A good HDMI cable can reliably go about 10 meters (33 ft). After that, you may need a signal booster.

Internally, HDMI cables have 4 shielded twisted pairs and 7 separate wires. The ‘with Ethernet’ versions use two of the 7 individual wires to create an extra twisted pair conductor. You might need a new cable for HDMI 2.1, which allows for increased video resolutions of 4K/120p and 8K/60p. For example, pin 14 was reserved in HDMI 1.0-1.3a but is used in HDMI 1.4+ for the Ethernet and audio return channels. The HDMI specification defines each pin for a specific task. In the earlier HDMI versions, some pins were optional or reserved for future use. Support for the audio return channel (ARC). Allows the TV to send audio from an HDMI connection to an AV receiver or soundbar. Therefore allowing an easy way to send this audio to a home theater sound system.

Main Topics

TMDS: HDMI uses transition-minimized differential signaling (TMDS) to send video, audio and auxiliary data between devices. All HDMI cable types will support transferring all audio formats within the specification. If you are unsure, the guide to surround sound formats explains all about Dolby and DTS audio. What Video Formats Does HDMI Support? HDMI Support for Common TV Video Formats By all means, buy an HDMI cable with gold-plated connectors, but you really don’t need to pay extra just for this feature. Where Can You Buy an HDMI 1.4 or HDMI 2.0 Cable? Three of the seven separate conductors in an HDMI with Ethernet cable also form an extra twisted pair. HDMI Pin Outs (Type A Connector)

HDMI 1.3 added the ability to bitstream HD audio instead. With bitstreaming, the raw HD audio data is sent directly to the amplifier without decoding first. The amplifier then decodes the signal. To use HDMI ARC, you will often need to enable HDMI CEC on your devices. This allows your two devices to talk to each other and automatically detect when a signal is present. Mainly this works well. However, different brands can sometimes struggle to talk to each other. If you have a problem with this, an optical connection may cause fewer headaches!However, it can prove a useful feature when set up correctly and means you need to use fewer remote controls. It also comes with an external power supply that you might need if you connect to a device that doesn’t output enough power – like the Sony PS4 and Apple MacBook Pro. Improved color – support for Deep Colour and x.v.Colour. These provide increased color depths and the ability to reproduce any color the eye can see. A common problem for some people is they want to show a movie on more than one TV screen – or maybe they have a TV and projector and want to run both simultaneously.

Your TV and amplifier/soundbar both need to support HDMI ARC. If not, then you might need to use an optical connection instead.For example, when you switch on your TV, CEC will automatically turn on your soundbar – or your Blu-ray player will automatically select the correct HDMI input on your TV. The model above supports resolutions up to 1920×1080 at 60Hz and has a 3.5 mm analog audio output to extract the sound and picture. However, if this is not the case then you should speak to friends and family to see if they have any experience. Their opinion can help you to decide whether to buy or not. Naturally, televisions have improved and many modern ones no longer have AV or RCA ports. That means your AV signal needs to be converted from analog to digital, allowing it to play through the HDMI port on your screen.