Guys, I’m mounting my TV and plan on feeding HDMI cables behind a stud wall, probably about 4m from where my vero 4k+ will be located, so I’ll be ordering some new long cables to get the job done…what exactly are the specs required for the HDMI cable/s I’ll need?
Any recommendations as the prices vary greatly on Amazon, I don’t want cheap ones that aren’t up to the job, also don’t want to overpay if I don’t have to.
Cheers
@sam_nazarko I know you’re probably busy mate but it’d be great if you could chime in here, Id really like to get these ordered today.
In terms of passing the signal, I would suggest you get one that is certified as “premium high-speed”. Anything that is will have a 2D barcode image in its photo on Amazon.
My only slight hesitation is if you’re proposing to drag it through a narrow space then you may need something that is above-average physical strength - in which it case it might be worth shelling out for something a bit pricier just for the added ruggedness - perhaps a Blue Jeans Cable series FE. But for normal use, just check for premium high-speed certification.
Excellent, cheers.
I’ve had a quick look at the gap between the plasterboard and the brickwork, and there’s a fair sized gap so I’m confident it shouldn’t be too hard…I used to install security systems for a living so have plenty of experience with this sort of thing.
HDMI frowns on using 1.4, 2.0 etc to describe devices or cables, but if you see ‘1.4’ on the packaging, avoid. Even ‘4k’ might not be good enough. What you need is a cable that can pass 18Gbit/s. That’s it. The only choice is whether you rely on the manufacturer’s promise of 18Gbits (eg Amazon’s Basic high-speed cable) or you go for one that is certified ‘premium’ by an independent tester.
I suspect ‘shielded’ is worth having as is gold-plated contacts for reliability.
Cheers Graham, Ive just looked at the amazon basics ones a bit earlier, and saw they’re very reasonably priced in comparison to the others.
They support 18Gbs, are gold plated and shielded so they tick all the boxes i think, I’ll test them thoroughly before routing them behind any walls…any issues and there’ll be no problems returning to amazon for something else.
Indeed. Several users have reported success with those cables. For adverts that don’t quote the bitrates but quote resolutions and framerates, use this table:
The easy thing about digital cables is that they either work or they don’t - if a cable is not capable of transmitting the signal adequately, you likely won’t get a picture at all. If you’re right on the cusp of it working and not working, you may get sparkling, or the whole screen flashing white, or going black for a few seconds, then coming back up; but what you definitely won’t get is a subtle problem that’s hard to spot.
The downside of digital cables is that if you’re close to the point of it not working, it’s possible that it will work for one specific combination of source and sink devices, but not others. (So the same cable can work for source A and television X, but not for source B with TV X, or for source A and TV Y). So, if you’re not going to use independently certified cables, I would test with the devices you actually intend to use.
If the cable is certified then it’s guaranteed to work with any two devices that conform to the HDMI spec. If not, then a decent quality cable will probably work okay; but to my mind it’s not worth the risk.
(Having said that, Amazon Basics cables do have quite a good reputation).
