Trying to extend PC to TV room.

MrM · November 10, 2022

So I'm looking for the best and most cost effective way to extend my desktop display out to the living room TV. Basically similar to what Linus is doing. Along with the display I really only need KBM, Controller and headset as peripherals. So I don't need as much from the USB extenders. It's about a 75 ft run. Basically wondering if a combo of a fiber HDMI and USB over Ethernet would get the job done?

MrM · November 10, 2022

Sorry I probably should have specified this is for gaming so full HDMI 2.1 signal and zero lag with the USB is the only way.

sm1th5 · November 11, 2022

Fiber hdmi is the only option here for it to work. And it's not cost effective either.

MrM · November 11, 2022

8 hours ago, sm1th5 said:

Fiber hdmi is the only option here for it to work. And it's not cost effective either.

Cost effectiveness is relative. Considering a 100ft cable is $100-200 that's not horrible. It's mostly the USB extenders. I don't want to spend $500+ on optical USB extenders.

dalekphalm · November 11, 2022

2 hours ago, MrM said:

Cost effectiveness is relative. Considering a 100ft cable is $100-200 that's not horrible. It's mostly the USB extenders. I don't want to spend $500+ on optical USB extenders.

I'm not sure if this problem was fixed in newer revisions of USB (eg: 3.x) but traditionally, USB was severely affected by signal loss over distance. Getting a USB cable working over 15+ feet was often a challenge.

So a 75 foot run of a standard copper-core USB cable may not work in your scenario. You might be forced to run an Optical connection for both HDMI and USB. Optical Thunderbolt is also an option, but I don't know if they've released optical versions for TB3 or TB4 yet.

You can buy 75ft long USB cables - but they all appear to be "active" - which means there's a signal booster/repeater built into the cable, to help alleviate the signal loss issues described above. Like an Active HDMI cable, how well it works in real life will vary per cable and per environmental conditions.

Definitely worth a shot though - just buy the cables from somewhere with a good return policy, in case the solution doesn't work.