDMI switch and Octava Cat5/6 HDMI extenders. This has worked well for the past 18months and I now need to add another HDMI Cat5/6 extender the the system.

The Octava Cat5/6 extenders I have installed have now been replaced by the more expensive 10Gbps HDCATIR-UK but there is also the oprion of the slightly cheaper Cabelson HDelity HDMI 3D Extender which only uses 1 cat6 cable.

Does any one have any experiance with these extenders and can answer these questions.

1) Cabelson HDelity HDMI 3D Extender uses only 1 cat6 cable where the Octava HDCATIR-UK requires 2. Is there any noticable difference in picture quality? Are 2 cables better than 1?

2) Are there any issues with using the Cabelson HDelity HDMI 3D Extender with Octava 4x4 HDMI switch?


Any help and experiance appreciated.

Many thanks
Rich.

 

[Joe Fernand]

Always worth asking how a single twisted pair solution is managing to run HDMI (never mind HDMI + IR) over a single piece of cable – if it’s not using HDbaseT its using some proprietary system and may be compressing or doing D-to-A then A-to-D on the way through the Transmitter and Receiver and again causing unwanted artifact’s.

Joe

 

[jakey]

I was looking at the same kit today it is HDbaseT from what I can see.

Cablesson HDelity HDMI Extender (HDBaseT)

 

[Joe Fernand]

At 310.95 GBP it’s not less expensive than the Octava HDCATIR-UK though

The OP was looking at a different non-HDbaseT solution!

Joe

PS Octava do have an HDbaseT solution - Octava HDCATS-100-HDMI Ethernet Extender -300ft over 1 CAT 5/6 cable.

 

[tfs]

I've tried some of the 'other' baluns for cat5 HDMI extension (e.g. from maplin) that are not powered at the transmitter. I'm sure these have cause my son's ps3 HDMI port to fail and worry about using them for my hdmi av reciever. At the moment everything is sitting untidily next to the TV not in the purpose made cupboard.

So thinking about going for the Octava but now just seen the Cablesson one which seems a bit less expensive but also wonder about the single cable transmission. Both are powered both ends although the new Octava has the advantage of powering the reciever over the cat cable.

Has anyone actually tried the cablesson one - is it a lossless transmission and why are two cables needed anyway?

Thanks

Tim

 

[r1chi3x]

Hi,

I have both the

Octava HDCATIR-UK - HDMI + IR HDMI over CAT 5/6 Extender
HDCATIR-UK - HDMI + IR HDMI over CAT 5/6 Extender

and reciently bought the slightly cheaper

Cablesson HDelity HDMI 3D Extender Single Cat5/6
Cablesson HDelity HDMI 3D Extender Single Cat5/6 (Bi-Directional IR)

to connect to my 3d tv.

The Octavia and Cablesson both perform equally well in day to day use with little to choose between them. Looking into the wiring spec for hdmi the bulk of a/v data is sent over 4 twisted pair with the additional wiring for control, data etc. The Cablesson single cable solution only carries the a/v data over the CAT cable and requires that the transmitter end be plugged into your TV and the EDID recorded. This only need sto be done once and has not been an issue.

With all these be sure to get good quality solid core and preferably shielded cable. I installed the UTP cable recommended for these devices but am now suffering from cross talk and attenuation and am unable to go above 1080i.

I have reciently bought a 20 meter HDMI cable for <£40 which carries 1080p perficly well, this just wasn't feasable only a few years ago when I installed my HDMI/CAT solution. Unless you need to go over 20 metes I would try a buying a long HDMI cable first.


cheers
Rich

 

[tfs]

Thanks for great reply post Rich, very useful.

Based on your comments I had a further look around and found this good article on ways to get the HDMI signals over a single CAT cable:

http://www.hdmi.org/CEDIA2011/2-KeyDigital-CEDIA_HDMI_2011.pdf

As you said the video and audio data go over 4 twisted pairs. Then they have to multiplex the other data signals (and IR) over those same wires but they are outside the frequency range of the data signals. So the transmission should be lossless. Perhaps the only real advantage of the duel CAT extenders is that it's possible to send power down the extra wires so you don't need a bulky transformer in a wall socket? It's a shame the extenders are quite slim but they come with great big wall warts for power

I'm only extending over 6m or so but had a slightly tricky cable run and couldn't find a flexible/small enough HDMI cable - the CAT cables are already installed so can't back out of that now.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Joe Fernand]

The only/ reliable/ratified scheme for running HDMI over a single CAT5 or CAT6 cable is HDBaseT and those are not available at the budget end of the market - all other single wire solutions involve some sort of EDID, HDCP or Digital to Analogue and back to Digital 'fudge' ( many of which involve some level of signal degradation).

The current generation of the Octava HDCATIR dual cable Extender only requires a PSU at the Transmitter and has a slim line Receiver chassis.

Joe

 

[tfs]

Hi joe,

Hmm possibly regretting the cablesson decision might be looking at octava on your site again... For 3d on cablesson i need to set transmitter to 'g' mode which is "up to 3d full hd 1080p 36 bit with stereo sound" which works very well with 3d (lg bp420 blue ray 3d to lg 42lw550t display) but when viewing 2d from same player In that setting i get some noticeable pixel loss which is absent in direct hdmi. Using a shorter free cat cable to test has same problem. Display in 'a' mode with full hd 1080p24bit works fine in 2d. It seems to only be all the 36 bit modes that have this pixel dropout. Increasing the signal level makes it worse (cable run is only 6m anyway) if anything I want to reduce it further but already on minimum. Possibly the octava is better as 'auto eq' might adjust to shorter cables better? Anyone been through this?

Thanks

Tim

 

[tfs]

Thought I'd update to say I worked out what issue was had to turn off deep colour on onkyo sr309 receiver then it all works flawlessly with the cablesson set to G mode for 3d and 1080p. So now happy with my single cat cable cablesson solution.

Tim