Displayport or HDMI distance for sync my desktop to two monitors

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Hi, I’m new and if this is not the right space for this question or it has already been discussed, please point me in the right discussion and sorry for the inconvience.

I have 4 computers located in a closet in my office that is 30 feet distance from my monitor. I did have a 49” Samsung monitor connecting these 4 systems to the monitor via HDMI KVM and it worked really well, however, I really wanted to have a setup similar to my physical work environment (two monitors) and the monitor started to have issues.

I purchased two monitors from HP that have MST and Syncing capability. My problem is how do I sync the two monitors I have either via Displayport or HDMI using a KVM and single input going to the monitors where I can connect the two monitors together so that my computers recognize them as two and I can sync.

What I’ve done to test:

  1. Purchased DP kvm with single DP input from each computer. 1 DP output from the KVM directly to Monitors. Connect second monitor to first and sync. Works, however, the 1 DP out put is less than 10 feet which means its not long enough from the RACK to reach my monitors when the RACK is in it’s original position 30 feet away.
  2. Same scenario as “1”, however I used a 25’ cable. Works, however the monitor continue to refresh every 10 or 15 seconds to identify the connection type. I’ve turned off auto switch on the monitors and it still happens.
  3. Connect the DP KVM (single DP cable) to a DP extender over fiber (Orei transmitter and receiver). At the receiver end connect it to one monitor via DP and connect second monitor to the DP Out. This does not allow computer to recognize both monitors and I can only daisy-chain monitors both showing same image.

I’ve used extenders with my previous HDMI setup and it worked well once I found the KVM and Extender that had similar specs.

My question:

  1. Is there a DP solution out there that will allow me to: a) connect all 4 computers via 1 cable to KVM and KVM connect to Extender and Extender connects to monitors delivering the power and signal for the computers to recognize as two monitors.
  2. Is there an HDMI solution that allow me to run and HDMI cable to an extender to the monitors and have the computers recognize the two monitors?

I apologize for this being so long, I tried to shorten as much as possible. Thank you in advance for any info or input you can provide.

2

You might want to look into either using RDP solutions, alternatively HDBaseT (Point-to-Point) or AV over IP (Network-Based) which are display over network cables (cat5/6). IP KVM’s are another possibility. If you are are looking at fast response times for display, HDBaseT might be your only option.

You could setup another rack or space to move the pc’s closer to the monitor(s). DP & HDMI cable just don’t do well over distances.

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In my current config with HDMI, I’m using HDBaseT extender and it works great in that configuration. Are you aware of any device I can use at the HDMI receiver end (the point that connects to my monitor) that will allow me to connect both monitors from an HDMI out ?

4

I don’t know about KVM or this sync thing, but optical HDMI cables (HDMI AOC cables) have gotten pretty cheap.

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Funny you should sugesst those. I just purchased a 50’ OREI steel shielded Displayport Fiber Optic cable to test out and determine if this works for my solution. If that is the case, I can save hundreds.

Thanks for your input, really appreciated. I will post my results here

6

Ok, I received the new Displayport Fiber cable today. This is a 50’ cable with a steel shield to protect against interference and hard bends, which is great. I do have a slight turn that I’ll need to make, but I can make this work.

Without putting it in place, I tested it all just laying it out to the location I needed and the result is pretty impressive.

My Windows computers do recognize two display and I can extend these displays as I wanted, which is exactly what I was hoping.

I’m running this cable on the floor and it’s a fairly thin cable compared to some of the Displayport cables out there so I’m running it in a small plastic cable runner on the floor so that it does not have traffic breakage or damage.

I’m also using a cheap, Amazon oddball single DP cable in and DP cable out that is rated 4k/60 Hz, whereas I really want a rackmount solution that is 8k/120Hz or more. So I’ll just have to keep searching for something like that.

Thanks for your input!

7

Nitpick, optical is not affected by interference, which is one of the reasons it can go longer distances than copper wire.

Its shield is most likely to protect from bends and physical damage, optical is more fragile.