Are Active (HDMI) Cables the Future?

[admin]

With a recent tear-down by ArsTechnica on the new Thunderbolt cable Apple is selling for $50, we're starting to wonder if active cabling is the future of all A/V electronics. With a desire by content providers to keep everything digital and protected in the realm of high definition television, and A/V manufacturers scrambling to provide features that will generate more 'oohs' and 'awes', it's a wonder if we aren't digging a hole. A great big hole. We've espoused What's Wrong with HDMI before, but we're now wondering if we've just hit a wall. If, from here on out, even shorter runs of HDMI are going to more or less have the requirements of being active in order to support the bandwidth needed for future technology and throughput.

Discuss "Are Active (HDMI) Cables the Future?" here. Read the article.

 

[scott911]

great to learn something new...

I just installed a monoprice "box" to the end of a 25 foot hdmi cable. I'd cleaned up my signal as expected using just the 5 volt HDMI feed, but I never bother to experiment with adding power to the box. I'd do that before walling up the cabling again.

 

[dalumberjack]

As if doing a nice HT room let alone a theater room wasn't expensive enough. Now in the future we are going to spend more on cables and possibly a power box just to run them.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Why not use instead already highly developed and tested 10GBASE-T - Using standard Cat 6A instead? 330ft for Cat6A cable and average 37m (100ft) for Regular Cat 6
I'm sure that for most cases 1080p video and HD-MA soundtrack that's should be more than enough bandwidth....

 

[jotham]

It's all about the latency...

As a computer programmer I vastly prefer network approaches like Cat-5/6 over proprietary or new cabling standards. That said, I think the reason that stuff like HDMI/Display Port/Thunderbolt/Firewire have their place is because of latency. Network protocols are great for transmitting data asap but timing is fluid and can't be counted on. Add-ons to the protocol like QOS(quality of service) attempt to lower the latency for apps like VOIP and video conferencing but they're not perfect.

In summation, it's not all about the bandwidth, it's also about the timing. Think about how we tweak our projectors to get the lip sync correct, or play video games successfully.

Not everything is about A/V. Thunderbolt has it's place but nowhere near our a/v racks for the near future. I doubt that active tech is necessary for HDMI 4a stuff. I could see it being mandatory for 4K projectors but at that point, we are spending a ton on the display device and the cable will be the least of our worries.

One interesting (to me) thing about the Ars Technica article is the idea that the active chips mean that different transports like optical could be used in the cable with no change in connector. Kind of an optical balun built into the spec. That's pretty cool. I envision an active cable that allows a slim hdmi-like cable to reach 50 ft with complete compatibility.

 

[avliner]

Hi Jotham,

my hats off for your comments, Sir

 

[jcain87]

New Business Idea

I think active HDMI cables open all kinds of doors for exotic cables manufacturers to go wild with. Just think, if an HDMI cables needs its own power source, well then you need to buy a $200 5v, audio/video-phile capable, power supply.

This is already enticing me. See you guys later, I'm gonna sell some fools some overpriced junk and get loaded!

 

[avliner]

Most definetely!

I foresee a new ad from Monster more or less like this:

Ultra-High-Voltage-Self-Powered-Hyperconductor-HDMI Cable...

 

[highfigh]

As a computer programmer I vastly prefer network approaches like Cat-5/6 over proprietary or new cabling standards. That said, I think the reason that stuff like HDMI/Display Port/Thunderbolt/Firewire have their place is because of latency. Network protocols are great for transmitting data asap but timing is fluid and can't be counted on. Add-ons to the protocol like QOS(quality of service) attempt to lower the latency for apps like VOIP and video conferencing but they're not perfect.

In summation, it's not all about the bandwidth, it's also about the timing. Think about how we tweak our projectors to get the lip sync correct, or play video games successfully.

Not everything is about A/V. Thunderbolt has it's place but nowhere near our a/v racks for the near future. I doubt that active tech is necessary for HDMI 4a stuff. I could see it being mandatory for 4K projectors but at that point, we are spending a ton on the display device and the cable will be the least of our worries.

