BLUSTREAM RELEASES PRECISION ACTIVE COPPER HDMI CABLES

Dragging Sound Group’s General Manager, Mark Kruck, away from the sledgehammer for a few minutes we were lucky to get some insight into the recently launched new custom install HDMI cable from Blustream.

Retrospective installs of HDMI cabling are to put it frankly, a right royal pain in the butt. I’ve performed this task on numerous occasions, and it has never been a straightforward procedure, particularly with the bulky old-school HDMI plug heads and thick ‘grippy’ cables. They’re guaranteed to foul hidden nogs, ceiling bearers and other unseen conduit-free obstacles.

Help is on the way though, as this onerous task is about to become a hell of a lot easier with the release of the new Precision 18Gbps Cable Active Optical Copper HDMI from Blustream.

Available in 30, 50 or 100m roll lengths the Optical Copper HDMI actually does what its title suggests – the electrical HDMI signal is converted into light signals at either end, without any adapters to complicate the install.

Long cable runs of up to 100m are possible at a full 18Gbps and all 4K resolutions are supported at this distance, including HDR, Dolby Vision, 60Hz 4:4:4 colour space and 8/10/12 bit colour.

And yes! The Optical Copper has a detachable HDMI connector with a much smaller Micro-HDMI plug lurking underneath, while the fibre-optic cable is ultra thin as well as being nice and slippery. We can almost hear the collective sighs of relief from Custom Install and HT Diy’ers alike at the news that their job has become just that much easier.

Long cable runs can prove problematic when devices can’t quite provide enough voltage over long distances, but the thoughtful boffins at Blustream have this issue licked with a handy micro-USB connector built into the connector – all it needs is an external 5V USB power source to boost any low voltage HDMI devices.

HDBaseT and other similar HDMI over Ethernet systems are available of course, but the simplicity of being able to plug a cable directly into your HT Receiver or Preamp is the most appealing part.

The simple solutions usually the best ones.

Available now, the Blustream Precision Active Copper HDMI Cables sell in Australia for 30M ($749), 50m ($899), 100m ($1249). The Precision range also includes Passive HDMI cables from .5m to 7m, and  Active Optical cables from 10m - 20m.

For more information visit Blustream.