CAT 7 with HDMI Extender

[Midnight]

I am currently in the process of pre wiring my living room for a projector i will be purchasing sometime in January. So i had recently ordered a 40 ft active HDMI cable and three CAT7 cables. I figured one cable would be for LAN connection and i would have two spare if the HDMI cable were to ever break I could purchase an HDMI extender. I bought the CAT7 because it was only about one dollar more than a CAT6a. My concern is that I have been reading in forums stating CAT7 is no good for HDMI extenders. Can anyone shed some light on these claims. Thanks.

 

[highfigh]

I am currently in the process of pre wiring my living room for a projector i will be purchasing sometime in January. So i had recently ordered a 40 ft active HDMI cable and three CAT7 cables. I figured one cable would be for LAN connection and i would have two spare if the HDMI cable were to ever break I could purchase an HDMI extender. I bought the CAT7 because it was only about one dollar more than a CAT6a. My concern is that I have been reading in forums stating CAT7 is no good for HDMI extenders. Can anyone shed some light on these claims. Thanks.

If you want to future-proof your installation, don't install any cables without a way to replace or add something later. At this time, no HDMI extender (often called 'balun') is capable of 4K, HDR, 10 bit full color density and the only kind of HDMI cables that are use fiber optic. Install come kind of conduit, or you won't be able to upgrade unless they come up with something that's backward-compatible and we all know how well HDMI does that. (they don't)

Go to the websites of the extender manufacturers and look at what their products are designed to use for cabling- the majority are made for Cat5e, some for Cat6. I can't think of any that specify Cat7. For that matter, I have yet to see the recommendation for Cat7 to be used for network cabling unless extremely high bandwidth and RF/EMI rejection are part of the design.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Cat7 is per-se not a agreed standard just yet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_11801#CAT7
So practically there are NO defined cable characteristics which manufactures must adhere to. They can slap Cat7 on hanger wire and technically get away with it.

Since HDMI 1.4 - the format also supports ethernet channel - so you might not even need a dedicated can cable (of course depends on the end equipment)

 

[Midnight]

I will go ahead and return the cat7 that I purchased from Monoprice and get them in CAT6. I will also see if i can install some type of conduit since I will already be cutting holes in the drywall. Thank for the quick replies.

 

[highfigh]

Cat7 is per-se not a agreed standard just yet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_11801#CAT7
So practically there are NO defined cable characteristics which manufactures must adhere to. They can slap Cat7 on hanger wire and technically get away with it.

Since HDMI 1.4 - the format also supports ethernet channel - so you might not even need a dedicated can cable (of course depends on the end equipment)

Category cable build specs are well-documented and defined. Wire gauge, twist rate, spine/no spline, shielded/unshielded required bandwidth, etc are all pretty well set. I fail to see why you think a coat hanger could be labeled 'Cat7' when it does 10Gigabit over long distances. For that matter, Cat5e can do Gigabit if the distance is around 30 meters. Cat7 may not be recognized by TIA/EIA, but it is in use and has been for quite a while.

However, cabling for HDMI video cabling hasn't been set in stone, which is good for them because they can never stop messing with what they're trying to cram through it. At this point, they're saying that fiber is required for 4K/HDR/10 bit color and if they had done this sooner, the price would be lower- my cost on a 50' fiber HDMI is almost as high as a set of extenders.

 

[highfigh]

I will go ahead and return the cat7 that I purchased from Monoprice and get them in CAT6. I will also see if i can install some type of conduit since I will already be cutting holes in the drywall. Thank for the quick replies.

For conduit, keep in mind the fact that each bend comes with the need for larger diameter and it's best to fill it up to 40% because wires like to twist and move around as they're being pulled. Taping them can help if the run is very short, but that also makes removing/replacing a cable almost impossible. When cables twist they lay on top of others and take up more of the available space.

If the conduit won't be touching/within 2" of the masonry block of a fireplace, you can use plastic- if it is in such close proximity, it can't be made of combustible materials (this means it has to be metallic). Use something with smooth interior surface because it makes pulling much easier.

 

[aethelbuz1978]

It is recommended that you use high quality CAT cables with HDMI Extenders. So if you are using higher grade cable you connection will work better not worse. There are no known issues with using CAT7 cables. If you need a long range 4Kx2K HDMI Extender solution you should check KVMSwitchTech. Their products are reasonably priced and work well.

 

[prk504]

Category cable build specs are well-documented and defined. Wire gauge, twist rate, spine/no spline, shielded/unshielded required bandwidth, etc are all pretty well set. I fail to see why you think a coat hanger could be labeled 'Cat7' when it does 10Gigabit over long distances. For that matter, Cat5e can do Gigabit if the distance is around 30 meters. Cat7 may not be recognized by TIA/EIA, but it is in use and has been for quite a while.

However, cabling for HDMI video cabling hasn't been set in stone, which is good for them because they can never stop messing with what they're trying to cram through it. At this point, they're saying that fiber is required for 4K/HDR/10 bit color and if they had done this sooner, the price would be lower- my cost on a 50' fiber HDMI is almost as high as a set of extenders.

Check out the monoprice slimrun av hdr hdmi csbles. I ran them 100ft ($200/ea) in wall and they are giving me 4k @60hz 4:4:4. They are hybrid fiber and regular hdmi. Only issue is no arc but you can easily use cat5/6 for that.

If you have a conduit you might as well pull 4-5 cat6 cables through so you can use hdbaset whenever 10k comes out...assuming hdbaset will provide that eventually.


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