Savlink walks through how “Ultra96” cabling is reshaping practical HDMI 2.2 deployments: once you push toward 96Gbps (next-gen FRL), passive copper quickly hits short runs, so their focus is active optical cable (AOC) builds that keep full-bandwidth signaling stable at 10m, 30m, and up to 100m while still presenting as a standard HDMI link end to end. https://smartavlink.com/
A key detail is power and topology: the optical transceivers draw from the HDMI +5V rail (and the cable is directional, with “source” and “display” ends), so you don’t need an external injector just to reach long distance. The demo contrasts a ~2m Ultra96-class copper lead with fiber-based AOC where attenuation, crosstalk, and EMI are far easier to control at high symbol rate.
Beyond pure reach, the engineering story is about mechanical packaging. Savlink shows ultra-slim micro-coax builds (down to ~2.7mm OD, ~36-AWG class conductors) for tight installs, plus armored variants that integrate Kevlar reinforcement for higher pull strength and abrasion resistance. This was filmed at CES Las Vegas 2026, where the same cable constraints show up everywhere from compact AV rigs to robotics at the expo.
They also highlight “optical engine” breakout concepts: converting USB, HDMI, or DisplayPort electrical lanes to fiber on a small PCB, then de-multiplexing on the far end into interfaces like DP, USB-C, and USB-A. That kind of modular conversion is useful when you need long-haul transport but still want standard connectors at the edge.
The broader theme is reliability in harsh environments: low-EMI fiber for medical imaging and industrial gear, and flex-life for robots where cables run through narrow arm tubing and survive drag-chain motion over millions of cycles. If you’re planning 8K or 4K-high-refresh pipelines, spatial/VR links, or long HDMI runs in noisy spaces, this is a practical look at what changes when the cable becomes an active opto-electronic system rather than just copper.
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