One interesting (to me) thing about the Ars Technica article is the idea that the active chips mean that different transports like optical could be used in the cable with no change in connector. Kind of an optical balun built into the spec. That's pretty cool. I envision an active cable that allows a slim hdmi-like cable to reach 50 ft with complete compatibility.

No, it's not only bandwidth that causes HDMI issues, EDID is also responsible for many of the problems that can't be explained by any other means.

 

[gliz]

anything to get you money !!

 

[Ajswanson]

Cart before the horse?

This is an interesting topic. I remember in the 90s when Microsoft planned to make the next version of Office an online only version that you essentially leased. There was a big uproar but here we are on 2011 wanting The Cloud. I think much is the same here. The question isn't will we have it, but when and what technology will be so compelling that we accept the trappings that go with it?

As a manufacturer of HDMI cables, we find that people want (and deserve for that matter) good quality but don't want a high price tag. As a consumer myself, I always get upset when I buy a new piece of equipment only to find out I need to spend another $xx on accessories and cables. 3D is still pretty nascent and has a lot to work out before it can really be successful. Other technologies on the horizon are even further out. I dont think there is a large need for active HDMI right now. But when the right technology comes along, it wont be such a big deal.

And the same will be true of all interconnecting technologies, there will be the companies that sell you much more than you need for much more than you should afford, and there will be companies like Volo, that focus on getting great quality and great customer service at a great price. *We are committed to supporting the technologies as they become available and come into more frequent use, and also to making sure that the customer is getting what they NEED, not what they are SOLD.

 

[rjplummer]

Higher resolution desired?

I'm surprised nobody has yet replied to:

Now, I'm all for high resolution, but is the consumer market really in need of 4K × 2K (3840×2160p24/25/30Hz and 4096×2160p/24Hz) resolutions? Can't digital theaters use something more demanding and consumers be left with something that's actually manageable?

I personally look forward to higher resolution. There should be fewer visible artifacts and better motion and color.

 

[rjplummer]

I hope active cables aren't necessary

USB 3.0 supports 5 Gb/s without active cables. Granted that's not isochronous and the cable runs are slightly shorter, but USB3 is already 3 years old so it seems like the industry should be able to come up with something better

 

[demoncamber]

That's crazy, I love technology

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

As a computer programmer I vastly prefer network approaches like Cat-5/6 over proprietary or new cabling standards. That said, I think the reason that stuff like HDMI/Display Port/Thunderbolt/Firewire have their place is because of latency. Network protocols are great for transmitting data asap but timing is fluid and can't be counted on. Add-ons to the protocol like QOS(quality of service) attempt to lower the latency for apps like VOIP and video conferencing but they're not perfect.

In summation, it's not all about the bandwidth, it's also about the timing. Think about how we tweak our projectors to get the lip sync correct, or play video games successfully.

Not everything is about A/V. Thunderbolt has it's place but nowhere near our a/v racks for the near future. I doubt that active tech is necessary for HDMI 4a stuff. I could see it being mandatory for 4K projectors but at that point, we are spending a ton on the display device and the cable will be the least of our worries.

One interesting (to me) thing about the Ars Technica article is the idea that the active chips mean that different transports like optical could be used in the cable with no change in connector. Kind of an optical balun built into the spec. That's pretty cool. I envision an active cable that allows a slim hdmi-like cable to reach 50 ft with complete compatibility.

I was just reading on SMPTE 424M standard - the "future" for video broadcasters - ability to transfer upto 3Gpbs on single sdi link - Read single coax cable and then I found this article - http://www.smpte.org/events/smpte_annual_tech/schedule/02tuespm2/

Like they say - from the horse mouth - Regular 10 Gbps Ethernet is already finding it's way into broadcast studios....

As with may other developments in video technologies over the past decade, the solution to this quandary comes from IT infrastructures, such as 10Gigabit Ethernet. This technology is ideal from several perspectives, including capacity, cost, and native support for high-speed file transfer. The question becomes: Is it possible to develop a smooth, incremental migration path from current dedicated systems to a common 10Gibt Ethernet backbone for all broadcaster services? The answer is yes, as will be shown in this presentation. Already, multiple vendors are developing products to map a variety of high-performance video and audio signals into Ethernet infrastructure.

I just hope just this will find it's way into consumer market sooner than later.