Question Active Fiber / Copper hybrid HDMI cables on Amazon

[peonyu]

Anyone have experience with these? They are hybrid copper - fiber optic cables, the jist of it is that for not too much more money that you can get a much longer cable without losing 444 Chroma or being forced to using 30hz @4k.

My question is - Are these copper - fiber HDMI cables any good ? and also, do they add any input lag since they are converting the signal at the end of the cable. I am currently using a pure copper based 20 foot HDMI cable, and while it works 99% of the time, i do get a black screen flicker at times which means that the cable is not pushing enough bandwidth.

Here is a link for a cable i am looking at:

Amazon.com: Fiber Optic HDMI Cable 33ft,QGeeM 4K 60Hz HDMI Cable High Speed 18Gbps HDMI 2.0 Black Cable,Zinc Alloy Case 10M, HDMI AOC Cable: Industrial & Scientific

Buy Fiber Optic HDMI Cable 33ft, QGeeM 4K 60Hz HDMI Cable High Speed 18Gbps HDMI 2.0 Black Cable, Zinc Alloy Case 10M, HDMI AOC Cable: HDMI Cables - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[mnewsham]

Optical cables are fairly standard all things considered, I've most commonly seen it used for USB, but it's fairly common on long HDMI runs too.

One thing to note, the cables are likely uni-directional, as in you'll have to plug the appropriate end into your source device (GPU, Bluray player, etc) and the opposite end into your display device (projector, TV, monitor)

Also, be careful fiber cables usually don't like hard angles as it can damage the fiber, or reduce the laser propagation.

 

[peonyu]

Thanks for the advice, so they do seem to be ok then. Do you know if they add any input lag though, or is it so small that it doesn't even matter?

 

[mnewsham]

Thanks for the advice, so they do seem to be ok then. Do you know if they add any input lag though, or is it so small that it doesn't even matter?

I've never heard of any particular latency issues, but I also have never seen real comprehensive testing on that either, so i'd say it's potentially possible, but i'd expect it to be minimal if any.

 

[peonyu]

Thanks mnewsham.

Just a update.

As far as input lag goes, i got the cables in earlier yesterday and set them up. I did a "human benchmark" latency test as well and the results are the same as my old copper based cables - minus the black screen flickering - so i am happy.

They are 13 feet longer at the same time so i was able to reroute them around my wall and not have them on the floor. AOC "active cables" are going to be the future at this rate...the 20 foot copper cable i had previously btw, was as round as my thumb whereas this one is slightly thicker than a straw. Win Win.