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.
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