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Which HDMI cable for Ultra HD? It all depends on the bandwidth!

The topic of Ultra HD (UHD) is becoming more and more popular. Accordingly, many new, tempting 4k and Ultra HD products such as TVs or Bluray players (which, of course, you should definitely own as a customer!) are streaming onto the market. This also includes so-called UHD HDMI cables. What this is and whether you need it, you will learn in this article.

HDMI cable UHD Ultra-HD
However, to make the most of the new technological advances, you also need the right HDMI cable that can transmit UHD signals correctly. Otherwise, using an incompatible HDMI cable can lead to the following problems, for example:

Complete picture and/or sound failure
Dropouts and disturbances in picture and sound
Freezing of the signal
"Handshake", i.e. the connection process between the devices, takes a very long time or fails
Flashing pixels or jerky images
Fragmentation of complete pictures or single picture parts
If you experience such or similar errors, it is generally recommended to check the HDMI cable and possibly replace it. On our site you will find enough advisors for this

Of course, to enjoy the new UHD picture quality, you also need a new output device. If you are interested in buying an Ultra HD TV, you will find some attractive offers on the Internet. In the meantime, even bargains can be found for LCD TVs.

New HDMI cables for UltraHD?
After the first monitors and TVs with Ultra HD resolution were already presented at technology trade shows at the end of 2014, they are now slowly but surely conquering the market.

The better picture quality of the new monitors and TVs comes from several features. In addition to the higher resolution of the images, an increased color depth of 10 bit (later with 12-14 bit) is used. In addition, the contrast range and refresh rate, which is 50 to 60 Hz for the current models and will later be increased to 120 Hz, are optimized.

Of course, this leads to a significantly higher data volume overall, which the HDMI cable also has to process. However, the older HDMI cables with HDMI standard 1.3 or 1.4 reach their limits at a refresh rate of 60 Hz at the latest if you want to display image material with a 4k resolution.

Conclusion: New UHD certificate for more overview
For the most part, the version number designation has been abolished for HDMI cables, even though many manufacturers continue to use it to advertise their products. Basically, HDMI cables are now only differentiated into standard and high-speed. Highspeed cables can support UltraHD with all features such as HDR and 60Hz, but do not necessarily have to. We have already reported about this phenomenon in our article on the

HDMI cable for 4K topic.
At the beginning of the year, the UHD Alliance, an association of leading electronics manufacturers and technology developers, introduced the Ultra HD Premium logo.

This UHD certificate is intended to signal to customers that the product, mostly TVs and monitors, meets selected minimum requirements of Ultra HD technology and is HDR-capable.

A similar certificate will probably be introduced in the future under the name Premium High Speed for UHD HDMI cables, so that the customer can quickly and safely find a compatible cable. An accompanying price increase of the corresponding cables is very likely.

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