Q. What is the difference between a “Standard” HDMI cable and a “High-Speed” HDMI cable?

Recently, HDMI Licensing, LLC announced that cables would be tested as Standard or High-Speed cables.

    * Standard (or “category 1”) HDMI cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 75Mhz or up to 2.25Gbps, which is the equivalent of a 720p/1080i signal.
    * High Speed (or “category 2”) HDMI cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 340Mhz or up to 10.2Gbps, which is the highest bandwidth currently available over an HDMI cable and can successfully handle 1080p signals including those at increased color depths and/or increased refresh rates from the Source. High-Speed cables are also able to accommodate higher resolution displays, such as WQXGA cinema monitors (resolution of 2560 x 1600).

cheap cables also got rated for Hi-speed.. so I don't see any other issue regarding using cheaper value cables..

so you are saying,.... there is a difference in standard and hi-speed,...??

so you are saying,.... there is a difference in standard and hi-speed,...??

good cables do make a difference, perhaps not in the picture quality/processing but more towards data transmittion. A better built cable will be able to transmit the data more reliably. Signal loss happens more frequently on poorly built cables.

On this point, I just read on wired.com:

The claim that "digital cables, by definition, have no signal loss" is indeed false. It’s only true if the transmission is error-corrected, for example by using a protocol like IP.  Without error correction, the stream of ones and zeroes can lose integrity en-route just like an analog wave. DVI and HDMI are not error corrected.

So that implies that transmission error / signal loss could potentially occur in poorly built HDMI cables.

Thanks for the notes on jitter and parity data.

Like you said, if there is a problem with the signal the visual problem will not be subtle. The visual degradation will be apparent. On the other hand, claims that the visual will be improved (brighter colours, sharper images, etc) are subject to much doubt.

I would suggest for those who play CD Audio. Try this test:

When you play CD Audio, compare between:
1. Use the HDMI cable to your AVR. At your AVR choose HDMI input.
2. Use a RCA cable red/white (L/R) to your AVR. At AVR chooce AV1 input.

Compare the result. You will notice the diffrent. This is how I listen to audio CD using my player. At least I can feel the diffrent.

In other words, if you plan to send digital signal, HDMI what ever price( with correct category) will do a good job. But if you plan to send an analog signal, get a good HDMI or out it thru other analog source. Just my 2 cents...

ok, so is da same applies to analog cables like component and s-video?

What you compared is the DAC in your CD player vs the DAC in the AVR in addition to the analogue cable. This is not an apple to apple comparison! Not to mention possible room correction on one and not in the other.