I am also unable to extend the USB for my pimax5k. I have tried the following cables with no success.
Any help in finding a working cable would be appreciated
These 5 cables wouldn’t even allow the pimax to connect. USB device failed error
This next one worked but it had tracking issues and poor sound
I’m wondering if it might be a matter of power, not length.
If you have a powered USB 3 hub, plug it into a wall outlet (duh) and place the hub in the middle, between the extension and the Pimax cable. Yes, some of the extensions you tried are active/amplifying, but they are drawing power from the USB connection itself, which would further reduce the power available to the headset.
These are cables I use that work (links to Canadian Amazon):
A update for those having troubles extending the Pimax5k
After trying a dozen USB cables passive and active that didn’t work I decided to follow a suggestion to try a powered usb hub. Obviously it is a power issue with the cables. The same cables that didn’t work with their own power adapter worked with the USB Hub. Most powered hubs come with 5V 2A or higher adapter were as the active usb cables only have 5V 1000ma to 2000ma. The adapter that comes with the pimax has an even higher output. I have tried two different 3.0 usb hubs with most of the cables and they have worked well. Longest extension cable I have tried is 5 meters or 16.4ft
I’m sad to report that I have not found a long distance (10m+) cable that works with the Pimax 5k+.
I’ve tried these expensive optical cables:
(the 50ft version)
I also have several DisplayPort couplers - and no combination I have found to work with the Pimax and those cables.
On reddit, I had heard that these cables from Delock worked:
7.5m
https://www.delock.com/produkte/S_84906/merkmale.html
10m
https://www.delock.com/produkte/S_84907/merkmale.html
I could find no vendor in the US but was able to get them from a German company:
https://www.reichelt.de
Unfortunately… the 7.5m cable only works with the Normal FOV and 72Hz or less. Trying to run the Large FOV and/or 90Hz does not work. I was unable to get the 10m cable to work at all.
This 10ft extension does work for all FOV and refresh rates:
Is it because of the quality of the cable or the spec calls for a max length?.. if not max length specifically, could you just connect the 3ft cable using a coupler or making your own cable?
looks like they did not specify a max but it seems for DP 1.3/1.4 (HBR3) 5m is the normal limit and extending beyond this is not so safe
building your own cable is a problem because of the custom connector on the HMD side
also its not that simple as usb does need a repeater/hub when exceeding 5m
as you can read here even the normal 5m cable from pimax has problems and together with the DP and USB 5m limits its not just soldering a connector to a 10m cable, usb definitely needs a repeater/hub and when the DP signal for 10m also needs a active component it will get much more expansive then expected, maybe we will never see a 10m cable for a low price from pimax? (edit: i’m quiet pessimistic here, maybe to much, if a 5m extension including the plugs work, its at least possible to get a 10m cable as a whole - without the plugs - working, also i’m hoping for wireless, its harsh going back to cable from the vive/tpcast)
i extended my 5k+ connection with the following stuff (dc extension is not critical), the most critical seems to be the DP and i’d keep it as short as possible (7.5m did not work stable with the 5k+, the 5m was tempting but as i only need ~2m ordered a 3m DP extension)
DeLock DisplayPort extension cable 1.2 4K 60Hz 3m black, modelnumber: 83811
ASIN: B07HQCGJJK
Aten UE250-AT USB Extension (5m, USB 2.0)
ASIN B007TL3FBO
Liwinting 5m DC extension 3.5mm x 1.35mm
ASIN: B0768ZN85H
I’m using the 5m DeLock DP extension (4K 60Hz) with no issues so far.
I guess only way to solve this issue is to multicast in super high frequency. Just pure streaming with no security protocols, no packet loss handling etc…
AFAIK Pimax uses only HBR2 due to the limitations of the DP bridge from Analogix.
right, totally forgot about that, anx7530 does not support HBR3 and its HBR2.5 mode seems to be a unsupported thing?, so HBR2 must be the limit (even if pimax has DP 1.4 in the specs for the 5k+/8k)
I bought this and it doesn’t work for me. When I get into SteamVR, the screen fades to grey after about 5 seconds. I confirmed it’s either this or the USB extension cable. You don’t have a repeater between the Pimax and this extension do you?
If you have a powered USB hub (which plugs into a wall socket), try putting that in the middle of the 2 USB cables. It seems that the headset needs a fair bit of USB power.
the usb problems are not around the amount of current available over usb, i tested even two passive 5m extensions chained (over all getting 15m for USB, sadly passive DP extension seems not to go that far)
so my guess is that it about the !quality" of the voltage, so even active hubs or extensions can fail, when using a active one the electronics will have to use a 5V regulator to generate a “new” 5V for the output, giving you at least a chance to iron out usb mobo problems
at least 5m DP extension is possible, people successful tried DeLock Displayport extension 1.2 4K 60Hz 3m and 5m (tested 7.5m and it did not work reliable), shorter is better, less likely to have problems (i’m using the 3m extension as i only need to add 1.5~2m to cover my room)
are you sure you didn’t misconfigure when you used the optical cables? they should work just fine.
i am also looking for a long range solution and i have yet to figure something out.
I’ll try to read that with a happy voice and not reply as if it were as rude as it seems on the surface.
No, I dont think I misconfigured the cables when I tested them. I thought they should work as well…
In practice the only cable I have found that works reliably with the PiMax is the Cable Matters 10ft extension:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L1K1KDE
Any extension longer than that seems less reliable and they seem to be affected by what FOV and refresh rate the PiMax is set to. Lower settings work more consistently, but trying to use the Large FOV at 90Hz only works consistently with the 10ft one for me.
As far as using normal DisplayPort cables (conventional or optical) I have not found any cable/coupler combinations that work at all. I encourage you to try and report back with your results. Buy one of the long optical cables from a vendor with a lenient return policy and let us know how it works for you.
My apologies if i seemed rude, that wasn’t the intent. it’s just that i heard those optical cables were tested and were working with both the vive pro and the pimax.
If i do figure anything out i’ll make sure to keep you updated. i might just get an optical one since i can’t seem to find any other solution, so hopefully i’ll be fine
Please do report back if you get an extension solution that works.
Doing some research on the VivePro, I suspect the link box helps - the long cable goes between the computer and the link box and the HMD connects to that. With the PiMax you need to use a Female/Female coupler - and that seems to be part of the problem.
I believe the link box includes a signal repeater, which might be the reason for that, so one way to fix it could be to just buy a DP repeater and add it at the end.
why do you think a coupler is a problem? they shouldn’t degrade the signal in any significant way.
I agree that the couplers should work, but I purchased every female/female coupler I could find and none of them worked with the PiMax. I also did try the StarTech active DisplayPort repeater, and that didn’t work either.
The only cables I’ve seen work at all are the ones manufactured as extensions with male/female ends. But maybe it was user error after all. I encourage you to try and let us know if you find something that works.
Start small and see if you can get it to work with a good quality 6ft DisplayPort cable.