HDMI cable speeds?!?!??!?

ajf · 1 Oct 2011 at 22:22

Was in a certain high street store earlier looking at TVs and at one point they had an advert for 'Sandstrom' hdmi cables running.
Apparently there are three types, each increasingly overpriced. The selling feature was the data transfer rates, starting at 10Gbps to 15Gbps.

Now I know there is a lot of **** about hdmi cables but how can they really have different speed ratings!?

Assuming they can't just how is this legal?
If it is correct, is there any reason to buy 'high speed' cables?

My cheapo eBay cable seems to be quite happy

Andrew

Flashheart · 1 Oct 2011 at 22:44

There is a thread somewhere on this. All HDMI cables are digital, it really makes no difference between a £3 one and a £50 one.
Apart from build quality of course

mithrandir · 1 Oct 2011 at 23:02

Get the cheapest.

Raikiri · 1 Oct 2011 at 23:51

They can be faster, HDMI 1.0 was 4.9Gbps whereas 1.4 cables are generally 10.2.

It doesn't really mean anything though, even 4k video from a Red One Epic is only around 350Mbps.

lucid · 2 Oct 2011 at 00:13

There are differences between cables, but these only become apparent if the entire video chain is a bit marginal. In most cases there's enough leeway in a simple short A to B connection to get away with cheaper cables.

Speeds - There are two speeds - Standard and High Speed. Always go for High Speed.

Within the High Speed group there are also a number of variants. e.g. High Speed with Audio Return Channel (ARC). High Speed with Ethernet. High Speed with ARC and Ethernet.