We are gearing up for CEDIA 2015 in Dallas and this process includes shooting informational videos. The first batch of videos are up and ready for viewing. Here are the new videos:

We talk a lot about our cables while we are planning our displays for the CEDIA booth. Hours are spent grouping our cables together by category and the different technology they provide. I ask questions about each of our cables and when I started looking at my notes I saw these questions:

“What is the truth regarding HDMI and is there in fact a difference from one cable to another? Is there a reason to buy a better HDMI cable?”

In getting these answers, this blog post was born and over the next six weeks we are going to discuss the six parts of an HDMI cable and why customers should purchase a better (and preferably one of Metra Home’s) cables.

As most dealers know Metra Home has been a DPL member (www.dpllabs.com) since its inception. In our association with DPL we have learned that the vast majority of claims made about HDMI and HDMI cables are confusing and misleading. Metra Home has been fortunate to be associated with DPL and has over time received a reputation for good working, reliable and affordable products due to this association.

The second part of this blog series we are discussing the two types of shielding and why they are important. The two types of shielding that a HDIMI cable should have to provide the best protection are braid and foil.

A braid shield keeps outside noise from interfering with your HDMI® cable by cutting down the 110/60Hz interference. If outside RF/EMI noise penetrates the HDMI cable it can cause all sorts of havoc. Since pretty much everyone has had some experience with HDMI Cat/x Extender failure due to high voltage switched devices (lights, motors, etc.) cause a short term dropout of the HDMI signal, there is an understanding of this issue.

Foil shield reduces the high frequency interference and keeps the noise within the cable. A foil shield also protects components from damage caused by spurious HDMI noise from running amok in your system like a gremlin. Foil shielding around the TMDS feeds of a HDMI cable also keeps the noise from causing problems with infra-red components and RF control systems.

Bandwidth and Speed are very important when discussing the construction of a HDMI® cable. One has to have a general understanding of how these two words pertain to cables as well as how they play into the cables functional capability. Bandwidth and Speed are a very difficult and confusing concept for most people to grasp.

What is Bandwidth? What is speed?

Although bandwidth and speed have much in common, they are different and are frequently and incorrectly used by both consumers and the manufacturers to express the same thought.

• Bandwidth refers to how much data can pass thru a device at the same point and time.
• Speed refers to how quickly a device can create the data.