CEDIA 2015 Wrap Up

In the craziness of returning from Dallas last week - this post was not posted on the blog.  We apologize.  

Whew!  What a whirlwind CEDIA 2105 was in Dallas.  It was the best show Metra Home has had to date and it is largely due to the combination of great products and staff.  Seriously, our staff is the hardest working staff I know and no other company can touch our products.  My co-workers are a great group of people.  As I sat in the front desk during the show, I overheard things being said by staff and attendees and I made up a list:

• ·         WOW nice booth!
• ·         My feet hurt.
• ·         Don’t lean on the front desk.
• ·         Who left coffee on the front desk
• ·         Where is my coffee?
• ·         My feet hurt.
• ·         You sure that is the correct price?
• ·         Are you seriously taking an order on a trashcan?
• ·         I have not eaten all day
• ·         My feet hurt.

I also heard from Attendees the phrase “That’s a problem solver right there” after they saw the demo of the M3B.  This could explain why this product is flying out of the warehouse.  Good problem to have from where I am sitting.  The HDM-GA1 was awarded three awards

 and our first run is all sold out.

The show never slowed down for us and even though we are home – the pace has continued.  Here’s to hoping CES is just a wonderful show.

Construction of a HDMI Cable Part #6: Testing Procedures

If you have made it this far in the series you have seen how important each part of the cable is at least in our option. The real question is, how can this be validated as truth and not just be set aside as the ramblings of a PR/Marketing department?

Let us return for a moment to a contributing factor in what triggered this series, http://www.cnet.com/news/still-more-reasons-why-all-hdmi-cable-are-the-same/ and http://www.cnet.com/news/4k-hdmi-cables-are-nonsense/. The issue here for us is the testing methodology, all that was done to verify the quality of a given cable was (A) borrow a tone generator/scope and sweep/Eye pattern test one channel at a time of the three video channels and (B) plug the cables in between a source and a display. This is not a good or accurate way to test as timing of the 3 channels together is critical and without this concurrent channel testing results will be skewed.

So, how can you know if a cable is worth a damn?  DPL testing that’s how.

In theory, any cable that has the HDMI logo on it has been tested and approved by HDMI LLC.

We all know of course that this is not true (I have seen cables being sold at a price that is lower than the HDMI license fees). As evidence to this just before CEDIA 2015 HDMI LLC announced a new “Premium” certification program.  Apparently the previous “HDMI 1.4 High Speed” certification did not prove to be robust enough of a test to verify and validate the actual bandwidth needed to properly support the HDMI 2.0 feature sets. Also, in the past month was the announcement that “Underwriters Laboratory” was getting into the cable performance testing game.  Now to be fair both of these entities do an acceptable job of high speed video performance testing, unfortunately since each assumes that the bare minimum ATSC test for EDID is good enough neither one push’s the envelope for low speed data.

So “Meh”. Well who can you trust?

For Metra Home Theater Group it is again DPL (Digital Performance Labs), they are recognized as the strictest and most quality consistent testing facility in the AV world. A cable that can show and prove the DPL Seal of Approval is a safe choice for your installation. As mentioned before this could all be a line from marketing but time and many participating companies have proved that DPL knows what they are doing and can be trusted to tell you the truth. If you have any questions about a cable line or length go to http://www.dpllabs.com/ and check on that product. If it is not there ask yourself why.

What does this have to do with cables?

As mentioned in a previous installment of this series, DPL certification is neither quick nor cheap.  First, it takes a while to design and build a cable that meets the DPL standards. Second, in order for DPL to maintain “truth in testing”, ongoing testing is required.  DPL does not get these samples from the vendor instead DPL purchases them from dealers and/or distributors to test what is out in the field.  So like “UL” certification DPL has a yearly fee to keep you (the vendor) up to date.  For the dealer this is a fantastic resource as well as a great and timely report of what is tested and real.

We hope you enjoyed this blog series – if you have a suggestion on another topic please comment below.

Part 5 of Construction of a HDMI Cable: Termination

In the previous installments of this series, we have discussed everything needed for the best performing HDMI cable and to improve overall performance in a system.  With that being said without the proper termination quality parts will mean nothing and the cable will not provide top performance.

It is very important to control the heat, silver content, quantity and flow of the solder. Less is more in this application and of course “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”.  Extra solder closes the gaps between the connection points and that can/will create its own RF field. To add insult to injury, when it comes to the soldering process ROHS (Federal Lead standards) has mandated that lead be mostly removed from solder for safety reason.  Unfortunately this means that solder most be applied at a higher temperature for it to flow. Higher temps mean a greater chance of thermal damage to any board level components.

