Cancel that next-day air shipment from
Panasonic Japan, those in need of cables today that are compatible with the 4K and 3D displays of tomorrow can get NXG Technologies Black Pearl Series
HDMI v1.4 cables. Not installing cables inside a wall or under a floor? You can probably wait for more
reasonably priced (or not so reasonable, if
that's what you prefer) alternatives. At around $44.95 for 1m up to $380 for a 20m cable, these available-to-dealers-only connectors promise (despite lacking certification, promised once testing is completed) to future proof custom home theater installations for beyond-1080p resolution, HDMI Ethernet Channel, Audio Return Channel and other HDMI 1.4-only features that should start rolling out in HDTVs, receivers and other equipment
early next year.
posted Aug 5th 2009 11:09AM
ugh, yes another overpriced cable to buy! woohoo.
they should just invent a universal 20-pin cable. then we would never have to worry about this kind of thing.
Other then the fact that people are idiots and would just plug things "were it fits" is there any other benefit to all these cables except for monster cable's pockets?
um dude, it can handle 4k by 2k resolution. A cable that can handle that needs to be engineered especially to minimize signal loss, crosstalk, etc, therefore it's going to be expensive.
@jacob:
Yeah, it does need to be engineered, but by the governing bodies that wrote the spec. It's probably just shielded twisted pair wire. It shouldn't be this expensive, no matter what; the governing bodies aren't going to make a spec that requires $20/foot cable, because then the spec will never be adopted by consumers. It's also digital, so the quality of the wires don't really matter (as long as they're continuous and low resistance).
You probably buy Monster cables because they're "better" too...
Once we went to digital, as long as the signal "gets there" thats all that matters. While i do understand the need for multiple I/Os (you can't have your time sync on the same channel as your video/audio ect) The major of the new "features" of these cables are snake oil. A 20 pin digital cable is a 20 pin digital cable, the only parts that care about the type of data that flows through what pin are the In and the Out points. Hell the only diffrence between a DB-25 cable and a HDMI cable is 5 pins and connector size...nothing more.
@Michael Witt
First off it's not $20/ft. It's $380/20m, which works out to $19/m, which works out to $5.85/ft. ($11.68/ft for the 1m version). Also, being digital still means that crosstalk and other interference can still cause packet loss. I'm not guaranteeing that it's necessary to be this expensive, but tell me, are there any other single link cables that can handle 4k by 2k video? The only thing I can think of is the really high res IBM monitors that did something like 3840*2160 and required I think 2x dual link DVI cables.
And if I didn't make it clear before, Monster cable sucks.
4K video (uncompressed) is about 3.82 Gbps [without audio] something you would NEVER NEED to play on your TV. Even 2K is above what your eye could see at unless its way above 350'' @ 20ft
still even that rate a s optical fiber can transfer that.
Granted its above the bitrate for a DVI cable, the point that I am making is there are existing cables with the needed bandwidth, and fiber cable is cheap as hell, and these cables are overpriced and unneeded.
I'm going to need some citations, Grammar Delinquent. (plus, uncompressed video bandwidth =/= cable bandwidth, there's always going to be overhead and other stuff that I probably don't know a thing about haha). But anyways, the IBM T221 was the monitor I was talking about, and it uses 2x dual link DVI cabling, in order to get 3840*2400 at 41/48 hz. So that's basically 4 DVI channels or almost 16 Gbit/s. (I'm guessing the monitor didn't need all that bandwidth)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_T220/T221_LCD_monitors
Cut them open and discover it's just the same wires as any other cable, just the right number and connectors, and if it's that expensive for 20m why not buy a HD transmitter/receiver setup and have a nice dinner with the money left?
"Cut them open and discover it's just the same wires as any other cable, just the right number and connectors"
Yes, and cut open a Ferrari and you'll find it has the same valves and cylinders as any other car, just the right number of them.
"and if it's that expensive for 20m why not buy a HD transmitter/receiver setup and have a nice dinner with the money left? "
HD transmitter/receiver? for 4k video? maybe $1000's and $1000's. Don't know for sure.
i don't get why you are so adamantly defending this with nonsense. Cross-Talk is pretty easy to rid of using twisted pairs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair, noise is built out by shielding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shielded_cable, the amount of information that can go through the wire is determined by its composition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_cable. Thats it, there is nothing more to it then that, the standards that are engineered are nothing more then what is the most efficient data to transfer on each channel (connection). to do 4K video its nothing to do with the type of wire, or the cable, it's the standard the cable can use, you need 2 DVI for the 4K video because the DVI infomation transsfer standard tops out at around 2Gbs...4K needs 4....hince 2 cables (this is video only not factoring in sound at this point)
Personally the bigger question for me is why they are still using wire for 4k video and not fiber, as a single fiber can transfer more data faster then 5 metal wires.
