Hdmi Cable - What Is An Hdmi Cable?

When it comes to computers and technology, there are specific types of cords and cables that have very specific purposes. The same is true for other types of electronics. For example, an HDMI cable is the standard for connecting most consumer media devices such as televisions, DVD players, etc. HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. Unlike many previous cables and formats, the HDMI standards handle both video and audio. The interface was designed in 2002 and started showing up on consumer devices as early as 2003. HDMI is a high bandwidth application it is capable of handling uncompressed digital video and up to 8 channels of uncompressed digital audio.

Although the HDMI standard is backwards compatible, a number of revisions have taken place to the standard over the year adding technology, making room for additional connectors and making other improvements. HDMI cable options come in many colors and jacket types. Some may be gold plated, have easy to grip ends, special coatings, or have braided sheathing to protect the cable in harsh conditions. Additionally not all cables are created the same; there are higher performance cables which contain additional shielding and premium conductors. Most devices work with any A type cable but some newer may require the HDMI 1.4 standard.

The latest revisions add very high resolution support, Ethernet between devices and audio return channel for example. HDMI cables are backwards compatible with the DVI video type. DVI is a standard very commonly found on computers today making it very simple to connect display devices such as large televisions to computers with only a simple adapter needed. Not all DVI devices support HDCP which may present a problem when trying to connect a DVI source to a HDMI input. HDCP is a content protection scheme used in HDMI to help encrypt the output of high definition devices so near perfect digital copies cannot be made.

However HDCP was easily compromised very early on and a variety of tools have been made to remove the protection from HDMI output. Some devices may have problems communicating over HDMI, where the cable is most commonly thought to be the culprit, but in fact HDCP may be to blame. If you have questions about your HDMI cable or the technology that you are using it to connect to, contact the manufacturer of the product or the company where you purchased the products from to have your questions answered.

It is always best to use the shortest length you can get away with, though you can buy a long HDMI cable up to 30 meters in length though you may have issues with the signal strength at that sort of length.