Can anyone help with HDMI cabling decision

hiko

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A friend of mine is looking to run 5m of HDMI cabling through a wall and needs to purchase leads that will be relatively "future proof" on a budget. What I'm trying to do is ascertain what brans offer legit 18gbps bandwidth and which ones are doing the old HDMI "super speed" snake oil shenanigans.

Would I be right in assuming that Cablesson Ivuna leads are fully rated to 18gbps?

How about Neet HDMI? Can they handle high speed up to 5m?

If anyone has any suggestions for alternative brands let me know!
 
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There is only one source of official hdmi cable testing and that is hdmi.org.
Officially tested products will carry the official logos.
See here.....

HDMI :: Manufacturer :: HDMI 1.4 :: Finding the Right Cable

Shop for the logos.
No logo means it was not officially tested or certified.
These ratings are the only honest claims a seller can make about a cable.
The best you can currently get are “ premium” .

Very shortly you will be able to get “ Ultra “

Here is an example of an officially certified product.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ONYX-HDMI-...5&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=Premium+hdmi+5m&psc=1

Note the QR code logo,
When you get your product you can scan this with your phone and it will connect to a site with a copy of the official cert.
 
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The only way to ‘future proof’ the installation is to use a conduit plus a pull cord to allow you to pull in any required cables at a later date.

Solid core, non-CCA CAT6 is a good ‘AV’ fall back too - ensure you also allow for a wired network connection using CAT5 or CAT6.

Joe
 
Yeah I told him all this, but he's not interested in having a conduit or any other method. He's looking for 5m HDMI installed behind the wall so I'm basically looking to make the most of the conditions he's set really!

The problem I'm finding with the HDMI certifications is that not ever manufacturer bothers to reproduce the logo on retail sites, however cablesson do show a variant of the logo on their own website:

https://www.cablesson.co.uk/catalog...advanced-high-speed-hdmi-cable-with-ethernet/

Underneath Key Features... It's the same logo but different colour scheme, so can I trust this cable to be fully "High Speed" certified?
 
Underneath Key Features... It's the same logo but different colour scheme, so can I trust this cable to be fully "High Speed" certified?

No.
Must be as shown and must be carried on the item packaged.
Aim for an item carrying the QR code I linked too.
If the logo looks dodgy it is.
 
‘Conditions he’s set’ - so Step 1 is either He signs a Doc saying he is ignoring your advise or you walk away and avoid the grief which is heading your way when the cable fails or is damaged.

‘The Problem’ - having an HDMI Cable assembly Certified is hugely expensive (think six figures) so plenty of cables are not Certified and plenty of websites will seek to confuse you. As Andy says unless you see the official Logo it is not Certified.

Even with Certified cables you can still run into issues with 4K UHD on ‘long’ Cable runs - see Step 1!

Joe
 
No.
Must be as shown and must be carried on the item packaged.
Aim for an item carrying the QR code I linked too.
If the logo looks dodgy it is.
Yeah this is the problem, I can find leads where the QR code and logo are shown, but can't see any evidence of them on the packaging. SlimHDMI are well regarded aren't they? I noticed that they do a Premium Certified lead, but again I can't really see the packaging.

‘Conditions he’s set’ - so Step 1 is either He signs a Doc saying he is ignoring your advise or you walk away and avoid the grief which is heading your way when the cable fails or is damaged.
I should be safe from grief heading my way, it's my best friend and he's asked me to sort out the HDMI leads because he doesn't really know much about this stuff. I told him to go with a conduit & line so he could switch over whenever he wants after HDMI 2.1 certified leads are knocking about properly but he was pretty adamant about not doing any of that, he just wants the best bandwidth on standard 1.4 leads. I've made him aware of the drawbacks of all this.
 
See the problem I hae with HDMI leads in general is that they claim "High Speed" but then they offer absolutely no certification whatsoever as proof that they can handle high speed up to the lengths of the leads, so I tend to be very wary of cables like Amazon Basics. I mean, if people have tested them and posted the results online somewhere then I would be much more confident ordering.

BTW he's having 4 HDMI leads installed, so hopefully he'll be fairly safe from failures.
 
I didn’t just pick a random cable. I’ve tested them first hand and unlike some hdmi products on Amazon they are the same rating as the description.

They’re very well reviewed.

He’s having 4 installed on the same run? Why oh why he doesn’t go the conduit route is beyond me.
 
Just a heads up guys, I checked on amazon and they had a photo of the packaging of those SlimHDMI leads and they have the Premium Certified Logo and the QR code on the bags, so I've ordered four of those. Again I want to thank you all for the help, very much appreciated!

AllTaken: Thanks for the feedback on those AmazonBasics cables but unfortunately they only do 4.5m and 7.5m lengths, not 5m which is the exact length my friend needed! And yup, I don't know why he won't have a conduit, but he's not having the work done until some time in late February so I'm gonna try and lean on him about that in the meantime. Maybe he will give in! :D
 
'I should be safe from grief heading my way, it's my best friend and he's asked me to sort out the HDMI leads because he doesn't really know much about this stuff.' - then he should listen to your advice :)

Joe
 
Oh you don't know the full story Joe, these cables are running between HDMI wall plates! I couldn't even get him to budge on that! :D
 
Oh you don't know the full story Joe, these cables are running between HDMI wall plates! I couldn't even get him to budge on that! :D

Nightmare scenario.

Test each cable 5m on its own, connected directly from source to sink.
At least you,ll know each cable is fine.

A 5m cable connected at each end to a wallplate, with a shorter cable at each end to reach source and sink, ....its highly unlikely to work for UHD at full bandwidth.

You will most likely have to replace the wall plates with brush plates.
He,ll have to budge as what hes asking may not be possible.
At best it will be unstable.

Keep in mind that if you exceed 8 meters in any one run, it most likely will not work.
 
Test each cable 5m on its own, connected directly from source to sink.
Yeah I've ordered the cables myself so I can do a thorough check on them when they arrive. He probably won't be exceeding 7m in total when it's all done because he'll probably only need a 0.5m lead at most for the TV.

One thing I'm curious about: Has anyone here had experience with HDMI connectors that have those kinda "teeth" on them so they connect more securely?

slimhdmi.jpg


I think i've read reports before that connector like these can be really difficult to pull out? Obviously it's not much of an issue for a wall run to a HDMI plate, but I wanna be prepared for when I test these leads directly in my projector/amp.
Honestly walk away - if your mate won't listen why get involved?
Because he's my best friend of over 30yrs and he asked for my help. Sometimes you've just got to let them get on with it and not be too quick with an "I told you so" when things go tits up for them! :D
 
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'I think i've read reports before that connector like these can be really difficult to pull out?' - a pain if they get stuck, I would avoid.

'Locking' HDMI such as the PPC Perfect Path connector which allow you to 'unlock' them are fine to consider - though cables 'falling' out is not a real problem in our experience, especially as cables have mostly become thinner and lighter.

Joe
 
I think i've read reports before that connector like these can be really difficult to pull out?

The feature is part of the spec.
If they are in tolerance, they should be fine.
These being premium certified the dimensions would have been checked.
 
We only use fibre optic hdmi cables for runs of 7m and over. Anything below this we use Pixelgen HDMI cables.

We use Neutec cables for runs of over 7m. These cables can be 50m and are individually tested and certificated by the manufacturer for 18Gbps 4:4:4.
 
The feature is part of the spec.
If they are in tolerance, they should be fine.
These being premium certified the dimensions would have been checked.
Yeah I got these today and they're just a little bit tighter to shove in/out, nothign to worry about at all!
 

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