HDMI Cable
For many year most computers used only VGA cables. In the present time, seems that VGA cable is far forgotten and what every computer or laptop, TV and any other electrical device uses is a HDMI cable. High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a type of cable, which is used for channeling the image from the board to the screen. This is the easiest definition regarding the purpose of this cable.
What do you need to know about HDMI Cable?
It is already defined above the cable purpose and definition, but there are a lot more to it than just that. In today’s technology development, devices like this change and upgrade every day, which for some people is hard to catch up, and that is why this article will give a full picture of what you need to know before you purchase one.
1. Price
In the case of HDMI cables, there is an absolute truth, which states that price means nothing. The price ranges from 15$ to 170$, but what is guaranteed is that, there are cheap cables which will give better results than that expansive ones. Higher quality does not determine higher price in the case of cables, so be careful not to get ripped off.
The reason why there are so many expensive cables is because, there are some people who believe that more expensive cable will make their image look better. That is simply not true! There are many reasons and specs of an HDMI cable that can increase the quality, which are very technical, but for sure price is not one them, since you can find this specs in cheaper versions too.
2. HDMI Versions
There are several versions of the cable in the market now since its release in 2003. For High Speed HDMI or Fiber HDMI, there are 1.0 – 1.1, 1.2 – 1.2a, 1.3 – 1.4b and 2.0 – 2.0b. There is also the ultra-high speed version of the cable which is 2.1.
Currently there is no certified 2.1 HDMI cable, even though some manufacturers claim that their cable is ultra-high speed.
On the other side, having a ultra-high speed cable is not an issue at this very moment, because there is not so much content which will need that kind of speed. You can easily use a 2.0 cable with a 2.1 device system and you will get some of the new features.
3. Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers to how much data the cable can send. To make it easier, it means that if the cable doesn’t have enough bandwidth the image will drop off or lack quality.
For a 720 screen resolution, a minimum of 720 megabytes per second will work just fine. Higher resolutions will need much bigger bandwidth. An 8k resolution will require a 49.65 gigabytes per second bandwidth.
4. Length
Some people don’t need an HDMI cable for their TV, or laptop, but they will need to use it in the classroom or other environments for projecting their PP slides, or other presentations. In this case, sometimes it will be needed a long cable. If your resolution is up 1080, it will not be an issue with a high speed cable, but 4k resolution will create struggles along the way if the cable is more than 10 feet.
The solution is to use a fiber cable, in order that the signal will not lose on the way. However, when using an 8K resolution even fiber cables won’t give you security on sending the signal, a TBD cable will be the safety solution for this case.
The disadvantage of this long cables is the price. When you need a cable up to 200 feet, the price will be expensive, and that is something to take into consideration. A 40 feet cable can go up to 150$, which can give a pretty good image of the price range for even longer cables.
However, for those searching every corner of the internet for cheaper, but long cables, there are some cheap ones, but it is hard to vouch for the quality.
Conclusion
Lastly, after giving a whole bunch of bullet points for anyone interested in finding HDMI cables, there is a tip waiting for you. If some of you still find it hard to research on cables, the easiest way is to search for reviews on Amazon. It is easier to sort the reviews based on the type of cable you looking for and find the appropriate results. If you are looking for the best image possible in your device, the above information is all you need to considerate.