When RUIPRO asked me to review an HDMI cable, I almost immediately deleted their email. After all, who wants to review a dumb HDMI cable? But I still took a look and noticed that their cable used optical fiber, and they sold HDMI cables up to 300 meters long on Amazon. My longest HDMI cable is about 1.5 meters long, so I got intrigued and asked for a 100-foot (30-meter) fiber HDMI cable for testing.
RUIPRO fiber HDMI cable unboxing
When I received the parcel, I got two boxes, so I thought there might be a receiver and a transmitter. But no, they must like me and sent two “8K detachable pure fiber HDMI cables”.
The cables are said to be HDMI 2.1b compliant up to 8K resolution, and with support for future 10K and 12K resolutions. Other features listed include Dynamic HDR, eARC, uncompressed 8K60 Hz and 4K120 Hz, and 48 Gbps bandwidth. They also offer zero signal loss and zero electromagnetic interference compared to solutions such as wireless HDMI extenders. Suitable lengths of standard HDMI cables are about 10 to 15 meters at 4K60 resolution and 3 to 5 meters at 8Kp60 resolution, while fiber HDMI cables can be much longer.
One package comes with a 30-meter optical fiber cable, Source and Display HDMI to fiber adapters, two USB to micro USB cables for power, a user manual, and what looks like green cotton buds. Before inserting one of these in my ears, I decided to read the user manual, and the green cleaning sticks are used to gently clean the MPO (Multi-fiber Push-On) connectors if they need to be disconnected :).
Fiber HDMI cable connection
The fiber optic connector is protected by a cover. Remove the sticker before inserting the cable. A micro USB port is also present for power.
Each end of the cable itself is also protected by a dust cover secured with a sticker. We’ll need to remove those as well.
Now insert the optical fiber cable inside the two adapters and the two USB-to-micro-USB cables.
Note there’s a Source adapter and a Display adapter, so we’ll have to make sure we connect the cable properly.
Testing the RUIPRO fiber HDMI cable with a projector
I have a project in my office that’s about 4 to 5 meters from my laptop, and I also have to move my laptop and all cables when I want to use the projector. A fiber HDMI cable is a bit of an over-engineered solution considering the distance, but that’s a good first test.
First, I had to connect the Display adapter and its USB cable to the MECOOL KP1 projector.
Then I did the same with the Source adapter on my Ubuntu 24.04 laptop, and an external HDMI display showed up immediately in the Settings.
It just worked without having to install any drivers or configure anything. The fiber HDMI cable was just seen as a standard HDMI from the laptop and projector perspective.
Outdoor 4K HDMI TV/monitor
I also did a second practical test showing how we could use this cable to connect an outdoor 4K monitor (KTC A32Q8) or projector while the source (mini PC or laptop) is still indoors.
Since the laptop was on the front porch and the monitor was in the backyard, I could not see the monitor. If you are in this situation, one challenge is moving the cursor on the built-in display, especially if the two displays don’t have the same resolution, and the other is playing the video full screen on the HDMI display. I used VLC, which offers parameters to do just that:
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1 |
vlc BigBuckBunny.mp4 --fullscreen --video-x=HDMI-1 |
No problem at all with video and audio working, and no disconnection during the few minutes we tried it.
Here’s a video showing the full setup.
For home users, it’s mostly useful if you need to install a TV or projector in a location without access to the Internet, and the source requires it.
I also rebooted my laptop to Windows 11 to make sure it would indeed work without drivers, and no problem here.
When getting everything back into the house, we did not manage to roll the cable in the same neat way as it was delivered to us. An old filament spool might be helpful here.
Conclusion
If you are in need of a long HDMI cable, the RUIPRO fiber HDMI cable does the job, as confirmed with our tests with a full HD projector and a 4K HDMI monitor. It’s plug and play, and the 30-m cable worked without any issues or configuration needed. The cable is quite thin, so I had no problem closing doors when trying it outdoors.
However, such cables are not exactly cheap, so you’d have to consider your options. The easiest way is to place the video source closer to the monitor, TV, or projector, if possible, and use a standard HDMI cable. If not, there are other options to consider to extend the HDMI signals: HDMI Cat5/6 “Ethernet” extenders (cheapest, up to 100-meter range, but the cable is not typically provided), wireless HDMI transmitter/receiver kits (affordable, up to 200-meter range, but subject to interference), and HDMI PowerLine extenders which are also pricey.
The expensive parts are the HDMI to fiber adapters, and the fiber cable itself is relatively inexpensive. An advantage of RUIPRO fiber HDMI cables is that you can easily switch between different cable lengths or replace a damaged cable without having to purchase a whole new kit. Although some home users may benefit from long HDMI cables, this type of fiber cable is probably best suited for digital signage applications or conference rooms, where a single player with multiple HDMI outputs may be connected to monitors placed far away from each other.
I’d like to thank RUIPRO for sending two of their 100-foot (30.5 meters) fiber HDMI cables for review. The model reviewed here sells for $139.49 on Amazon, but you’ll find other lengths on the same page starting at $103.49 for the 3-foot (one meter) model and up to $491.99 for the 990-foot (300 meters) variant. Alternatively, you can also purchase the cables from the company’s online store.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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