#10: AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable – 6 Feet (Latest Standard)

Please do not waste your hard earned money on overpriced HDMI cables in the name of picture or sound improvements. I currently am using these AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI cables to connect our Yamaha v379 AV receiver to other HDMI enabled devices that link back to our 4K Samsung Smart TV and these have performed flawlessly.

HDMI cables come in four types: Standard-speed –> Standard-speed with Ethernet –> High-speed –> High-speed with Ethernet. Since High-speed cables are so cheap (e.g these AmazonBasics cables), there really isn’t any point of getting Standard-speed anymore. On the other hand, as most HDMI devices today can’t receive Ethernet over HDMI, High-speed HDMI cables are really all you need.

** Some numbers **

Standard-speed HDMI cables are rated up to 1080i (“i” stands for interlaced). In order for a HDMI cable to have a “High-speed” moniker, it must be capable of showing resolutions up to 4K –> 3840 x 2160 at 30fps (or 4,096 x 2160 at 24fps). And as the highest resolution any 4K TV currently on the market can produce is 3840 x 2160 at 30fps, even if you found a $100 cable at your local BestBuy that claims it can transmit much more than that, it doesn’t matter as you are limited by your source (i.e your cable box, Xbox, PS4 e.t.c) and your TV’s hardware capabilities.

Also HDMI cables can either produce an image/sound or nothing at all. There is NO in between. Therefore, a HDMI cable will either work or won’t work (it may show a flashing image but this means it’s a bad cable). But a more expensive HDMI cable will NOT show darker blacks and sharper colors than a less expensive HDMI cable. You either get 100% of the signal or no signal at all. Now if you intend on running your HDMI cable for more than 50ft, then you might want to invest in a HDMI cable that has “active” chips that help maintain the signal quality over a longer distance (but does NOT make the image/sound any better than the source).

** What about HDMI 1.4 or 2.0 or HDCP 2.2? **

This is another common misconception due to manufacturer marketing. HDMI 1.4, 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 are all hardware changes that do NOT require a cable change! Although there is a difference between them (you can google that yourself), there is no such thing as a HDMI 1.4 or 2.0 or HDCP 2.2 cable! The version numbers refer to the devices that the HDMI cable connects into & NOT the cable itself. The cable simply is a pipeline linking the two. Hence, if you do happen to own a TV and another device that both have HDMI 2.0 ports, any AmazonBasics High-speed rated cable will work perfectly fine with it.

** Conclusion **

At this price point, there is very little reason to spend more money on more expensive HDMI cables over these AmazonBasics High-speed cables. If you have a 3D, 4K, HDCP 2.2 or HDMI-ARC compatible device, these High-speed cables will work perfectly fine for you.