Inside the HDMI Balun’s Transmitter Job

Yet another completely useless article on one of the biggest challeges CE Pros face every day.  We know the problems.  We don’t know the answers.  The article does absolutely nothing to enlighten the reader about the real problems.  5 paragraphs describing (with no details) why baluns shouldn’t be used.  Then the article concludes with the statement that you should continue to use them, but be smart and use good semiconductors.  Seriously?  What the heck are you trying to say?  What’s the message being delivered here?  Are you implying that it’s a miracle these things work at all and it’s only because of “a little smarts and some fabulous semiconductors”?  Are you saying to keep using them, but don’t be shocked when they don’t work?  Are you saying don’t use them at all?  Are you saying you have a better solution, but we need to contact you directly to get it?  I’m completely lost as to why this article exists at this point.

This is a great introduction to an informative article, which obviously got cut off when he tried to post it….........

I would disagree with one statement: RJ45 connectors and Category cable were never designed to handle the high bandwidth signal that comes with digital HDTV. There are many cables with more than enough tested and verified bandwidth including Belden 1700A, 1872A (350 MHz per pair) up to Belden 10GX32 (625 MHz per pair).  However, no Cat 5e-6-6a cable is tested for things like “intra-pair skew” required for HDMI.

I must agree that I am lost as well. In the most polite way possible I must say that I was hoping for more.

I am wrapping up an integration using the Gefen 8x8 HDMI Crosspoint Matrix and their HDMI w/RS232 over cat 6 cable w/ cat 6 rj45 connectors (which are a pain in the A$$ to terminate). So far so good, however I must admit that a few times I regretted this design. But after replacing a few d.o.a. parts all has seemed to work out.

Tips
ALWAYS set the baluns to manual eq and tweak it yourself. Auto should be an option not a default setting.

Quality cable is a must! Don’t be cheap and buy your cable from Home Depot. Recipe for disaster. (I promise I did not try this. Just an observation of many of our areas CE’s trying to save a buck or time or something, I still haven’t figured it out.)

Cat 6 over Cat5e every time.

No punchdowns or patchbays. RJ45 to RJ45 straight through.

If you have the option to power both ends of the balun, do it. Not only does it insure proper voltage, it keeps it off of the cat with all of the delicate data.

looking forward to the middle and end to this article.

I have to say that I agree with Details Matter.
The article appears to be a plethora of caveats, concluded with a symbolic “Good luck with that, sucker!”

It reads as a patronizing “blessing” to all the current and potential licensees that can be inked, while serving up a tacit “caveat emptor” with a side of “don’t call me” when it doesn’t work.

The integration industry is forced into the balun corner when retro-wiring is just not an option (like with all the flat roof homes we have in Arizona) and you are compelled to use existing wiring.
You do what you can to survive.
Seems to me there weren’t these issues with good ‘ol, robust Component.

You vote with your PO’s. If something doesn’t work, you don’t buy it. When it does, you’re a raving fan.

Short of the HDMI White Paper, articles such as this are the electronic version of the daily desk calendar. Each morning, a new reminder of how the integrator must play Coyote / Roadrunner with this poorly thought out, self-containing, future-forward killing format.

I am often asked “Whats the cheapest HDMI balun you carry?”.  I always respond with the question, “Is that before or after the service call?”  I have seen integrators raving about some brand x $80 balun they found, and have had much resistance to selling the more expensive Gefen and Key Digital products, but the integrators who are SUCCESSFUL know that spending a few extra dollars on a product THAT WORKS saves hundreds of wasted dollars and hours of valuable time when trying to track down a problem with HDMI.  Dont forget that its your CUSTOMER who pays for the balun, NOT THE INSTALLER!  Dont be afraid to tell the customer that their HDMI run to their projector will cost more than they expected.  Simply ask them what percentage of the time they would like the system to work.  When they say “100% of course”, you say fine, and sell them the proper product that you KNOW is reliable!  Bottom line, you get what you pay for!

