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karsten

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 3, 2010
891
122
i was wondering if the HDMI cable that apple sells here is an official high-speed cable so that I could use it to hook a blu-ray up to a hdtv and get a 1080p signal? thanks
 

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
26,482
10,051
Detroit
Really, "official" is a term loosely used to describe HDMI cables. Shockingly, the $19 price isn't too bad compared to most HDMI cables I see for sale. Basically, copper is copper and the transmission rate and line loss remain largely the same regardless of the manufacturer and price tag. I bought one from Amazon.com a few weeks ago for $8 and it works just like a $60 HDMI cable from Best Buy. I used it connect my XBox 360 to my HDTV.
 

karsten

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 3, 2010
891
122
+1 Buying cables anywhere else is just for the ignorant.

that may be but no one has yet answered my question of whether the Apple cable is a high speed cable. your god monoprice sells both so there must be a difference hm?
 

QuarterSwede

macrumors G3
Oct 1, 2005
9,781
2,031
Colorado Springs, CO
From HDMI.org
Q. What is the difference between a “Standard” HDMI cable and a “High-Speed” HDMI cable?

* Standard (or “category 1”) HDMI cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 75Mhz or up to 2.25Gbps, which is the equivalent of a 720p/1080i signal.

*High Speed (or “category 2”) HDMI cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 340Mhz or up to 10.2Gbps, which is the highest bandwidth currently available over an HDMI cable and can successfully handle 1080p signals including those at increased color depths and/or increased refresh rates from the Source. High-Speed cables are also able to accommodate higher resolution displays, such as WQXGA cinema monitors (resolution of 2560 x 1600).
Basically it's just whether it's been tested or not. I haven't heard of a standard HDMI cable not working at high resolutions. Copper is copper as long as the pins are the same it won't matter.
 

davige

macrumors member
Apr 10, 2010
33
0
High-Speed (Class 2) HDMI cables are generally recommended for lengths 10M (33 ft.) or more. Over 15M (50 ft.) I'd go with a HDMI over dual CAT5E or single CAT6 extender.
 

MyMac8MyPC

macrumors member
Sep 30, 2007
59
0
that may be but no one has yet answered my question of whether the Apple cable is a high speed cable. your god monoprice sells both so there must be a difference hm?

Don't listen to them, as all they know is what they've read on the Internet and then repeated to someone else like a parrot. There IS a difference between cables and saying "copper is copper" is just plain ignorant. There are other factors like wire gauge and copper purity which effects the signal. To answer your question, if the Apple cable does not specifically say that it's High Speed or Class 2, then it is Class 1. Class 2 cables support things like Deep Color x.v.Color, and High-Speed cables also will accommodate higher resolution displays, such as WQXGA cinema monitors at resolutions of 2560 x 1600. If you can afford them then get the Class 2. They WILL perform better than a standard Class 1 cable. A good place to get Class 2 cables on a budget is trianglecables.com. Some things from monoprice are OK, but some things from there are just plain junk. They do have good customer service though so if you do happen to buy something from them and it doesn't work out, you should be safe with returning it.
 

artic5693

macrumors member
Oct 21, 2007
33
0
Florida
Don't listen to them, as all they know is what they've read on the Internet and then repeated to someone else like a parrot. There IS a difference between cables and saying "copper is copper" is just plain ignorant. There are other factors like wire gauge and copper purity which effects the signal. To answer your question, if the Apple cable does not specifically say that it's High Speed or Class 2, then it is Class 1. Class 2 cables support things like Deep Color x.v.Color, and High-Speed cables also will accommodate higher resolution displays, such as WQXGA cinema monitors at resolutions of 2560 x 1600. If you can afford them then get the Class 2. They WILL perform better than a standard Class 1 cable. A good place to get Class 2 cables on a budget is trianglecables.com. Some things from monoprice are OK, but some things from there are just plain junk. They do have good customer service though so if you do happen to buy something from them and it doesn't work out, you should be safe with returning it.

HDMI is a digital signal. Either the message gets there or it does not. It's not the same as an analog signal like RCA where a higher-quality cable MIGHT make a difference.
 

adbe

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2008
669
334
HDMI is a digital signal. Either the message gets there or it does not. It's not the same as an analog signal like RCA where a higher-quality cable MIGHT make a difference.

That can't be true. Everyone knows that Monster brand HDMI cables give richer colours and deeper blacks than generic cables. I'm pretty sure it's something to do with micron thick gold plating and rugged looking jacks.

FWIW, my multi-tester disagrees, but my multi-tester is an idiot.
 

QuarterSwede

macrumors G3
Oct 1, 2005
9,781
2,031
Colorado Springs, CO
HDMI is a digital signal. Either the message gets there or it does not. It's not the same as an analog signal like RCA where a higher-quality cable MIGHT make a difference.
Exactly. The only difference would be for cable length. A lower gauge will net you a stronger signal for a longer distance. That's it.
 

res1233

macrumors 65816
Dec 8, 2008
1,127
0
Brooklyn, NY
i was wondering if the HDMI cable that apple sells here is an official high-speed cable so that I could use it to hook a blu-ray up to a hdtv and get a 1080p signal? thanks

For crap sake, answer the man's question. Yes, the cable will work fine. Go ahead and buy it. The problem with asking geeks about anything simple tech-related is they usually have a preferred way of doing things, and if there's anything wrong with what you're doing in any way in their eyes, forget about getting your actual question answered. :rolleyes:

EDIT: Except for geeks like me I guess. :D
 

MyMac8MyPC

macrumors member
Sep 30, 2007
59
0
HDMI is a digital signal. Either the message gets there or it does not. It's not the same as an analog signal like RCA where a higher-quality cable MIGHT make a difference.
This is true in an essentially meaningless sense ;)

You are confusing a digital signal like that of a DVD, or sent in an ATSC or QAM transmission, with one that carries a HDMI TV signal. They are NOT the same and there is nothing inherently perfect or error-free about a digital-to-digital TV signal as some who are uneducated in this field seem to believe. Actually some things, like scaling, are more accurately done in the analog domain. A HDMI signal CAN degrade. The first sign of an HDMI signal failure is digital dropouts which some refer to as “sparkles”. The most important work of an HDMI cable is performed by the four shielded twisted pairs which carry the color, clock, and sync signals. HDMI transmission line impedance is dependent on the cable's materials and physical dimensions. For a HDMI cable, these are the shape and size of the paired wires, the thickness, and dielectric properties, of the insulation on the paired wires and the dimensions of the shield over the pair.
These seem to the uneducated eye like simple things to control until you spend some time in a wire and cable factory and find out just how many problems there are with wire manufacturing. Wire is never perfect. Impedance control for a HDMI TV signal is important for a very big reason: timing. As impedance varies, so will the time it takes a signal to travel down the cable. So while your ‘digital’ signal might still be intact, it may also start out as a square wave and become distorted by the time it reaches your TV. The transitions that mark the edges of bits get smoothed and leveled so much that they are no longer and accurate representation of the original square wave, and they look like relatively gentle slopes. Then portions of the signal lost to impedance mismatch bounce around in the cable and mix with these rounded-off slopes, introducing an unpredictable and irregular component to the signal; crosstalk from the other pairs in the HDMI bundle also contribute uneven and essentially random noise. As a result, what arrives at your display doesn't look very much like what was sent. Saying that a HDMI signal is digital isn’t saying that much as far as signal purity is concerned :apple:
 
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