HDMI Cable: Directional?

[C_Doc]

Hey all,

Just a quick question, that I'm pretty sure I know the answer to, but want to make sure before I start fishing cable through the ceiling:

I just got my new 1080p projector ( ) and brought home a 5m cable (that ended up being too short, but anyways) on the cable sheathing, it had arrows and said "signal flow"... I read on a couple other forums where this was mentioned in the same phrase as "voodoo" and "mumbo jumbo" but like I said, I wanted to make sure before I have to route the cable twice.

I assume that HDMI cables are NOT unidirectional. Correct? Thanks.

[VinnAY]

try it and find out.

[gearyt]

no problem... use either end

[Canada]

no

[Squozen]

Sounds like you got suckered into buying a Monster cable, am I correct?

Cable is non-directional. Electrons flow through a common material the same way regardless of direction.

[C_Doc]

Originally Posted by Squozen

Sounds like you got suckered into buying a Monster cable, am I correct?

Um... I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid!

No, wasnt a Monster Cable. Anyhow, like I said, I had to exchange it for a longer one, which wasnt made by the same company. I assumed the "signal flow" could be credited to hype, and looks like I was right.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by Squozen

Sounds like you got suckered into buying a Monster cable, am I correct?

Cable is non-directional. Electrons flow through a common material the same way regardless of direction.

I am not sure about HDMI cables, but you are incorrect. Many cables are made of materials, designed and assembled to be directional including many ICs, Coax, Toslink, and Speaker.

Rich

[Jacobisthe]

they just put that to charge you more. It is copper, and electricity will move just fine either way.

[naturephoto1]

Regardless of the general consensus, it may be worth it to try to reverse a cable as was described in the link:

http://www.russandrews.com/article-T...ctionality.htm

You may surprise yourself and find what Russ Andrews says is correct. You only have to spend a little time to test it and as he suggests test 1 channel of the stereo set-up. If you hear the affect, then just adjust the other cabling to match. Also, if you hear the affect, you can possibly confirm the overall affect in stereo and go from there. If you think that it is a waste of time, don't try it. But, you could be surprised and find that there is a performance improvement.

Your call.

Rich

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

You may surprise yourself and find what Russ Andrews says is correct. You only have to spend a little time to test it and as he suggests test 1 channel of the stereo set-up. If you hear the affect, then just adjust the other cabling to match. Also, if you hear the affect, you can possibly confirm the overall affect in stereo and go from there. If you think that it is a waste of time, don't try it. But, you could be surprised and find that there is a performance improvement.

Your call.

Rich

I didn't mean to be overly dismissive, but I have a problem when I'm advised to do an A/B test, find and issue, and have no solution. Simply put, if I reverse a conductor on an AC line, and get a voltage drop or interference, I have a problem, not a solution. Problems need to be solved.

At this point, I've actually seen two proponents of this make statements about it, and a whole bunch of people say it's bogus. I've been in IT for over 20 years, and spent ten years in R&D before that, and this is the first I've heard of this practice - without any indication of what the problem is.

So far, no source I've seen gives an explanation of this phenomenon, or any way to get a repeatable result. This is the first I've heard that anyone even sells cables with directional arrows on them, leading me to wonder what tests they're performing, or what design parameters they're using, to get the arrows pointed the right way.

Is someone using a woven shield that somehow creates a Hall effect on the conducting strands or something? What gives? Where's the testing?

Something sounds odd, and I for sure don't want to cough up money for cables that turn out to be diodes, or something. Is there any more to go on than, "I got this funny feeling..."

[naturephoto1]

In the high end of audio, cables can get extremely expensive. I am not suggesting that you get into purchasing such expensive cables. Monster cables are not that expensive compared to the high end products. In the high end community including over at Audiogon, it is generally accepted that cables are marked with directionality. Even inexpensive cables are written on the outer jackets. At the very least, it is recommended to keep the writing consistent in your wiring set-up to avoid potential problems (cover your butt). Cables can make a big difference in the sound of a system with the right associated components.

Rich

[C_Doc]

Although not the same retailer, nor length or price, here is a 3M version of the cable I had picked up, that had the directional markings on the casing...

I must say, it certainly has stirred up some debate on the matter.... Carry on the discussion while I make popcorn.

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by C_Doc

Although not the same retailer, nor length or price, here is a 3M version of the cable I had picked up, that had the directional markings on the casing...

I must say, it certainly has stirred up some debate on the matter.... Carry on the discussion while I make popcorn.

Quite interesting...dug through it, found this from Ultralink:

http://www.ultralinkcables.com/guides/Ultralink_20Q.pdf

When it comes to two of the most controversial aspects of cable marketing—cable
directionality and cable burn in—are they fact or fiction?
Fact, on both counts.
Earlier we talked about copper-oxide impurities at the juncture between the copper
crystals in the matrix and how they have a tendency to act as little diodes. Diodes pass
current better in one direction than another. This slight polarization characteristic makes
the cables do so, as well. It’s subtle but noticeable as a bit more natural and open
sounding. Unfortunately, there’s absolutely no way of telling which direction is the best
one in a predictable way on the spool. You must listen to it—and do so before you mark
it for directionality. We listen to every batch of cable and then clearly mark the
directionality of that spool and the cable so that it’s always right. Many companies don’t
do this. Knowing the effect to be a subtle one in most cases and that there is a 50 percent
chance of the direction being right; they just mark the cable’s signal flow as it comes off
the spool without listening. So, in that case and for that product, it would be a fictional
feature. In our case, it’s very real.

More voodoo. They can't measure it; they have to "listen to it", to get this directionality.

Interesting interview, but this part left me cold. It still makes no sense.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by Jacobisthe

they just put that to charge you more. It is copper, and electricity will move just fine either way.

It is put there so that you have the cables oriented in the same direction just in case you hear a difference. Most cabling is marked by the writing on the outside material. And in my case, a lot of my cables are silver or silver clad copper conductors, not just copper conductors.

Rich