pete10uk Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 A quick bit of advice if I may, unfortunately I think I already know the answer! But it may help someone else avoid this issue. I have installed a few CPC PSG03626 30m hdmi cables. Unfortunately non of them work, when I called CPC today to ask advice, the technical department came back with is it installed the right way around? I obviously said it's an hdmi lead, both ends are the same:-(. The reply back was no they only work one way around! It says this on our website. They are correct they only work one way and yes one of the website bullet points says "uni directional" but there was no instructions in the pack nor a big red sticker on the cable ends saying warning, just a small molded in and out label on each end of the cable. I'll take this up with them tomorrow. Now the issue I have although the one I heve fitted is an easy swap and the second can be swapped with a bit of an effort, the third can't as its plastered in to a void with no access. My backup is some cat 6 cable I installed and some converters, but I could do with out writing off a £75 cable and then spending £300 on some cat 6 solution. The cable is just cable, it the ends that are wrong, any one had any experience of cutting off the melding and swapping thing around to get them to work. Any advice would be a great help. It's Sod's law that all 3 were the wrong way around :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 At 30m I assume it must be an active lead? In which case, yes it will only work one way around - there are electronics in there to boost the signal as 30m is way beyond the HDMI spec. Sadly, I suspect you may not have much luck trying to reverse it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHYoung Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I think the lesson here is dont run an obviously active device backwards and dont plaster things into place without first testing them. Sorry if thats harsh, but its pretty basic stuff and a mistake that hopefully you dont make twice. Dont see how you can blame cpc especially if the ends are labeled... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 It's definitely an active cable. Part description is "PRO SIGNAL - PSG03626 - HDMI LEAD, ACTIVE, 30M" - that page has the word "active" 4 times, and clearly says " Active HDMI plug to plug lead (Uni-Directional)" http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/psg03626/hdmi-lead-active-30m/dp/AV21223 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Could you use the installed cable to terminate into two wall plates and then use a signal booster? It's not pretty but if you're going to scrap the cable you haven't got much to lose trying to chop and swap the ends. Try and do it somewhere discreet at least, and with digital signal it's probably a technical nightmare in terms of sheilding/balancing/conductor length etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top-cat Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Take it as a knock but a life lesson that: A) Reading the manual is under-rated. B) Checking something works before plastering it into a wall void is under-rated. Don't worry you aren't the first and won't be the last, much bigger installations done by well known companies have resulted in tons of installed cable being totally useless because the job wasn't finished before they plastered it in. As I've mentioned in another thread, I have the interesting scenario in my place where they installed the advance bar hoists onto the roof beams and then plastered the ceiling around the chains. It does say on the CPC website that the active circuitry is built into the moulded connectors. If you are handy with a soldering iron it can't do any harm to have a go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete10uk Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 I think the lesson here is dont run an obviously active device backwards and dont plaster things into place without first testing them. Sorry if thats harsh, but its pretty basic stuff and a mistake that hopefully you dont make twice. Dont see how you can blame cpc especially if the ends are labeled... I've ran many active cables in my time and never had to worry about direction, thinking about it they will have been different ends so it couldn't be wrong but the word active is not an instruction to run a cable a particular way, nor is a uni direction line on the website. A leaflet In the packet or big red sticker is more in line with other installation items I've used which require a very important but not obvious instruction to be followed. Yes the instruction is moulded in to the ends but as mentioned this is small, not obvious and not identified in any instructions. Testing wise it is very hard / impossible to test on a site with 110v feed throughout and full of dust, which is why I have ran 2 backup cat6 cables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Hdbase-t lite boxes might be an option? Fairly cheap... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 You could cut the ends off, swap and splice them back, but make sure the twisted pairs are kept twisted and are exactly the same length as each other. HDMI is very picky about this due to the data rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete10uk Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Take it as a knock but a life lesson that: A) Reading the manual is under-rated. B) Checking something works before plastering it into a wall void is under-rated. A) is my point exactly. There was no manual or instruction with the item, a line on the website is not a substitute. If there was something to indecate that you needed to do somthing important with the item then I would take full responsibility no quibble but there was nothing with the unit to indecate it was any different from the 20m I ran in the opposite direction apart from the word active. Maybe it's me but like my deisel van which has a green rubber ring around the fuel inlet, not labeling up the ends with something unmistakably obvious screams poor design and lack of understanding towards the users needs You could cut the ends off, swap and splice them back, but make sure the twisted pairs are kept twisted and are exactly the same length as each other. HDMI is very picky about this due to the data rates. I'm going to give a passive double cat6 unit ago but will also try cutting off the mouldings to see it I can resolder the ends on, theres a nice tech sheet with the pin outs on, interesting that this fails to mention the directional requirement as does the catalog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top-cat Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 A) is my point exactly. There was no manual or instruction with the item, a line on the website is not a substitute. If there was something to indecate that you needed to do somthing important with the item then I would take full responsibility no quibble but there was nothing with the unit to indecate it was any different from the 20m I ran in the opposite direction apart from the word active. Maybe it's me but like my deisel van which has a green rubber ring around the fuel inlet, not labeling up the ends with something unmistakably obvious screams poor design and lack of understanding towards the users needs I think ultimately one of the compromises you make when you buy from CPC is that you are simply buying units, you are not implying any kind of technical support service. If you know what you are doing with those units then you can have the same kit at a fraction of the price but if you need the tech support it's not the best place. I'm not calling you incompetent or in need of technical advice I am just making the point that when you buy from CPC in the future be careful to check for things like this, they basically sell barcodes off the shelf and the description which goes on the website and/or packaging will be whatever the factory in China supplies them with. It's just the compromise you make. Hence the point with B) - apart from anything, it's not just protecting against cables run backwards. It also protects against cables which don't work at all which are equally useless once sealed into the wall cavity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Fernand Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Active HDMI cables are all directional and should never be 'buried'as they can and do fail. The best of the bunch are those which use the RedMere chipset (designed in Ireland) – they pull power from the Sink (Display) whereas most other designs pull power from the Source. You are going to have to be very handy with the soldering iron to chop and re-terminate an active cable – not sure how the embedded chip will fair with lots of heat! I'd write off the backwards cables and go with HDBT orHDBT-lite over your installed CAT6 (HBDT-lite is sub £300 http://www.tmfsolutions.co.uk/Octava_HD70STP-EX-UK.htm). Relying on a repaired cable in the long term could cost you more than sorting it out now. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grizzly Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 ...theres a nice tech sheet with the pin outs on, interesting that this fails to mention the directional requirement as does the catalog. The tech sheet does quite clearly show 'SIDE: B' labelled as 'OUT', although this is probably not as visible on the real-life moulding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Fernand Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 When we used to supply Active cables (seems a long time ago) we always had one Red plus One Black Connector - you could still get them backwards but it was a bit more obvious that there was a difference! Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete10uk Posted October 17, 2014 Author Share Posted October 17, 2014 Ok, so now I've persuaded the customer to bite the bullet on this one and get in a proper system. We've sorted the HDMI Cable but are receiving a HDCP error intermitantly on a couple of the cheap screens provided by the customer, funnily not the 30m cable but a 15m cable. I'm looking at a 4x4 HDBaseT Matrix. Can any one recommend a decent system passed on personal experiences at the lower end of the market? I've had a look at the CYP stuff and that seems the kind of thing were looking at. I've had a chat with CPC and they were quite understanding on the active cable, on closer inspection the only actual indication that you have to install it any particular way around is the word out moulded on the out connector, not even in on the in end. I have since purchased a different active cable and this is not direction dependant. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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