A few people have been asking me questions about HDMI recently and it occurred to me I don't use anything HDMI in my house. :)
I don't even own a HDMI Cable. However it interests me since I do want to mirror my display to a Flatscreen and will likely use HDMI to accomplish that. (Almost exclusively for Hulu)
In order to do that what needs to be done?
- Well first off I will have to replace my ancient TV with something that has a HDMI Port or DVI.
- If said device has a HDMI port and not a DVI port I will need a DVI 2 HDMI Adaptor.
- I will have to run HDMI cable to other end of the family room so my PC can connect to my new device.
So that is pretty much it really but it brings up the two questions people have been asking me.
Is HDMI 100% compatible with DVI?
Yes.
What is the maximum length of a HDMI cable and does using a HDMI Adaptor matter?
About 35-50 feet depending on the device with an unpowered cable. That said depending on the device if you look at new egg comments some people have done 100 foot unpowered cables with no issues. (But that seems to be rare and depends a lot on the monitor and the video card)
Using an adapter does seem to matter. Surprisingly it seems to help? I am not sure why since I have never personally had the opportunity to try this yet but from what I can see online the signal coming off the DVI is weaker then the signal produced by a straight HDMI port. (So why people have more success with 75' runs doesn't make a lot of sense to me based on the data I have but I will try the pictured adapter and a 50' run and will update this later.)
The 50' Run works fine btw even with audio. I hooked it up for testing purposes. I still need to run the cable but its really a lot of fun. The sound options are bit hokey for my taste but I haven't exactly figured out how I want to deal with that yet.
Does HDMI carry audio too?
Absolutely. My BFG 285 GTX has a special S/PIDF audio in... I guess in our quest to standardize everything no one told the audiophiles designing video cards, sound cards and motherboards. Its not all that bad... I think I have personally encountered four formats. (Special 2, regular 2, 3 and 4 pin connections) The one on my video card though requires a special cable that came with the card. Surprising I still have that cable. (It was in the original box) The sound works great though.
The cable in the box is a normal 2 connecting to a special 2. The audio out on the motherboard is a normal 3. 1X34. To hook the 2 up you need to hook only to the 34 and you can ignore the 1X. But it matters how you hook it up. (If its backwards it won't work)
Once you set it up windows 7 will give you a new set of output options.... I have speakers and spidf out... If I set the spidf out as default then the sound goes over hdmi and not the speakers. Just speakers is just speakers.... not sure if I can do both yet.... but I haven't had a lot of time to play. (Work etc...) I will play some more later.
The 50' Run works fine btw even with audio. I hooked it up for testing purposes. I still need to run the cable but its really a lot of fun. The sound options are bit hokey for my taste but I haven't exactly figured out how I want to deal with that yet.
Does HDMI carry audio too?
Absolutely. My BFG 285 GTX has a special S/PIDF audio in... I guess in our quest to standardize everything no one told the audiophiles designing video cards, sound cards and motherboards. Its not all that bad... I think I have personally encountered four formats. (Special 2, regular 2, 3 and 4 pin connections) The one on my video card though requires a special cable that came with the card. Surprising I still have that cable. (It was in the original box) The sound works great though.
The cable in the box is a normal 2 connecting to a special 2. The audio out on the motherboard is a normal 3. 1X34. To hook the 2 up you need to hook only to the 34 and you can ignore the 1X. But it matters how you hook it up. (If its backwards it won't work)
Once you set it up windows 7 will give you a new set of output options.... I have speakers and spidf out... If I set the spidf out as default then the sound goes over hdmi and not the speakers. Just speakers is just speakers.... not sure if I can do both yet.... but I haven't had a lot of time to play. (Work etc...) I will play some more later.
