Repair a broken HDMI cable head

cork_south

I have a tiviar in the attic connected to a TV downstairs via HDMI.
My wife moved the TV and pulled the head off the HDMI cable (it's a sore subject in our house).

Luckily I ran a 2nd HDMI cable down in case something like this happened but if that breaks I'm goosed.
Running another cable is impossible as the cables are stuck in the walls.

From what I can see it's almost impossible to fix, but has anyone been able to fix a HDMI head? Id pay to get someone to do it if it was possible.
I will try to attach an image of the current state of the cable.

cork_south

Statler

https://www.instructables.com/id/Repair-a-Hdmi-cable/

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/263111880131

Never done this myself, but had a similar issue and looked into it, running a new cable wasn't going to be impossible, just a pain in the arse. In the end I decided the repair job could turn into a bigger pain in the arse and ran the new cable.

Johnboy1951

You should have terminated the HDMI cable in a wall plate with HDMI socket ...... too late now I guess

If you have any other such cables then I suggest you change to wall plates with HDMI socket.

Something like this
https://www.freetv.ie/hdmi-wall-plates/

cork_south

Statler wrote: »

https://www.instructables.com/id/Repair-a-Hdmi-cable/

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/263111880131

Never done this myself, but had a similar issue and looked into it, running a new cable wasn't going to be impossible, just a pain in the arse. In the end I decided the repair job could turn into a bigger pain in the arse and ran the new cable.

Thx, bookmarked. Looks like I wouldn't have the skills to do it but in the eventuality the 2nd hdmi cable fails I'm gonna give with a go.

Unfortunately the broken cable appears to be jarred on a corner as I am unable to pull it from either end and I don't want to do any damage to the existing cables (I'm also running a soarview and satellite cable direct to the same TV from the attic), so running a new cable isnt an option I'd say.

cork_south

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

You should have terminated the HDMI cable in a wall plate with HDMI socket ...... too late now I guess

If you have any other such cables then I suggest you change to wall plates with HDMI socket.

Something like this
https://www.freetv.ie/hdmi-wall-plates/

Good idea alright but I'm not very handy.

After the 1st cable broke I bought a 1m extender hdmi cable, male to female.
That is now connected to the TV and the 2nd working hdmi is connected to it.
The 1m cable shud hopefully take the slack/damage if there are issues in the future with TV movement.

Ger Roe

You could still use a wall HDMI socket. Cut the damaged head off and wire up the socket with the internal cable wires that went to the head moulding and then use a shorter pre made cable to connect from the socket to the TV.

A bit of a google for pin connections and wire colours would set you up again with the old broken cable.

If you don't want to try repairing the old cable, make sure your remaining one is strain relief protected. A simple option would be to cable tie both cables together (existing remaining cable and the new extender) at a point below where the connectors join. Any pull strain will then not be focused at the cable tie point and not on the actual connectors. This will help to avoid connector damage.

The high horse brigade

Hdmi cables in walls is always a bad idea. I always discourage it. You are always better to run an extra 2x cat 6 terminated in Ethernet sockets instead and use hdmi baluns. It works out more expensive but is a lot better going forward

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_ime_i_4_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hdmi+balun+kit&sprefix=Hdmi+balun%2Caps%2C214&crid=YSO4A2OD2A6T

cork_south

Ger Roe wrote: »

You could still use a wall HDMI socket. Cut the damaged head off and wire up the socket with the internal cable wires that went to the head moulding and then use a shorter pre made cable to connect from the socket to the TV.

A bit of a google for pin connections and wire colours would set you up again with the old broken cable.

If you don't want to try repairing the old cable, make sure your remaining one is strain relief protected. A simple option would be to cable tie both cables together (existing remaining cable and the new extender) at a point below where the connectors join. Any pull strain will then not be focused at the cable tie point and not on the actual connectors. This will help to avoid connector damage.

Good call with the cable tie, I just did that now, thx.

For connecting the broken cable to the plate am I right in thinking that you don't need to do any soldering?

Ger Roe

The sockets plates that allow you to wire up to the back of them are usually screw terminal connections, no solder required.

However, just doing a quick google now, they are hard to come by with most available just being a back to back inline socket that would require your incoming cable to have a connector on it too.

ED E

HDMI is pushing the limits of copper as is, especially a long run in a wall. A rough job onto the back of a plate will very likely cause issues. With ethernet you can get away with a bit of "untwist" but I'd be very doubtful that HDMI will be so forgiving.

listermint

Hdmi is a bad idea if there is going to be any movement of the equipment in either end. I.e swivelling TV or plugging and unplugged peripherals alot.

Outside that it's the best solution with the best quality and no balun will match it.

So the Choice should be made depending on use case.

As for your scenario you could use the broken hdmi to pull a cat lead through and use balun

Johnboy1951

listermint wrote: »

Hdmi is a bad idea if there is going to be any movement of the equipment in either end. I.e swivelling TV or plugging and unplugged peripherals alot.

Outside that it's the best solution with the best quality and no balun will match it.

So the Choice should be made depending on use case.

As for your scenario you could use the broken hdmi to pull a cat lead through and use balun

Can send the video data on Cat5e/Cat6 as IP ...... just as well and maybe even better than an HDMI cable.

listermint

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Can send the video data on Cat5e/Cat6 as IP ...... just as well and maybe even better than an HDMI cable.

Wont cater for 4K. And no its not better.

Johnboy1951

listermint wrote: »

Wont cater for 4K. And no its not better.