@John - in regards to the baluns I agree and I disagree.

Our industry is plagued by some much oem crap/stuff that gets made in the same factory by the same people except the next day when they turn the lights on the company name on the product is (insert your favorite company name here) and in quite a few case there is a huge disparity in price with no other benefit but the name on the box.

Our industry has made a living at taking things from our similar industries and slapping their name on it and doubling and tripping the price. I don’t know if these companies are that smart because they can get away with (or have in the past). Or if there are a lot of people in our industry that don’t know any better and just buy or sell based on the name alone.

@Jeff and all posters thus far…

I know Jeff and he is guy guy who solves the HDMI problems and gives us the answers. The ONLY HDMI balun I have used over the past 3 years (I installed this 3 years ago) that just worked no fuss out of the box and CONTINUES to work to this day is one that Jeff designed.

Today there are a lot more choices on the market vs 3 years ago. That being said - HDMI sucks. They took a technology meant for computers and bought into our world never thinking that anyone would want to distribute it. We unfortunately are the small guys in the CE world (no matter how big your company is).

I think it is both a shame and a crime that HDMI has been ALLOWED to survive as long as it has! What a horrible technology that has NEVER worked properly. How do they reward their horrible work?  By adding features to a cable that equipment doesn’t support. It makes companies like   Audioquest (see this link:http://www.cepro.com/article/audioquest_defends_marketing_of_hdmi_cable/) clear the air and speak the truth about marketing this cable. We should applaud People like Bill Low for being straight shooters. I feel like some people in the industry and becoming more like car dealers “look this one has one more cup holder don’t you want this one?”

Back to the article - my guess is if Jeff truly had the space to tell us about what is wrong with certain baluns and what can be done about it - he would. My guess if there was any good information that was suppose to be in the article -it was edited for content. I have sat in a room with Jeff for several hours having him explain the technology behind HDMI. The industry needs more people like him -helping to guide manufacturers in the right direction.

Component Video - I said it somewhere when I commented on an article this past month - it’s NOT DEAD or dying. Company were still putting S Video on equipment last year and I’m sure if I dig I can find equipment with it. Manufacturers continue to make new component video matrix devices. Either they are stupid or they know what I know - it WORKS!  Every time!  Don’t get me wrong if you want to put on a pair of 3D glasses to watch the football game your going to need HDMI. There is UNFORTUNATELY a need for this cable. However let’s try to remember the more you spend on a cable does not make it better.

Sunsets - I’m going to say it again - there should have been a TRUE article on these so called Sunsets in the December issue!  I guess the advertisers rule here.  I, sure when I got to post this article I am going to have to close a pop up ad.

Just my 2 cents

@2 Cents:  Yes, there are a lot of “Brand X” components that are re-labled by a dozen different brands, but I can say that both Gefen and Key Digital develop their own technology and both make their own devices.  The same can not be said of many other brands.  Again, this is why I recommend their products even though they are 2 to 3 times more expensive.  Understand that just because its more expensive doesnt mean its just an inflated price!

Additionally, I take care of returns and RMAs for all of our dealers, and we get next to no returns on these brands, where other brands come back regularly with problems.

When you have a problem ON SITE, it costs you cash money while you figure out where the problem is.  You may spend an extra 1 or 2 hours troubleshooting the problem, then another hour or two talking to tech support, getting a return authorization, going BACK to pick up a replacement, and going BACK to the jobsite to install the replacement.  How much is your time worth?

Sometimes its a LOT easier to just install the best in the first place instead of trying to save a few bucks.  You may get away with it sometimes, but it will bite you hard in the end!

@John

I agree. I appreciate what you do. It would be great to get an article blog etc from people like you to give us unbiased reviews as to what you see on items such as this. Information such as that is invaluable to us in the field. It’s great to hear about the product that is “going” to solve our problem. I just want to know if it will solve it in the real world. We test any new product we are considering in our own homes before we even think about deploying it.