How do you handle when HDMI cables fall out of the sockets? It’s an annoying problem you’d think could be easily avoided, but it seems like the best alternative is to NOT use HDMI.

Help!

Looks like I’m not the only one dealing with this ... a lot of great comments on Lee Distad’s ways to improve HDMI:
http://www.cepro.com/article/3_ways_to_improve_hdmi/#comments

I haven’t read Lee’s article yet, but clearly HDMI needs to screw in.  That will solve the fallout problem.

Aside from that, my biggest peeve with HDMI is implementing it over a long run.  I used a Gefen HDMI overt Cat5 extender in a run less than 100 feet and it seems to have handshake issues every few minutes.  The screen will go black for a second while it corrects the HDCP.  I’ve spoken with Gefen about it at length to no avail and tried a newer model with updated firmware.  Perhaps it’s the fact that the Cat5e wire was not shielded, but really this issue should not be.

After having issues with the extender, I chose not to use it on our next job in favor of a 15 meter Planet Waves HDMI cable.  No amplication and the signal carries fine.  I was able to send a 1080P 32-bit signal from PS3, switched through a receiver, to the display with no problem at all.  Next time I have to go beyond 15 meter, I won’t use a Gefen extender.  I’ll try to go with something higher end to avoid any headaches.

I’m not against totally doing away with HDMI, although I’m also not one of those component fanboys who curses HDMI.  It’s the only connection that can handle 1080P content so we have to learn how to deal with it.  The right answer is to come up with a transport method that supports high bandwith and is IP addressable.  Place-shifting within the home is expensive and complicated via the use of HDMI switchers.  It should be much simpler.

Given the couple of false starts I had reviewing that Gefen piece, I’m sorry to hear you had your own, different issues with it, Ed.

As much as I like little black boxes, I think you’ve got the right idea, vis a vis keeping it simple.  I’m also a PlanetWaves fan: they’re really nice cables, but not grotesquely expensive.

We have been working with the new ones from Jeff Boccaccio’s group and really are happy with them.  One of their primary OEMs is Honeywell.  There is a write up on them at http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/2007/12/17/honeywell-introduces-hdmi-to-cat5-converter/.

They incorporate their CURxE Light technology, which essentially is an I2C repeater.  They drive the level of the DDC lines out to about 10 mA between the two boxes and use higher current clamping gates, giving it extreme stability.  They have incorporated adaptive EQ that matches the wire lengths and keeps the rise time under 260 nS, no matter what the length.  They have a set of three diagnostic LEDs to provide a visual indication of the link status for voltage, data, and clock.  They even retransmit the hot plug detect back to the transmitter so you can see that it worked correctly.

Another nice feature is being able to send power to the receiver side without having to use a wall wart behind the display.  You cannot use the “extra” PoE pair in the twisted pairs because they needed to use those for additional ground lines.  It does require that you run an extra pair of wires (20 gauge works fine) in parallel with your twisted pairs to support it, but we have made that our standard configuration now.  With CAT-6 runs, you can get about 200 feet reliably out of them.  However, they recommend you wire them “straight through” instead of either a TIA 568-A or B.  Their test results show a drastic performance increase wiring them this way (they include a wiring diagram for this with the devices).

MSRP is about $500 for the pair, but they are worth it.

=D-