Weird HDMI issues

shryke

I've got a good friend having some seriously weird issues with his TV setup. He's got a 1080 TV hooked up to his Blue-Ray through HDMI.

The thing is every time a light is turned on, hot water heater turns on, ceiling fan turns on, etc, the picture flickers. This problem goes away when he uses a component cable. (THAT unfortunately, restricts him to only 480)

He thinks distance may be a factor. His receiver and bluray are located about 40 feet away from the TV and the cables run through the ceiling.

Any ideas what's going on? I didn't think HDMI ran into these kind of problems.

Improvolone

Anytime anything in the house is turned on? Um... power issues?
That is a decent run for a cable, is it one HDMI, or are there a million connectors?

shutz

I'm thinking the wiring at your friend's place is old, so that when certain things turn on, there's a spark which causes interference. A 40-foot HDMI cable is more likely to pick up the interference than a shorter one. This is one case where buying higher-quality HDMI cables might actually be a good idea (and I'm not necessarily saying Monster Cable, or special, 1000$ cables either. Shop around, ask others who've bought longer HDMI cables to see what you can find.)

Alternatively, find a way to bring the Blu-ray player closer (say, within 10 feet) of the TV and use a shorter cable, which will be less likely to pick up the interference. At the very least, try a couple of different 40-foot cables, to see if one of them reduces the problem.

I doubt it's just power fluctuations causing this, as it would happen regardless of the connection.

Oh, one other thing I just thought about: does the HDMI cable run close to some power cables? Try and add some distance between the two, and see if this reduces the problem.

embrik

Normal max length is 50 ft. You can get heavier gauge cables which might help, also, I think you can get repeaters/boosters.

You better believe Monoprice has what you'd need. They sell the heavier cables, all the way up to 131 feet (monodirectional)

shryke

His setup is Bluray to receiver (less than a foot) then receiver to TV (50' cable).

Thanks for the suggestions.