Straight talk...what is an HDMI cable?

An HDMI cable enables an all digital, uncompressed audio and video signal to travel from one device to another. Think of an HDMI cable as a pipe and the audio and video data as water. A pipe allows the transfer of water from point A to point B. The wider the pipe is, the more water that can pass through it. How much water is required at point B will determine the size of the pipe used. The same idea applies to an HDMI cable, the larger a cables throughput (pipe), the more audio and video data that can pass through the cable.

What is Throughput?

Throughput is the maximum amount of data that can pass through a cable. An HDMI cable's throughput is measured in Gigabits Per Second (Gbps). A Gigabit can be thought of simply as a fixed amount of data. The amount of Gigabits that can pass through an HDMI cable in one second is considered the cables throughput. Throughput is also referred to as a cables "speed" and the more Gigabits that can pass through an HDMI cable, the greater the cables speed.

What HDMI cable speed do I need?

When you assemble a home theater system it's important that all the components, including the cables, share a similar specification. What this means is if one piece of your system, your television for example, has a maximum resolution of 720p, and your DVD player has a resolution of 1080i, the DVD player will automatically scale down the video to 720p so that the TV can receive and process the signal. This means that you are not getting the most out of home theater audio and video experience. The same goes for your HDMI cable. When your HDMI cable is not correctly matched to your system it will not have enough speed to transfer all the data from point A to point B. This will likely result in the system scaling down to compensate for the lack of throughput. For example, instead of getting the billions of colors if your system supported the 36-bit Deep Color feature, the system may scale down to a lesser 24-bit color when using an incorrectly matched cable.

Not all HDMI cable companies are the same

Making a good quality HDMI cable that is compliant to the HDMI specification is not a simple task. It takes premium materials and skilled workmanship to make an HDMI cable that meets the HDMI specification. As the cable gets longer or the cables speed increases, it becomes even more difficult to make a cable that is fully HDMI compliant. What many people don't realize is that most cable companies do not have their own cable factories. Many cable brands are simply resellers, sourcing HDMI cables from suppliers and other third parties and often doing little more than placing their logo on the cable. Purchasing cables from a third party can make it difficult to ensure performance and maintain quality. A disconnect can occur between the supplier and the cable company, allowing HDMI cables that are not fully HDMI compliant to enter the market. What makes Accell different is that our employees make our cables. Accell has their own cable factory including engineering and design, assembly and quality control. This allows us to maintain the highest level of quality and performance that is built in to every Accell HDMI cable.

Not all HDMI cables are the same

HDMI cables are sensitive to variances in construction, especially over long cable runs. A poorly made HDMI cable can have a noticeable effect on the quality of your picture. Artifacts like snow or colored speckles can appear, or effects like ghosting become visible, especially during dark sequences or scene transitions. Accell HDMI cables are designed uses only the highest quality components. From our 24K gold-plated HDMI connectors to our oxygen free copper (OFC) conductors, Accell cable and are certified 100% HDMI compliant.