4k blu-ray question

Hi folks. That’s right - I’m back. And I need your help.

I’ve ordered the Sony UBP X800 for the bargain price of £63 but I’ve realised that I may need a special HDMI cable to get the best out of it. My current cable which I used for my old blu-ray player is an Xbox One cable. Is it worth investing in a better cable to get the best out of the 4k player and my 4k TV? If so, any suggestions please?

Gario wrote:I’ve ordered the Sony UBP X800 for the bargain price of £63

Did it fall off the back of a truck or something?

Best I could see was £179 at Richer Sounds.

NickSCFC wrote:

Gario wrote:I’ve ordered the Sony UBP X800 for the bargain price of £63

Did it fall off the back of a truck or something?

Best I could see was £179 at Richer Sounds.

eBay second-hand. Any help with my question?

I'm fairly certain that HDMI is a digital signal and thus cable quality doesn't really matter.
The cable either works or it doesn't and a better quality cable won't actually give you any advantage.
I have a One X which has a 4K blue Ray player and it has just a standard HDMI cable with nothing special about it as far as I know.

According to this they're all the same...

https://www.cnet.com/news/4k-hdmi-cables-are-nonsense/

I've heard people on Resetera talking about next-gen consoles having a new HDMI standard, but that's probably just the ports and not the cables.

Peter Crisp wrote:I'm fairly certain that HDMI is a digital signal and thus cable quality doesn't really matter.
The cable either works or it doesn't and a better quality cable won't actually give you any advantage.

I’m not sure that is true. HDMI has several versions, I think the latest is 2.0 and supports HDR and 4K at 60fps.

I have no idea if the Xbone HDMI cable is HDMI 2.0, I suspect not if it is an older one.

Moggy wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:I'm fairly certain that HDMI is a digital signal and thus cable quality doesn't really matter.
The cable either works or it doesn't and a better quality cable won't actually give you any advantage.

I’m not sure that is true. HDMI has several versions, I think the latest is 2.0 and supports HDR and 4K at 60fps.

I have no idea if the Xbone HDMI cable is HDMI 2.0, I suspect not if it is an older one.

Yeah that makes sense.

I remember PSVR's pass-through box not supporting HDMI 2.0 at launch resulting in loss of HDR.

They newer models corrected this.

Moggy wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:I'm fairly certain that HDMI is a digital signal and thus cable quality doesn't really matter.
The cable either works or it doesn't and a better quality cable won't actually give you any advantage.

I’m not sure that is true. HDMI has several versions, I think the latest is 2.0 and supports HDR and 4K at 60fps.

I have no idea if the Xbone HDMI cable is HDMI 2.0, I suspect not if it is an older one.

Oh ok, so if I try the Xbox one and it doesn’t support then the image won’t work at all?

Moggy wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:I'm fairly certain that HDMI is a digital signal and thus cable quality doesn't really matter.
The cable either works or it doesn't and a better quality cable won't actually give you any advantage.

I’m not sure that is true. HDMI has several versions, I think the latest is 2.0 and supports HDR and 4K at 60fps.

I have no idea if the Xbone HDMI cable is HDMI 2.0, I suspect not if it is an older one.

I'd just give the cable he has available a try and see what happens. If it works then happy days and if not then a new £5 is in order. The days of needing super expensive cables are well and truly over though.

Peter Crisp wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:I'm fairly certain that HDMI is a digital signal and thus cable quality doesn't really matter.
The cable either works or it doesn't and a better quality cable won't actually give you any advantage.

I’m not sure that is true. HDMI has several versions, I think the latest is 2.0 and supports HDR and 4K at 60fps.

I have no idea if the Xbone HDMI cable is HDMI 2.0, I suspect not if it is an older one.

I'd just give the cable he has available a try and see what happens. If it works then happy days and if not then a new £5 is in order. The days of needing super expensive cables are well and truly over though.

Cheers, I’m just concerned that if I use my current cable and it does work but fails to bring through the best quality picture then my blu ray player purchase will go wasted. I won’t necessarily be able to tell with my eyes alone if the picture is at its best.

Gario wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:I'm fairly certain that HDMI is a digital signal and thus cable quality doesn't really matter.
The cable either works or it doesn't and a better quality cable won't actually give you any advantage.

I’m not sure that is true. HDMI has several versions, I think the latest is 2.0 and supports HDR and 4K at 60fps.

I have no idea if the Xbone HDMI cable is HDMI 2.0, I suspect not if it is an older one.

Oh ok, so if I try the Xbox one and it doesn’t support then the image won’t work at all?

It’d probably work and give you 4K, but you might not get HDR and the highest frame rates.

You can get a HDMI 2.0 cable for £4 from Amazon, so it’s not a big investment.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-H ... s=hdmi+2.1

Gario wrote:Cheers, I’m just concerned that if I use my current cable and it does work but fails to bring through the best quality picture then my blu ray player purchase will go wasted. I won’t necessarily be able to tell with my eyes alone if the picture is at its best.

That's a good point and a fair enough fear.
You should be able to check the signal information on the TV itself which will say if it's at 4K or not.

HDMI is digital so spending hundreds on cables is pointless.

You just need a cable with 18Gbps of bandwidth, this is most cables made in the last 10 years. The 1.3, 1.4, 2.0 specs apply to the equipment rather than the cables. The cables are just bits of metal that don't understand the HDMI specification.

If your cable says High Speed with or without Ethernet against it then it's suitable. Once you've plugged the player into the TV the TV will be able to tell you what it's outputting under the settings.

Moggy wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:I'm fairly certain that HDMI is a digital signal and thus cable quality doesn't really matter.
The cable either works or it doesn't and a better quality cable won't actually give you any advantage.

I’m not sure that is true. HDMI has several versions, I think the latest is 2.0 and supports HDR and 4K at 60fps.

I have no idea if the Xbone HDMI cable is HDMI 2.0, I suspect not if it is an older one.

Yes. And 1080 ones, some support 3D some don't.

So is there a difference between a HDMI 2.0 cable and a regular HDMI cable, or is it all just marketing?

pjbetman wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:I'm fairly certain that HDMI is a digital signal and thus cable quality doesn't really matter.
The cable either works or it doesn't and a better quality cable won't actually give you any advantage.

I’m not sure that is true. HDMI has several versions, I think the latest is 2.0 and supports HDR and 4K at 60fps.

I have no idea if the Xbone HDMI cable is HDMI 2.0, I suspect not if it is an older one.

Yes. And 1080 ones, some support 3D some don't.

NickSCFC wrote:So is there a difference between a HDMI 2.0 cable and a regular HDMI cable, or is it all just marketing?

The specification is in the equipment. The cable is just cable.

It comes in 2 main formats. Standard and high speed. You'll want to highspeed cable to make use of all of the 2.0 features. Most cable made in the last 10 years is highspeed.

(It actually comes in 5 formats but they're just ethernet variants of the above and 1 weird car cable...)

As others have said, most HDMI cables are basically the same.

The only real reason to spend a little more money (£10 rather than £5 for example) is the build/construction quality of the cable or if you want something like a flat cable or 90 degree angled connectors for easier installation.

The HDMI cable Sony supplied with my PS4 Pro cuts out sporadically (the screen with go black for around 5 seconds before returning). And that's the thing with HDMI, it either works or it doesn't. The picture quality will be the same whether you're using a £3 cable or a £150 one. The build quality however may be a load of gooseberry fool.

The TV will tell you if it's outputting the signal in 4K HDR though.