Do HDMI boosters work?

juno_first · 7 May 2013 at 18:46

I recently purchased from ocuk an Asus vs278q-p gaming monitor which I got to use with a noisy gaming pc that's in another room.
To span the distance between the pc & monitor I'm using a 10m HDMI cable of which the monitor can also use for sound if needed. The distance is actually 8m but I can't find an 8m cable.

The issue I have is the display keeps cutting out for a few seconds at a time which becomes a lot worse when using HDMI audio too: like as soon as a youtube video starts to play the display cuts out.
The same HDMI cable when plugged in the tv has no issues at all & the monitor is fine when a short 1.5m HDMI cable is used.
As the monitor is ok with a normal sized cable I presume it's not faulty nor would an exchange monitor be any different? Plus it has no dodgy pixels so I'm loathed to try swap it.
Obviously this type or range of monitors has issues with the HDMI input.

I've tried 3 different HDMI cables & HDMI / dvi output on the nVidia 480soc.

Now the monitor has stopped cutting out, instead it now has thousands of green twinkling pixels.

Will a HDMI repeater help? I've seen them quite cheap at £8 or would a powered version be better?
Thanks

Sin_Chase · 7 May 2013 at 22:49

TV requires less bandwidth than monitor to drive no doubt. It will be the distance rather than an inherent issue with the monitor I imagine.

anthony566 · 7 May 2013 at 23:13

is it a Cat 1 or Cat 2 HDMI cable ?? as Cat 1 is up to 15 feet although you can go longer.... I believe also is it a cheap cable as a lot of the issue could be down to a poor cable shielding.

Cat 2 is about 33 feet I think but I think is just a higher spec cable and therefore has less drop in signal quality.

Just a thought....

V F · 8 May 2013 at 02:54

I just googled 8meter HDMI...

£14.99 for 1.3
Model number: BH8

£17.99 for 1.4
Model number: FHH8

Dunks · 8 May 2013 at 10:24

There's always the option of HDMI over cat5?

bledd · 8 May 2013 at 10:26

Is the answer here not.. buy a more expensive HDMI cable?

juno_first · 8 May 2013 at 17:03

Thanks for the replies.
Hmm ive tried 3 cables already but how can you tell if they're good quality as the prices ranged from £10 onwards, I think one cable is 1.4.
Actually a friend who worked at a specialist tv shop told me the expensive cables were a con & they're all the same inside, just the build quality is better.
The tv is 1080p 60hz with audio, the same as the monitor.

I guess another cable would have the same result no matter how much it cost?
Is it worth the gamble on another cable as a HDMI booster costs a similar amount.

V F · 8 May 2013 at 22:27

Longer cables don't become cheaper. You cannot get 8meter for £2.99.

bledd · 8 May 2013 at 23:20

I'm not saying get a £300 cable. If you're having green dots and cutting out, then you just have crap cables.

At 10m, I'd be looking at £20-30 cables.

V F · 9 May 2013 at 00:53

bledd. said:
I'm not saying get a £300 cable.

Seriously? you can get £300 cables? and people actually pay this?

MagicBoy · 9 May 2013 at 01:00

V F said:
Seriously? you can get £300 cables? and people actually pay this?

Yep. Sound and vision are much sharper. Alledgedly. Innit.

Nothing to do with making more profit on the cable than the TV for the retailer. Oh no.

V F · 9 May 2013 at 01:25

Thats frightening. Personally I've never found or seen any several hundred cables. I wouldn't even pay €64 for an ice cream.

The best build quality of cables and shielded I've found... saying that I don't test cables but the best ones I've felt and seen are by Duronic. I needed 3m for £7.99. They have the twisty angled connectors. Great for wall mounts so the cable doesn't get crushed against the wall.

The cables feel like they're sleeved with kevlar.

MagicBoy · 9 May 2013 at 01:28

Tesco £3.97 ones here. No performance difference between that and the £30 Mark Grant one made of unobtainium I bought years ago.

V F · 9 May 2013 at 01:30

What length though? all 1m cables are £4. Every standard cable I had the cable was badly kinked up against the wall.

MagicBoy · 9 May 2013 at 01:35

3M IIRC. As said above a £20-30 one should do the trick for the OP. It just needs to be decent quality with good plugs on it.

juno_first · 9 May 2013 at 17:21

Ok i'll go for £20-£30 cable being as no one has experience of a hdmi booster.
I'll have a look in the rain forest as I regularly shop there & they seem quite reasonable with vines oops cables, unless theres a suitable cable at ocuk.

juno_first · 18 May 2013 at 11:40

Ok I found an expensive cable I got from Maplins years ago which fixed the red sparkles but it still kept dropping out so I blew £20 on a HDMI booster & like magic its fixed, whilst ironically extending the cable length another 1.5m with a cheap & nasty cable lol.
Interestingly the HDMI audio has improved as there's now no squelch / no sound at all until a sound is made which was annoying as there was always a slight delay when the first sound was made, a bit like using digital output with certain amps.

All the HDMI boosters I saw were HDMI 1.3 not 1.4 & only support up to 1080p, so maybe not a good idea for a higher resolution non HDMI monitor, I'm so glad I only got a 27" 1080p resolution

Here is a video of it dropping out before the booster fixed it & as you can see it was very annoying. It also dropped out with 2D static images but not as often as 3D games. It also dropped out with a different graphics card.

Asus vs278q-p HDMI dropouts