There are two major reasons you’d want to run HDMI signal over Ethernet cable:
1. If you have to run the cable over long distances HDMI cable is not the most reliable. Ethernet cable, Cat 6 specifically, on the other hand, is way superior when it comes to reliably transmitting signal over hundreds of feet. It’s also less expensive.
2. You spend all that money of a glitzy 4K Ultra HD TV set and had it neatly mounted on the wall. But you still had to run the cables from TV to DVR, Blu-ray Player, what have you. All of that equipment is likely staked up in the TV stand/console nearby. It’s got to be a better way.
Absolutely. You can run HDMI audio, 1080p, 2K and 4K video and IR signal for your remote up to 220 feet using only a single Cat6 cable and have all of your video equipment neatly stored somewhere in the basement in an enclosed rack or cabinet. The product is called HDMI Extender or 4K HDBaseT Balun and it the set consists of one transmitter and one receiver – one or both powered by AC adapters. The built-in IR extender in HDBaseT adapter allows IR remote control of source devices from a remote viewing location by sending IR commands received in the vicinity of your TV set back to the source devices. This device is 4K, 2D and 3D compliant and it runs at 340 MHz bandwidth.
There are a few things to note.
Although you can use utilize Cat5e cable to extend HDMI signal, we strongly recommend using Cat6 cable, especially for longer distances. When terminating the Ethernet cable try to avoid patch panels and keystone jack but rather terminate both ends of the cable with quality RJ45 jacks rated for Cat6, and then connect them directly to your HDBaseT Balun.
Quality cables clearly have an advantage over the cheaper, low quality cables, since the quality of sound or video is a direct function of reducing impedance in the wires and the attenuation of waves sent through them. As the length of cable increases, longer digital cables are likely to impede the signal transmitted from the source. Cheap digital cables that are also very long can adversely affect the signal, resulting in poor quality images that suffer from packet loss, incorrectly rendered pixels, whole sections of the image, or various other errors like completely blank screens. Keep your digital cables, especially HDMI as short as possible.
Feel free to drop us a line to get more info on installing HDMI over Ethernet (Cat6) Extenders for your TV setup.