Does the UMC-1 amp HDMI

[Mischief]

I am wondering of the UMC-1 acts like an amplifier for the HDMI signal it passes. If so, does it work in pass through mode?

Thanks, I am hoping it will solve a problem for me.

[2muchht]

As an HDMI Repeater device, there is something akin to amplification in that you can have cables on either side of the UMC at maximum length, and thus you are twice the length of the source (DVD, game, Blu ray, STB, etc) connected directly to your sink (video display).

In truth it isn't really amplification, but having the Tx in the UMC regenerate the signal and re-inject the 5VDC to light up the EDID in the sink. That geek-ness means that depending on the quality of the cable you can have about 3 to 5 meters on each side to a total of 6m to 10m (YMMV). Direct connection is the 3m to 5m on its own.

Of course, this all only works when the UMC is turned on. The "Pass-through" is to send the selected source's audio over the HDMI through to the sink. That, too, only works when the UMC is on. The new Onkyo AVRs claim to have a way to send the HDMI through from source to sink even when the AVR is off, but I'd have to see a block diagram to see exactly how they do that.

[threxx]

Mar 25, 2010 0:44:19 GMT -5 2muchht said:

That geek-ness means that depending on the quality of the cable you can have about 3 to 5 meters on each side to a total of 6m to 10m (YMMV). Direct connection is the 3m to 5m on its own.

15 to 20 feet? I've seen HDMI cable runs of over 50 feet with no signal loss (still 1080p). I've always heard 35 feet is a good safe point for a good quality cable where you can assume you won't lose any information.

For my own sake I hope I'm right because I have no idea how else I'm going to run an HDMI cable to my projector in the future... I really don't want a repeater hanging off my wall either.

[Mischief]

I have a 25 foot run, with the top of the line blue jeans cable. It works fine for 1080p on my Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players but the DirectTv box won't pass a signal reliably, even at 480p. It works if I go direct from the DTV box to the PJ, but not through the passive switch.

I also swapped out the shorter cables to make sure there was no problem there, no luck

It sounds like the UMC-1 will fix my problem once it gets here.

[moe]

I run 50 ft cables in 2 different rooms.One set hdmi goes from a pc to Harman Kardon and works great.It also worked fine on an Onkyo.I have another run in another room to my lcd from pc and works fine,but when I tried it on the UMC no dice,no picture.Shorter runs of 15ft work fine but no deal on the 50 ft,so the UMC is evidently more picky about length.

[Mischief]

I figure it has to be better than a passive switch. Has anyone else had problems with the HD-21 DTV boxes with long cable runs?

[skymovessideways]

I have a 35' blue jeans HDMI cable (their top of the line) running to my projector. Both my PS3 and my satellite box work perfectly with that cable. I do not use any switch (passive or active) at this time though. I have a component cable running to the projector too, and I use this for satellite (through my non-HDMI pre/pro) most of the time.

[Mischief]

I have a nice blue jeans component cable but it is about a foot short of reaching the new projector. That would also be a good solution if it was a foot longer