Here are some useful FAQs from the HDMI Offical site located
here.
The bottom line is, buy a certified and tested cable and know the difference between the different cable specifications.
Q. Can HDMI cables contribute to devices not working properly together?
The vast majority of image quality or interoperability issues with HDMI devices are related to the software (firmware) used for device communication and content protection, and have nothing to do with the HDMI cable. In particular, these issues are often caused by the software related to HDCP handshaking, or from devices improperly handling the device capability information read through HDMI (e.g. the device has an incorrect EDID, or an inability to properly read an EDID). It is fairly uncommon for the cable to be the cause of HDMI compatibility problems. In fact, the robustness of the HDMI specification has been verified by the fact that we have not found a compliant HDMI cable that is the root cause of HDMI playback issues with compliant devices.
Q. How can I tell if a cable is an HDMI certified cable?
All HDMI products are required to be certified by the manufacturer as part of the HDMI Compliance Test Specification. However, there may be instances where cables bearing the HDMI logo are available but have not been properly tested. HDMI Licensing, LLC actively investigates these instances to ensure that the HDMI trademark is properly used in the market. We recommend that consumers buy their cables from a reputable source and a company that is trusted.
Q. What is the difference between a “Standard” HDMI cable and a “High-Speed” HDMI cable?
Recently, HDMI Licensing, LLC announced that cables would be tested as Standard or High-Speed cables.
- Standard (or “category 1”) cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 75Mhz, which is the equivalent of a 1080i signal.
-High Speed (or “category 2”) cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 340Mhz, 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. High-Speed cables are also able to accommodate higher resolution displays, such as WQXGA cinema monitors (resolution of 2560 x 1600).
Q. Will my Standard cable work in High Speed applications?
Although a Standard HDMI cable may not have been tested to support the higher bandwidth requirements of cables rated to support high speeds, existing cables, especially ones of shorter lengths (i.e., less than 2 meters), will generally perform adequately in higher speed situations. The quality of the HDMI receiver chip (in the TV, for example) has a large effect on the ability to cleanly recover and display the HDMI signal. A significant majority, perhaps all, of the HDMI TVs and projectors that support 1080p on the HDMI inputs are designed with quality receiver chips that may cleanly recover the 1080p HDMI signal using a Standard-rated HDMI cable. These receiver chips use technology called “cable equalization” in order to counter the signal reduction (attenuation) caused by a cable. We have seen successful demonstrations of 1080p signal runs on a >50 ft. cable, and a 720p signal run on a >75 ft. cable. However, the only way to guarantee that your cable will perform at higher speeds is to purchase a cable that has been tested at the higher speeds and labeled as “High-Speed.”
Q. What are the technical and branding requirements for cables?
As part of the new Trademark and Logo Usage Guidelines, cables will be labeled as either Standard or High Speed.
1. Standard cables (referred to as Category 1 cables in the HDMI specification) are those tested to perform at speeds of 75Mhz, which is the equivalent of an uncompressed 1080i signal.
2. High Speed cables (referred to as Category 2 cables in the HDMI specification), are those tested to perform at speeds of 340Mhz, which is the highest bandwidth currently available over an HDMI cable and can successfully handle 1080p signals including those at increased color depths (e.g. greater than eight bits per color) and/or increased refresh rates (e.g. 120Hz). High Speed cables are also able to accommodate higher resolution displays, such as those at the latest 1440p and WQXGA resolutions (e.g. cinema monitors with a resolution of 2560 x 1600).
While many cables that are branded as Standard cables will work at higher speeds (especially at cable lengths of less than five meters), to guarantee performance, consumers should purchase a cable that is tested and rated for the specific speed required by their system.
Q. Do I need to buy a v1.3 HDMI cable to play my PS3?
Typically, no. Any Cat 1, Type A cable will work, especially if the cable is under 10 Meters.
Q. How can you tell the difference between a v1.2 and a v1.3 cable
You really can't. There are no technical differences in most Type A, Cat 1 cables. While there are real differences from a technical standpoint between a Type A, Cat 1 cable vs a Type A, Cat 2 cable, cosmetically, and most importantly, most standard 1080p applications do not need the Cat 2 cable.