What does this have to do with cables?

                                                           

Solder work must be done with the greatest of care and with a very small thermal operating window.   Careful is not cheap and cheap is not careful.

Part 4 of Construction of a HDMI Cable: Silver Content

Now we are starting to get into the more esoteric physics of an HDMI cable. For many years, mainstream analog audio cable manufacturers talked about “Skin Effect” and how higher frequency’s tend to migrate to the surface of a cable and that lower frequencies stayed in the middle.  As it turns out, there is some truth to this statement. Oh, not in the analog audio domain, that is still BS (in our opinion).  However, in the high speed world of HDMI surface silver content and the type of dielectric do play a part in the performance of a HDMI cable.  Now just throwing a thicker cost of silver onto the copper is not the complete answer.   There must be a proper balance. Copper provides a stable high tinsel substrate for the silver plating, this will help the wire to keep its original length and shape which is necessary for the higher bandwidth and speeds (see #1 & #3). 

What does this have to do with cables?

Proper balance between copper and silver is mandatory for consistent performance.

Part 3 of Construction of a HDMI Cable: Bandwidth and Speed

Bandwidth and Speed are very important when discussing the construction of a HDMI cable.  One has to have a general understanding of how these two words pertain to cables as well as how they play into the cables functional capability.  Bandwidth and Speed are a very difficult and confusing concept for most people to grasp.

What is Bandwidth?  What is speed? 

Although bandwidth and speed have much in common, they are different and are frequently and incorrectly used by both consumers and the manufacturers to express the same thought. 

·         Bandwidth refers to how much data can pass thru a device at the same point and time. 

·         Speed refers to how quickly a device can create the data. 

For example, when discussing the differences in bandwidth needed to produce a 1080P picture (5 Gbps by Spec) and a 4K/60, 4:2:0 picture (9.2 Gbps +/-) what we are really comparing is the width of the high-way and the number of available traffic lanes.  Think of it this way: You send a 100 vehicle convoy between two cities down a 2 lane road at 60 miles an hour, this will give you 2 columns 50 trucks deep. The last truck in line will not arrive at the same time as the first. Now we increase the road to 10 lanes across and we are only 10 trucks deep closing the time gap.  In widening the road, the trucks can now go faster and vehicle speed increases to 120 mph.  A 10 to 1 increase in traffic flow is the result.

The trucks become data and you get our point – wider bandwidth increases the speed of the data in a HDMI cable.

What does this have to do with cables and why is this part of our series?

How fast a HDMI cable sends data is one of the most important facts of a cable and in our opinion must be a part of this series.  There is not one physical part of a cable that increases bandwidth and speed.  Wire gauge and consistency of the twist ratio determine both speed and bandwidth. Better quality product equals better data transfer.  A cable must be well built to be able to produce wider bandwidths and increasing speed. DPL certification on HDMI cables is a good way to know if the cable will provide the best bandwidth and speed. 

DPL certification is neither quick nor cheap. First it takes a while to design and build a cable that meets the DPL standards. Second in order for DPL to maintain “Truth in testing” on going testing is required and DPL does not get this samples from the vendor they come from dealers or distribution, so like “UL” certification there is a yearly fee to keep you (the vendor) up to date.

For the dealer, this is a fantastic resource as well as a great and timely report of what is tested and real.

Part 2 of Construction of a HDMI Cable: Shielding

The second part of this blog series we are discussing the two types of shielding and why they are important.  The two types of shielding that a HDIMI cable should have to provide the best protection are braid and foil.  

A braid shield keeps outside noise from interfering with your HDMI cable by cutting down the 110/60Hz interference.  If outside RF/EMI noise penetrates the HDMI cable it can cause all sorts of havoc. Since pretty much everyone has had some experience with HDMI Cat/x Extender failure due to high voltage switched devices (lights, motors, etc.) cause a short term dropout of the HDMI signal, there is an understanding of this issue.   

Foil shield reduces the high frequency interference and keeps the noise within the cable.  A foil shield also protects components from damage caused by spurious HDMI noise from running amok in your system like a gremlin.   Foil shielding around the TMDS feeds of a HDMI cable also keeps the noise from causing problems with infra-red components and RF control systems.

Here is a cutaway to demonstrate where the shielding is in our Velox cables:

What does this have to do with cables?  Better materials and more coverage within the shielding protects all of the system components and promotes a higher level of performance.

Next week we will discuss bandwidth and speed.  Comment below if you have any questions regarding this blog series so far.  We will do our best to answer you ASAP.