Why do you think it will not do 4K?

cork_south

listermint wrote: »

As for your scenario you could use the broken hdmi to pull a cat lead through and use balun

Unfortunately there is no give from either end when pulling the broken cable so pulling a new cable as not an option.

andy1249

HDMI cable “ field repairs” are extremely difficult and have a very low success rate.

The dimensions of the twists in the pairs are critical and each of the 19 wires in the cable must match in length to within micrometers.
This is almost impossible to do by eye and most cable repairs done by hand simply dont work.

HDMI cables are machine made due to the tolerances required.
As its not practical to do by hand, there is no standard colour code for the wires.

Most HDMI wall plates simply have a socket each side.
Screw terminals are unlikely to work at all for the reasons above.

Regarding HDMI over category cable, this is only possible with certain chipsets that convert the signal to run over category, and maximum lossless resolution as it stands is UHD at 3840 x 2160 at 30fps...after that its lossy with artifacts....the best current lossless UHD solution for long runs is HDMI over fibre.

When running cables in walls , always use conduit and pull through wires, i.e. always think about how you will easily replace the cables, as by and large, they cannot be repaired.

listermint

listermint wrote: »

Wont cater for 4K. And no its not better.

Yes it can deliver 4K and it’s better as for example it’s much more scalable than a single point to point hdmi bauln, it’s also not near as distance limited.

biketard

Congratulations on having the foresight to run two HDMI cables in the first place, cork_south.

andy1249

Anna Prickly Sandblaster wrote: »

Yes it can deliver 4K and it’s better as for example it’s much more scalable than a single point to point hdmi bauln, it’s also not near as distance limited.

No HDMI over category system can deliver lossless UHD.
Additional lossy compression is used.
What goes in is not what comes out.

Marketed as “ visually lossless “ which is just sales talk for not good enough.

There are lossless fibre systems in the same price bracket.

Johnboy1951

andy1249 wrote: »

HDMI cable “ field repairs” are extremely difficult and have a very low success rate.

The dimensions of the twists in the pairs are critical and each of the 19 wires in the cable must match in length to within micrometers.
This is almost impossible to do by eye and most cable repairs done by hand simply dont work.

Thanks, was not aware of that.

HDMI cables are machine made due to the tolerances required.
As its not practical to do by hand, there is no standard colour code for the wires.

Most HDMI wall plates simply have a socket each side.
Screw terminals are unlikely to work at all for the reasons above.

Regarding HDMI over category cable, this is only possible with certain chipsets that convert the signal to run over category, and maximum lossless resolution as it stands is UHD at 3840 x 2160 at 30fps...after that its lossy with artifacts....the best current lossless UHD solution for long runs is HDMI over fibre.

How does that compare to using a different signal/protocol to HDMI over ethernet?
Just wondering about the relative limitations as I have not to date met any 'gotchas' on my LAN distributing live TV (SD/HD/UHD) from tvheadend to multiple clients simultaneously. There is very little live UHD of course so not much in use.

When running cables in walls , always use conduit and pull through wires, i.e. always think about how you will easily replace the cables, as by and large, they cannot be repaired.

andy1249

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Thanks, was not aware of that.



How does that compare to using a different signal/protocol to HDMI over ethernet?
Just wondering about the relative limitations as I have not to date met any 'gotchas' on my LAN distributing live TV (SD/HD/UHD) from tvheadend to multiple clients simultaneously. There is very little live UHD of course so not much in use.

HDMI over category is a substitute for a standard HDMI cable for long runs.
It carries a live uncompressed/rendered TMDS signal of enormous bandwidth typically from a HDMI output to a HDMI input.

TVheadend is distributing compressed live transmissions to clients, the client then renders the HDMI output.
So not the same thing at all.
Different stages of the content delivery chain.

paulhardman

Alternatively you can put your HDMI source on a HDMI RF modulator and use the Saorview cable - I've done this successfully and can broadcast the HDMI signal to 5 TVs at the same time...

brightspark

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-signals-Terminal-Breakout-Connector/dp/B01NBJFQN7/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_60_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JZBJYDKQ0WZPTT8E4E1C

No idea if it will work or not but if you have no choice it might be worth trying?

Capt'n Midnight

paulhardman wrote: »

Alternatively you can put your HDMI source on a HDMI RF modulator and use the Saorview cable - I've done this successfully and can broadcast the HDMI signal to 5 TVs at the same time...

Depending on what your HDMI source you could send it over the network or by WiFi.

Like upgrading a satellite receiver or using Kodi or whatnot or streaming .

spaceHopper

You could try this and a wall plate. Looks like it use punch down like Ethernet.

https://ie.rs-online.com/web/p/products/7684309/?grossPrice=Y&cm_mmc=IE-PLA-DS3A-_-google-_-PLA_IE_EN_Connectors-_-Audio_And_Video_Connectors%7CAudio_And_Video_Faceplates-_-PRODUCT_GROUP&matchtype=&pla-391772637586&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqvvFxszM4AIVDrHtCh1U1AzbEAQYBSABEgL8l_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds


We did an extension and we ran in two cat 6 instead of HDMI, wish I'd run cat 6 and hdmi. HDMI over ethernet (called HDBASE-T) is much more expensive. Yes it's good to have ethernet as everything is going that way but for now HDMI here.

Capt'n Midnight

Punchdown on an existing cable would be messy
no colour code
at a guess the existing cable is stranded and punchdown would be for thicker single conductor.
and the whole count the twists thing


For future reference you could use a HDMI Coupler or faceplate to protect the buried cable. So the one in the room is the sacrificial one.

https://www.freetv.ie/hdmi-wall-plates/
https://www.freetv.ie/hdmi-coupler-female-to-female/