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Extended USB cable mod? (Suggestion/help)

gp4f2008
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Hello to everyone on the forums!

 

Hopefully I did not title this topic wrong, or chose the wrong forum. If not, let me begin with what I am trying to accomplish.

 

Basically, I have been building a secondary PC for streaming purposes, and I am finally done. However, the PC is meant to stay downstairs, together with my LAN modem and switch. I had an idea, where with a capture card from my main (gaming) PC, I would transfer the signal, so that the USB cable from the capture card, goes into a LAN extender cable (which I cheaply got off ebay), and then through my network continues down to the streaming PC. When I finally had the chance to test it all out, the capture card wouldn't function properly. LEDs were dimming with darker brightness, and Windows did not recognize the device. It turned out that the voltage going through the long LAN cable is not enough for the capture card to work (about 10-15 meters to be exact in length).

 

So I was thinking, and I believe that this is actually possible, to use a phone charger as a power supply to the capture card with the 2 USB pins that provide power, and let the other 2 USB pins (the data ones) deliver data to the streaming PC downstairs (since through the length voltage is being lost, data shouldn't be a problem). My question is, what is the best way to split this thing and make it work? The cables should look like this: One coming from the charger, and one coming from the LAN extender, and then both combining into one USB where I plug my capture card. The first cable will be power from the wall, while the second will just send the captured video game to the 2nd PC.

 

Hopefully my idea can be accomplished, and is not that difficult to do. I am thankful in advance for any help provided!

 

Thank you so much for reading this!

 

Have a nice day everyone!

-Marko.

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https://linustechtips.com/topic/694312-extended-usb-cable-mod-suggestionhelp/
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USB spec only allows up to 12 or 15 feet, not metres.

You can buy powered usb extension cables that I have heard on forums prople having success with 2 of them together. That's for KB+Mouse signal though. I highly doubt that the signal will work well for video capture.

One thing you can take a look at is the 3.Optical cables from corning. They aint cheap though.https://www.corning.com/optical-cables-by-corning/worldwide/en/products/usb-optical-cables.html

When in doubt, re-format.

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Just realized, you'll have better luck running a 35 foot long HDMI cable from your main rig down to your stream rig and plug the capture card directly into the stream rig instead of trying to extend a usb signal.

When in doubt, re-format.

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Is this USB extender going through a router, or is there a single Ethernet cable connecting the two ends? 

Yes, it's 2871 as in the year 2871. I traveled all this way, back in time, just to help you. And you thought your mama lied when she said you were special. -_-

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I have no idea what you're trying to do. Could you draw a diagram for how you're thinking to set it up? 

 

USB is not good over long distances. They have USB "extenders" which transfer the USB signal over ethernet cable, then back into usb at the receiving end. Not cheap though. And they're not really meant for high bandwidth signals (video.)

 

So I'll ask the same as the person above me did. Why are you not just doing this over your LAN? Ethernet is a MUCH better solution. 

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I think your best bet is to use video capture, not data transfer. You could use splitter to get image on main display(s) and not having to run 2 long cables.

14 hours ago, corrado33 said:

So I'll ask the same as the person above me did. Why are you not just doing this over your LAN? Ethernet is a MUCH better solution. 

Aren't those same thing? LAN = Local Area Network, Ethernet being the cable/technology used for LAN. You must be mixing LAN to WLAN (Wireless LAN) or WiFi.

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On 11/21/2016 at 9:10 PM, SCHISCHKA said:

i dont think usb can go that distance even if you insert powered hubs. why are you not just sending the data through ethernet?

I am sending the data through an ethernet cable, but the length makes the electrical resistance high - therefore not enough power for the capture card to function properly. So I was thinking if power goes from a phone charger for example, the data pins from the USB wouldn't be a problem over long lengths.

On 11/21/2016 at 9:19 PM, pwn_intended said:

Just realized, you'll have better luck running a 35 foot long HDMI cable from your main rig down to your stream rig and plug the capture card directly into the stream rig instead of trying to extend a usb signal.

I wish I could do that, but my only solution would be over a LAN cable :\ (they are already put in-walls, and using an HDMI cable all the way downstairs would be impractical)

On 11/21/2016 at 11:08 PM, Xanthe_2871 said:

Is this USB extender going through a router, or is there a single Ethernet cable connecting the two ends? 

It is a single Ethernet cable connecting the two ends.

On 11/21/2016 at 11:17 PM, corrado33 said:

I have no idea what you're trying to do. Could you draw a diagram for how you're thinking to set it up? 

 

USB is not good over long distances. They have USB "extenders" which transfer the USB signal over ethernet cable, then back into usb at the receiving end. Not cheap though. And they're not really meant for high bandwidth signals (video.)

 

So I'll ask the same as the person above me did. Why are you not just doing this over your LAN? Ethernet is a MUCH better solution. 

I am not the best at drawing diagrams xD, so I'll try to explain it more briefly again:

Main PC -> HDMI cable into Capture Card (this card has to connect to Streaming PC with USB)
*the idea is, that through a USB to LAN, and LAN to USB extender, I would transfer the signal over a distance, but because of electrical resistance, I figured that's impossible. Therefore:
Capture Card USB -> 4 pins (2 data pins, 1 power and 1 ground pin); Use a phone charger's USB to extract the 2 power pins from it, and attach them to the Capture Card USB, while letting the 2 data pins continue into the USB to LAN extender/adapter, to the Streaming PC downstairs. That way, in theory, should work. But what is the best way to execute all this, is a problem I am facing :\

Thank You all for the help! It is highly appreciated!!

I am looking forward to Your reply!

 

-Marko.

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2 hours ago, gp4f2008 said:


Main PC -> HDMI cable into Capture Card (this card has to connect to Streaming PC with USB)
*the idea is, that through a USB to LAN, and LAN to USB extender, I would transfer the signal over a distance, but because of electrical resistance, I figured that's impossible. Therefore:
Capture Card USB -> 4 pins (2 data pins, 1 power and 1 ground pin); Use a phone charger's USB to extract the 2 power pins from it, and attach them to the Capture Card USB, while letting the 2 data pins continue into the USB to LAN extender/adapter, to the Streaming PC downstairs. That way, in theory, should work. But what is the best way to execute all this, is a problem I am facing :\

Thank You all for the help! It is highly appreciated!!

I am looking forward to Your reply!

 

-Marko.

The bolded bit above won't work. It's not the power lines that are the problem with long distance USB cables, it's the data lines. If your power is degrading enough not to reach the destination, then the data lines definitely won't.

 

You'd be better off running a long HDMI cable and connecting the capture card to the other PC with a normal usb cord.

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2 hours ago, gp4f2008 said:

I wish I could do that, but my only solution would be over a LAN cable :\ (they are already put in-walls, and using an HDMI cable all the way downstairs would be impractical)

HDMI over Ethernet is a thing. I was about the write that they're expensive as hell, since the last time I saw one was 4 years ago for about $250. Just looked on amazon now and you can find them for under $20 now for the cheap ones. As always, when shopping online read reviews. I wouldn't go with the cheapest one necessarily, but dropping like $150 would be overkill too.

 

I would definitely recommend sending the HDMI signal over your CAT5 (hopefully higher grade) instead of sending a USB signal over it. This is because of HOW USB works. If you feel like reading up on the "why" ill leave this.

http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/167014/why-is-usb-cable-maximum-length-is-shorter-than-in-rs232

 

ADDITION: look for "hdmi cat5" on your local flavor of amazon.

 

When in doubt, re-format.

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