Subscribe to our daily news
Header society
Secondary menu
3
Easy to set up, but unable to manage the required range, it may be better to use a good quality HDMI cable
Before you start to lose signal, HDMI cables can only transmit high-definition video-the use of 15m ordinary cables is close to the limit. Last month, we saw ASUS’s WAVI, which uses wireless signals for this operation, but only works best within the line of sight, and the range is very limited. The TruLink HDMI cable connected via Cat5E Extender claims to extend the distance of your HDMI device to 60m.
After reading the small font, we found that the 60m range is only suitable for 720p or 1080i video content. For full HD (1080p) content, the theoretical range is reduced to 40m. However, it is farther than the WAVI device and does not require line of sight. Although 40m may seem too long, remember that you want to guide the cable out of sight, so a projector beyond 20m may actually need twice the distance of the cable.
TruLink is easy to install, only the receiver unit needs power. The transmitter and receiver both have two Ethernet ports, so you need two Ethernet cables of the same length to connect them together. You can buy 30 million barrier-free Ethernet cables from www.ebuyer.com for £6.50.
We tested TruLink with PlayStation 3 and Samsung Blu-ray player (with LG TV as the display). As a control, we first tested the extender with a two-meter cable and found that our test kit can display 1080p without any problems. At 50m, although we did notice that part of the image of the Blu-ray player was flashing on the screen, we could not get the proper signal from either device.
Using a 10m network cable, we still cannot get a 1080p signal on the TV, but when we set the Blu-ray player and PS3 to output 1080i, the image resolution is 40m. When the cable length is 30m, the Blu-ray player can provide perfect 1080p images, but we can still only run PS3 at 1080i.
Although TruLink cannot manage the required distance, as long as you are satisfied with the lower resolution, it is still an effective way to send video signals over long distances. However, depending on the source device, you may not be able to handle 1080p video even if it is 30m or less, so it is best to buy an active HDMI cable, such as
The price is 100 pounds.
Copyright ©
Publishing Ltd. 2021. all rights reserved.
Expert Reviews™ is a registered trademark.
