Here at Emotiva we usually buy optical HDMI cables from a brand called RUIPRO.
They're a real no-name, but they're quite low cost, and seem to work just fine...
We usually get the "8k" version... on Amazon... which is only about $5 more than the 4k version.
I'll throw in a few general comments about HDMI cables...
We tend to find that a
LOT of the problems people call about seem to go away when they get a different HDMI cable.
You
DO NOT need an expensive cable; especially for short distances something like an Amazon Basics cable for $9 is just fine; but
some cables just don't work very well.
HDMI cables can also get damaged or go bad over time... it's not common but it does happen.
As someone else already noted, with passive cables, it is the total connection length that matters.
HDMI is fussy about both delay and signal strength... and that's the overall delay from source to destination... and is determined by the overall cable length.
This isn't an issue if your sources are near your processor... but, if your processor is 20 feet from your screen, and your Blu-Ray is 20 feet from the processor... that's 40 feet of total cable length.
Individual cable lengths really do matter... and, especially with 4k and up, manufacturers of passive cables tend to be
optimistic.
At anything over about 20 feet, with 4k, a passive cable may or may not work.
I don't care what it cost, or what the manufacturer claims, or what the guy at the store says; anything longer than that
MAY have problems.
Likewise, the cable that worked great for 35 feet on your friend's system may not work so great with the TV and other gear
you have.
(And those problems will usually go away if you put in a nice powered optical cable instead.)
Powered optical cables will work just great over long distances... even very long distances.
Note, however, that a powered active HDMI cable counts as "an HDMI device".
This means that, like any other HDMI device, they may or may not support HDR, or high frame rates, or ARC or eARC, or whatever...
The newer ones are usually pretty good but, if you want to do gaming, or high frame rates... you do want to make sure.
"Baluns" is a term that is usually used to describe those somewhat expensive "HDMI-to-10baseT" boxes (or some other sort of Ethernet cable).
They are also an active device... and so may or may not support specific resolutions and HDMI features.
Many of these work great...
But some, especially older ones, may NOT support high frame rates, or may not even support 4k.
(Check the specs
AND read the reviews.)
I don't think we've tried the Blue Jeans cables... but that one looks like it should work properly.
I have an RMC-1 that experiences, what I think, is a problem with the handshake with the TV when switching to my higher resolution inputs. There are three A/V inputs (cable box, Apple TV, and Oppo Blu-Ra player) and one audio only input (Room Nucleus) that are all connected via HDMI. When switching to either of the higher bandwidth source (AppleTV, Oppo) either I get nothing and the TV (LG OLED) tells me there is no input signal, or I get a grey, flashing on screen (see attachment). I can usually resolve these issues by switching back-and-forth between the cable input and the high bandwidth inputs, but I'd obviously prefer to experience smoother input switching between sources.
The RMC is connected to the monitor via a Blue Jean cable Series 3A. It is a 50 foot connection (runs behind the wall - so a rather long connection was needed.)
Any thoughts or recommendations?
