Can I have my PC in a different room for VR?

[jacksyee]

Hi, I'm considering an HTC Vive and have an odd setup.

I have a man hut on my roof of my 3 story 700 sq foot per floor house.

My PC is in the hut on the roof but it's a small room.

I was wondering if I can somehow run cables from my PC down to my 2nd floor to the base station for the Vive. They would need to be about 20 feet long.

I'm not sure if USB cables and HDMI cables work if they are that long or even if they exist?

Is there any solution anyone can suggest. Money not really an issue.

Best regards,

J

 

[bjornl]

You can, but it will be a little bit of a pain. To send video that far you will need HDMI over cat-6 cables or very long HDMI. You will also need some special USB cables with repeaters inline (amplifiers). I've done something like this before but for multi-media. I think for gaming there might be some minor increase in input lag. The cables are cheap on amazon.


Examples:

USB
https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Hi-Speed-Repeater-U042-025/dp/B00BFRKYSU/

HDMI
https://www.amazon.com/BUSUQ-Supports-Ethernet-CL3-1-3V-1-4V-2-0V-plastic/dp/B017P1ABDC/

 

[Sakkura]

The active USB extension is not an issue. Extra sensors for the Oculus Rift come with an off-the-shelf 16-foot USB extension cable in the box, it's not like the extra 4 feet are going to make the difference.

Input lag is not an issue if the extension is decent quality. We're talking microseconds here, fractions of a millisecond.

I ran across some threads in the vive subreddit, apparently valve recommend having the extensions between the PC and the breakout box, not between the box and the vive. But then they're dealing with extensions of 30 feet, 50 feet... pretty huge cable runs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/4dq00o/what_worked_for_me_extending_pc_vive_30_ft/

 

[Tri23]

Concurr with answer. (although disregard all the Rift talk since we are talking about an HTC Vive.. or as some call it.. "The Superior VR Solution".)

---------

From some quick research, you cannot extend the cable from the [HMD --> Link box].
HMD 3in1 cable = 16’ 4’’ L
SOURCE: https://www.vive.com/us/accessory/3-in-1-cable/


So, then the solution is to extend the [Link Box --> PC]

For this, you will need...
- HDMI extention cable.
- USB extension cable.
- Power extension cable.

Solution source:
http://vrtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?2459-Best-way-to-extend-Vive-Cables


So pretty much get the [Link box --> PC] extended as far as you can to the other floor, and from their it goes to your HMD.
The Lighthouses won't be an issue since they just need power.

 

[harrystam]

Thunderbolt 3 -
With TB 3 you could just run a thunderbolt 3 cable through your floor (preferably) to a dongle that splits to HDMI (for your VIVE ). Many Thunderbolt adapters/dongles support HDMI and USB 3 or 3.1, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Thunderbolt is pretty awesome... Thunderbolt site

You should definitely check out this LinusTechTips video as well.

I forgot the Finale video HERE

He does alot of trouble shooting with Thunderbolt 3 and the VIVE.

I believe this would be your best hope.