# Long cable run --> optical



## Otto (May 18, 2006)

Hi there,

I need to do a long run of optical. I'm thinking of ordering a 30 foot length from BlueJeansCable.

Any comments on why that would not work?


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## Danny (May 3, 2006)

I'm thinking that you might get some degradation of the signal over the run of the cable, make sure you can take back the cable if it doesn't work. I think you can buy baluns that convert optical to send it over long distances if the cable doesn't work tho.


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## Otto (May 18, 2006)

Thanks Dan. Yeah, that's my concern - signal degradation....

I asked my boss how long he thought was an optical run limit and he immediately said 50 feet. And then he told me he had a 25 footer that I could try/buy from him. So we'll see how it goes.

Later.


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2007)

I have a 30 footer that I have been using with no issues.
Nick


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## SteveCallas (Apr 29, 2006)

Copper is prone to signal degredation, optical is virtually immune to it. It's why we use fiberoptic cables along the ocean floors to trasnmit data from one country to another, not copper. Now I'm not saying the plastic optical cables used for HT are as high quality as the pure glass ones used for industrial purposes, but I wouldn't even blink over 30'. 

Have you considered monoprice.com? They sell premium cables for the lowest prices I've yet to find, especially video, but their audio cables are really inexpensive to. Here is their premium 35' optical :spend: :R


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## Otto (May 18, 2006)

Wow, excellent price at <$9! I got that one from my boss today. We were using it in his system today (very nice system, BTW), and it sounded fine. We'll see how it works in my app. 

We agreed on $10 for it, which I'll still gladly pay... Got a similarly lengthed RCA as well, which comes in handy for some long runs I have in my basement.

Thanks!


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## nater (Mar 9, 2007)

The Monoprice cables have worked fine for me. I have a couple of them 50 feet long and they work great. One is the audio on toss link from the LCD TV to the receiver and the other is for audio from the Mini Mac to the receiver.

The trouble shooting when a short toss link failed was confusing at first. The failed cable would pass light and the receiver recognized there was an active connection. Process of elimination proved that one cable failed from the 10-250 Tivo to the receiver.

Enjoy the Monoprice stuff I have used a lot of 50 foot runs from them in composite, s video and HDMI. Some devices do need line driver for HDMI and the Monoprice item works for that at a much lower cost than some other offerings. On the video runs there are some combinations that do show line loss.

nater


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