Multiple HDMI Displays on a "Bus"

[luky315]

I have multiple (4 to 16) Full-HD displays with HDMI input and I need to have the same picture on every display. They are also far apart and there are some special requirements regarding the power supply and the cables, so I need a custom solution. I have experience with high speed cable drivers over long distances and in harsh environments, so this shouldn't be the main problem. But I'm a bit confused regarding the required signals: If i define/use the first one as sort of master by connecting the I2C, CEC and Hot Plug Detect signals only to this display, is it then possible to "copy" the 4 pairs of TDMS signals via CML Fanout buffers (in my case probably devides with equalizing) to the other displays on the bus? Would the "slave" displays then simply show the duplicated signal when they get power? Or is there some sort of bidirectional communication required? HDCP is not required, so this shouldn't be a problem.

[themadhippy]

Any reason for not using an of the shelf HDMI splitter

[luky315]

Yes, a lot of reasons, one of them being that I cannot use HDMI cables and we don't have the space to hide the quite big of the shelf ones including the necessary converters.

[tooki]

A question to think about (not rhetorical; I don’t know the answer) is whether HDMI can actually function without HDCP. I know that HDCP support is mandatory for HDMI devices, but I don’t know whether using HDCP is mandatory or not. If so, would an HDMI receiver even work if fed an unencrypted feed?

[coromonadalix]

fiber optics  hdmi  ?

[luky315]

Using HDCP is not mandatory - the source can request / enforce it.
Fiber optics is nice for lon distances and harsh environments, but also only point to point - the question is still if it is enough to feed the 4 TDMS Lanes into the other displays to get a picture