Best HDMI Cable for Video

Component video (analog) and HDMI video (digital) are two different beasts.

When using HDMI and TMDS encoded video streams it is impossible for a cable to modify bits from the source to produce an image that looks like what was intended never mind make it look better than another HDMI cable. If the video bits get "flipped" because of a bad cable or a cable the is not made well enough for a long run, you will see "sparklies" if you get an image at all.

Please do due diligence and see how HDMI works before spending serious money on HDMI cables. For a 6' cable you don't need to spend more than $15, if that. You can get Cat 2 certified 25 ft HDMI cables for $50.

larry

HDMI uses TMDS (Transition Minimized Differential Signaling) to send data. In short, each 8bit data value is encoded into a 10bit value before it is send over the "wire".

The encoding is done to minimize the 0->1 and 1->0 transitions: The encoder chooses between XOR and XNOR by determining which will result in the fewest transitions; the ninth bit is added to show which was used. In the second stage, the first eight bits are optionally inverted to even out the balance of ones and zeros and therefore the sustained average DC level. The tenth bit is added to indicate whether this inversion took place.

In order for a cable to uniformly change a video stream that looks "better" or "worse", the random bit changes of every 10bit value would have to somehow decode to uniform changes in the resulting 8bit value. Chances of this happening - ZERO.

An HDMI cable is passive, just wires and connectors. If there is a change in video it was due to some other equipment factor or "faulty recollection".

I'm just trying to save some of you money and time so you can apply them in other areas.

larry