HDMI extender over CAT5e to remove ground hum?

[Pada]

Hi,

I'm wondering if buying something like the following HDMI extender over CAT5e/6 would solve my ground hum issues that I have with my Sony HVR-V1E?

Currently my problem is that as soon as I connect the HDMI-HDMI cable to the camera and the Kramer visual mixer, that I get a hectic ground hum on the audio.

I have the same problem when connecting the composite (RCA) cable to the camera & Kramer visual mixer.

Thanks in advance

 

[Sinbad]

I'd say either your camera or mixer was faulty then... Shouldn't be any ground hum on anything like that...? Especially on digital feeds.

 

[Pada]

Thanks for the reply Sinbad.

As soon as I plug in either the HDMI/RCA cable, the analog (3.5mm socket on camera) & digital (firewire to PC) audio feeds gets a hum. The HDMI/RCA cables are used for a live video feed inside the church, where as the Firewire is used to stream the audio+video feed to other churches.

The camera is too expensive to replace and its been in for a service like last week, which is why I'm now looking for alternatives to fix the hum issue.

 

[Messugga]

It is highly unlikely that you'll hear a hum on a digital connection, simply due to its nature. If there was corruption in the data, it would be far more erratic than a simple hum.
A hum will probably be due to noise introduced into the system after the digital to analogue conversion takes place. A faulty capacitor, dirty power or many other things could be the cause. I'd classify that as faulty equipment.

 

[Pada]

Messuga, the camera takes analog audio in, and that HDMI/RCA connections influence that. So when the A/D conversion kicks in for the HDMI/Firewire connections, the audio already includes that hum.

We're using the same camera in 2 venues, with different power configurations and the hum is sort of the same at both venues.

I'm just wondering whether using an HDMI extender over CAT5e would isolate the ground / do a ground lift like what the DI boxes can do.

Most likely the design of the camera is just poor.

 

[CA195]

Hi Pada, it looks like you have a ground loop problem. When you connect two devices with an audio cable and both devices are mains powered, you must disconnect the earth wire on one of the power leads. If both devices are earthed at the mains, you will get a ground loop hum. Hope this sorts your problem.

 

[Pada]

Thanks CA195.

I'll see if using an HDMI->CAT5->HDMI converter does the trick.
If not, then I'll move the visual mixer to a groundless plug, which I'm not very fond of doing.