HDMI enables delivery of both uncompressed, all-digital, high-definition video and uncompressed, multichannel, digital audio through just one cable. HDMI enables full digital surround sound and is ideal for connecting digital display devices and digital source devices.
Once you have identified the type and length of cable that you require you will no doubt then have a range to choose from which will include different manufacturers and varying prices. We frequently get asked which is best and why are they different prices? These questions can be answered by considering that the cables will probably differ in the following ways;
Shielding. All signals are susceptible to electro-magnetic interference. This interference can be significantly reduced by surrounding the signal conductors with an interference blocking shield of metal. The best cables will have shielding around individual signal wires which is constructed to encase as much as possible of the conductors. Adding greater shielding to a cable adds to the cost of construction and materials. It will also make the cable less flexible, larger and heavier. The connectors of the cable should also be shielded. This is often achieved by using metal connector housings.
Conductors. The quality of the signal will be affected by the type and purity of the conductor material. Various versions of Oxygen Free Copper (OFC) are used, often displayed with a purity percentage. Some manufacturers also have developed hybrid conductor constructions or conductors coated with silver designed to optimise the signal path at certain frequencies.
Contacts. A good cable requires a good electrical contact with the piece of equipment with which it is interfacing. Gold plated contacts are often used to provide a solid contact with low resistance.
Flexibility. Flexibility of the cable is important as often the cables on equipment have to fit within a defined space. Inflexible cables can make positioning equipment difficult and will lead to increased forces on the connectors and equipment. Greater shielding often comes at the price of reduced flexibility, however, some manufacturers use hybrid construction techniques in order to deliver good shielding and flexible cables.
Durability. All cables will come under stresses and strains and abrasions therefore it is imperative that materials used and the construction be adequate for the purpose.
Most of the cables we sell do not have a choice of colour options. Please see the individual product pages for details of item.
There is no set definition for the maximum length an HDMI cable should be, cables from 10 to 20 metres have passed compliance testing, however that said, the length achieved without loss of picture, is dependent on the quality of the cable and the resolution.
All HDMI standards are fully backward compatible with all previous standards.
An increase in bandwidth allows for deeper colour, up-to 48-Bit, over one billion colours. A broader colour space means that HDMI 1.3 is able to deliver any colour viewable by the human eye and reduce colour banding in images .
Also, unique to the 1.3 standard is a mini format connector for use with HD camcorders and other portable devices.
A specialised Lip Sync function has been included in HDMI 1.3, which allows for a device to sync audio and video flawlessly every time without fail.
Finally HDMI 1.3 includes a new HD lossless audio format, in addition to the current high-bandwidth uncompressed audio space; HDMI 1.3 also includes space for TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio sound.
Deep colour allows an HDTV to display billions of colours instead of millions.
HDCP stands for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection. HDCP is a technology created by a company called "Digital Content Projection LLC" (a subsidiary of Intel.) This technology helps protect digital content, using a combination of encoding and encryption.