It is expensive because it is new. That's it. HDMI 1.3 was expensive when it first came out too. Now I can buy a 6" HDMI 1.3 cable for $5 (yes $5 from an online store - I have 2).
Give it a year or two and those HDMI 1.4 cables will be 3-5 times cheaper than they are now.
Exactly what I meant Grammar Delinquent, yeah it can be oxygen free copper, and be twisted and have the shielding en even opencell cladding, but compared to other proper cables like regular HDMI and even USB2 it's just more of the same and there aren't any magical little secret angels bred in a secret laboratory in there.
Plus they are probably made in china for $10 a yard.
I'll wait until Monster comes out with a solid gold version.
wasn't "Monster Sucks" supposed to be worked into every Engadget post? haha
Is that sarcasm? I hope so,.
ya without gold their might be signal loss and your digital picture might not look as good
(see I can be funny to)
I'm waiting for liquid cooling.
Futureproof my ass, that's what was said about my HDMI receiver that I just bought and it's already obsolete.
The HDMI control channel command set sucks. Bring in USB channel for HDMI support then let's talk.
When its actually needed, I'll buy the 5$ version on amazon.
or the $2 version at monoprice
If this ever actually becomes necessary, monoprice will have it for $3.
Yessss, bring on the 3D! Wait, what? I have to buy a new TV because my 120hz panel (Samsung LN40A650) can't accept a 120hz input? BRREEEEEEE!
show me the test that proves it is better than a wire coat hanger.
I'm pretty any HDMI cable would win against a coat hanger. Seeing how the coat hanger doesn't have multiple pins and all.
Damn it. Should be "pretty sure".
I get 1080i over a coat hanger...
Price to value ratio the coat hanger totally wins.
I dunno nukee, all you have to do is solder the pins on. The solid metal (new band name!) should provide ample conductivity. I know it's been done for audio, not so sure about video though.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/
*cough* monoprice.com *cough*
They need to scrap the whole hdmi cable. It has the worst connection of a lot of cables. Big, bulky, and sticks out about 5 inches from the back of the TV. Can't anyone design a good cable, connector?
Check Amazon for a 90 degree adapter.
I for one simply don't care at all about hdmi 1.4. I don't care at all for 3d tv either. I think it'll be a flop. It'll be kinda neat for some things for a little while, but then, it'll be like who cares. As long as you'll still have to wear some stupid glasses, it'll be a flop. I know that 1.4 is more than just 3d, either net, etc. but again, who cares. I know I don't! But I have to say that I am excited to see hdmi 1.4 coming out, because now all the perfectly fine hdtv's, receivers, bd players that are currently hdmi 1.3 will go on sale/become cheaper because of all the buzz about 1.4. So that's great news for me & all the people that don't give a shit about 1.4. Personally, I think electronic companies are sorta shooting themselves in the foot with coming out with new versions of hdmi so quickly.
!?!?!?! A pessimist seeing the glass half full?!?!?!?!?!
you made my head hurt ;)
Here you go.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001K38Z2G/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=304485901&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0009MAWO8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0YQAAG8Z7PJM7AKDMA2R
Aaaaand completing the Engadget trifecta first:
Apple and Microsoft suck too!
Monster, check
Apple, check
MS, check
There, I should be guaranteed to win the next raffle for that.
Please note that the CTS test specification for HDMI 1.4 hasn't been released, which means that NO PRODUCT including cables could have gone through the tests to obtain a certification for being 1.4 compliant. Whoever is advertising their 1.4 products or their 1.4 compliant products is conducting an illegal business and a false advertisement.
Yay, a new, new version of the last overpriced cable you just bought (software version 7.0) Just so you can fall asleep in front of the tv watching old 70's sitcom reruns. Psst..it doesn't matter.
Cool, so when the new version comes out we can go to monoprice.com!
I don't know what's going to be worse about this, the ridiculous price tag that monster cable will charge for one of these or the fact that people will actually be convinced to overpay for them by your friendly neighborhood best buy salesperson.
After performing a bunch of tests myself and seeing the differences in eye-patterns, I can ensure you, while the cables look the same if you open them up, they have huge differences. You wouldn't believe what a professional cable manufacturer (and no, I don't mean Monster :-D) does to improve the quality by using special materials and controlling wire distances by microns, terminating the wires in such way that minimizes reflections.
A lot of you say it's a digital signal, so it doesn't matter what it goes through. At these data rates, the signal looks more like analog than digital (jitter, intra-pair skew, inter-pair skew).
I haven't used their cables, so I'm not defending NXG Technologies (or anyone else for that matter), I'm just saying don't compare a wire hanger with a high quality cable.
HDMI 1.4v Monoprice had come out will be in stock next week~~~ just USD2.19 +50PCS
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10250&cs_id=1025007&p_id=6079&seq=1&format=2