Turning HDMI into Lemonade

 

There are few things in this world that have created more headaches for electronics installers since the introduction of the television in 1925 than the HDMI cable.  This nifty little invention came boasting as the fix all to all of our Audio and Video problems. By sending all of the signals we would need (Video, Audio, Control even Internet signals) digitally over this single HDMI cable we would be able to conquer the world! But in reality it only served to increase the number of visits to our therapist’s office.

This “amazing” HDMI cable came with high hopes, but it also came with a few fatal flaws. To start with, this single wire solution is not a single wire at all, but rather 19 little wires along with foam insulators, foil shielding, and wire braiding all contained in one jacket – it’s no wonder a standard HDMI cable is roughly the thickness of a child’s arm. You are required to maintain a 3” bend radius when working with the HDMI cable to insure proper signal flow through all those little wires, and this makes it very difficult to work with in tight spaces.

Unlike every other wire know to electronics installers, the HDMI cable cannot be cut to a custom length (That is unless you are willing to carry around tens of thousands of dollars in manufacturing equipment as well as pay for HDMI licensing and hire a couple of genius lab techs to tell you how to put it all together.) All HDMI cables are pre-made by the manufacture with these very delicate, smooth and almost flat D shaped connectors at each end. These connectors are extremely difficult to plug into the back of equipment (which is usually where the connection is made.), but will happily slide out if you so much as sneeze in the general direction of the cable. On top of that they have an outer jacket that is roughly the size of a Buick which sticks out of the back of your electronics preventing you from sliding your devices neatly back into their cubbies.

What you are left with then is a bundle of 19 wires that you can’t bend you can’t cut and you can’t plug into your equipment. And if you manage to plug it into your equipment the connector either breaks off, pulls it’s self out or simply stops working for no reason at all, not to mention the fact that you have to leave your electronics hanging off the front edge of your shelf because the previous 2” gap left for wiring has now expanded to 6” and your small child is at risk of being squished by a 50lb receiver every time he goes to insert his favorite Blu-Ray of talking, singing vegetables.

And just when you think, “there can’t possible anything else wrong with this wire.” Wait! There’s more! Previous HD video cable runs use to be measured in football fields and city blocks, but not so fast with HDMI. If you take more than 15 to 20 steps you had better be adding a booster. That’s right.  HDMI wire runs are good for a grand total of 50 to 75 feet, and that 75 feet of HDMI cable could set you back about $500. Needless to say, I am not the biggest fan of HDMI cables.

I believe most installers put up with HDMI only because we have to.  There literally are no other choices for high-definition video any more.  It is HDMI or nothing, and I can honestly say that there is not a single HDMI cable that I have liked installing either in a client’s house or my own, until now. 

SnapAV has just introduced a new series to their lineup of Binary HDMI cables that are less revolutionary and simply more commonsensical. These cables just work, and work well. So well in fact that they won CEDIA 2012 Manufacturer's Excellent Award for Best New Product. Their B6 HDMI cable carries the same HD, 3D video, audio, control, and everything else just like a normal HDMI cable only it does it in a flexible jacket that is not even the thickness of a No. 2 pencil. The connector head on Binary’s cable is literally half the size of a standard cable and, what’s even better, the connector doesn’t fall out.  They use a special tension technique called GripTek that uses tabs on three sides of the connector to make a snug and secure fit in any HDMI jack you plug it in to.

SnapAV has not change the fact that I am a firm believer in more options for high-def video lovers. Their cables still have the 19 pin flat D shaped fix connector required by HDMI and are still limited to the distance that the signal can be transmitted, but what SnapAV has done is create an HDMI cable that I actually like. In fact, I like them so much that I replaced every HDMI cable in my own home with their Binary B6 HDMI cable, and I didn’t have to take out a second mortgage to do it. So, to the guys over at SnapAV I say thank you. You have help to make the lemons we are offered with HDMI standards taste a little more like lemonade.