So, how long can HDMI cables run? As it name suggests, HDMI 2. It's comparable to the resolution of higher-end digital movies at 4, x 2, pixels. This is a big difference from HD, which has a resolution of x There is a myth going around that the longer the HDMI cable the worse the picture quality will be. When it comes to the length of the HDMI cable, there is no standard.
So should you get a longer, shorter or standard cable? HDMI cables are generally used with high definition devices that transfer p video or p video. Given that the length and connector types of HDMI cables are not standardized, the length of the HDMI cable does not affect the picture quality in any noticeable way.
It is an additional chip that is connected to the display device and is used to identify it and its capabilities. Every display device must comply with this rule for communication. EDID is also used as a method of preventing communication failure when the signal is being transmitted at longer distances. When the signal is being sent over around 50 feet, the communication may get distorted due to the higher resolution and the higher frequencies.
Although this is the truth, HDMI can go far beyond this limit when used in higher quality cables. Nevertheless, manufacturers strive to provide consumers with reliable HDMI cables that support the highest resolutions and refresh rates.
However, due to HDMI cable quality and the devices used, the 10 feet assertion was not always the case. This led to a stir in the market and the release of long distance HDMI cables. These cables were capable of delivering resolutions of i and p 60Hz which became the standard of most newly released HDTVs. Consequently, the manufacturers caught up and began producing lower cost, high quality HDMI cables exceeding the previously established length limitation. HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface is the convenient digital connection that is used to connect all your high definition and ultra high definition home theater devices.
If you connected your video source to your television via analog connections, you would not be getting digital signals. So, while it appears that every foot passive HDMI cable on the market is noncompliant, most of them work, on most source and display combinations, just fine.
But what will work is certainly tied to the bitrate being run through the cable, and the difference between what will work at p and p may be extreme. Because HDMI is an uncompressed signal, the bitrate running in the cable corresponds directly to the amount of information in the picture. Standard HD resolutions p, i use nearly three times the bitrate of standard-definition p; p uses double what p and i do; and bit color depth, if and when it becomes available on the market, will double the bitrate for any given resolution.
When we brought in our first test reel of Belden HDMI cable, we found that while we had perfect p at feet, we had to shorten the cable up considerably to get perfect i and p. With improvements, we've narrowed the difference considerably, but it it still the case that we can run p longer feet worked fine in our in-use testing; we didn't try anything longer than p feet worked perfectly on our source and display , and that p and i fall in the middle feet worked perfectly.
The hardest thing to get right in HDMI cable is high-frequency performance, and so generally speaking, the lower the cable quality, the more the working distance will fall as resolution or color depth rises. Another factor in these distances is the headroom provided by both the source and the display. Obviously, if the source signal isn't very good, or the display's data-recovery characteristics aren't very good, or the input or output impedances are meaningfully off-spec, then distances will be more limited than if these things are all performing well above spec.
This is one of the maddening things about HDMI: it's not really possible to say with perfect confidence that a long cable will or will not work in a given application because once one is in "non-compliant" territory, it all depends upon the characteristics of the devices in use.
Most manufacturers recommend not going over 20 feet without some powered solution more on that below. So what if you need a longer cable? However, if the quality of the signal is of significant importance, you can consider a powered HDMI kit that extends the signal properly by boosting it or converting it to another format entirely.
The most common methods are converting the signal and boosting it with a balun kit, or going fully wireless and cutting the cable out altogether.
Check out our article that completely covers HDMI balun kits! However, please keep in mind that not all HDMI balun kits are amazing. If you cheap out on the balun kit, you could certainly run into similar issues as using an extremely long HDMI cable. You can also consider using a wireless HDMI kit , which not only extends the range but removes some of the lengthy cabling entirely.
There are also some limitations here having to do with refresh rate and lag, which complicate using it for gaming. Yet, I want them connected. HDMI cables can run as far as the cables allow. Or, does it matter on what kind of HDMI cables you use, and can they be used together? I asked the same questions and thought it would be a great idea to share the answers with you to help you make the choices you need to make for your next HDMI purchases.
Knowing what the standard lengths are helps you plan how many cables you will need to purchase for your current setup. It also allows you to plan how to set up new equipment when you know how long the cables are and how far apart everything can be from each other. The industry will start off manufacturing what they feel are the lengths most people will end up purchasing based on their studies and knowing how specific equipment will be situated in a typical setup.
For the most part, these lengths become the standard however, consumer demand often ends up dictating what the standard will be. You can identify these instances by the odd lengths of HDMI cables that start showing up on the market. To me, these lengths do not fit the standard mold. Of course, you would need to have two identical setups running to test this out and honestly, who does this? There must be a way however, to run HDMI cables and keep the quality high and there is?
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