HDMI Cables from Blue Jeans Cable

hdmi - component video - s-video - rgbhv - rf - composite - a/v - dvi
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HDMI Cables

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HDMI is a digital signal format, developed primarily as a platform for the implementation of HDCP (High Definition Content Protection) to prevent consumers from having complete access to the contents of high-definition digital recordings. As one might expect from a standard that was developed to serve the content provider industries, rather than the best interests of the consumer, HDMI is something of a mess. The signal is not robust over distance because it was designed to run balanced when it should have been run unbalanced (SDI, the commercial digital video standard, can be run hundreds of feet over a single coax without any performance issues); the HDMI cable is an unnecessarily-complicated rat's-nest arrangement involving nineteen conductors; switches, repeaters and distribution amplifiers, by virtue of this complicated scheme, are made unnecessarily expensive; and the HDMI plug is prone to falling out of the jack with little more than a light tug. As more and more manufacturers move to implement HDMI on more home theater devices, however, it falls to the consumer to try to make the best of this dubious and poorly-thought-out standard.

BJC Belden Bonded-Pair HDMI and HDMI/DVI Cables:

HDMI is a fragile interface, not least because of the difficulties of manufacturing twisted-pair cable to the fine tolerances required to handle the extraordinary bandwidth requirements of the HDMI signal. To overcome those difficulties, we sought the help of Belden, the world's technology leader in communications cable products, and we asked Belden to use its patented, exclusive Bonded-Pair technology to build us an HDMI cable with extraordinary impedance stability and low skew. The result is a pair of products: the BJC Series-1 23.5 AWG Parallel Digital Video Cable, and the BJC Series-F2 28 AWG Cable. These are the only HDMI cables on the market incorporating bonded-pair technology; they are also, to our knowledge, the only HDMI cable stocks made in the United States, built in Monticello, Kentucky and Richmond, Indiana. (One note: at this time, we are having final assembly, i.e., connectorization of the cable, done under contract in China. We hope to bring final assembly home to the U.S. as well, but are working on production issues which have to be resolved before we can do that and still sell the cable at a reasonable, economical price.) Both versions are HDMI 1.3 certified, as detailed below.

BJC Belden Series-F2: a Triumph Over the Limits of Wire Gage

For short runs, our recommended cable is the BJC Series-F2, which replaces our prior Series-F cable. If you've read much about HDMI cable online, you know that most manufacturers use wire gage as their primary indicator of quality, because in the absence of any other measure of cable quality, it's assumed that larger-gage cable will perform better. The Series-F2 brings Belden's bonded-pair technology, with its low skew and tight impedance control, to a small-gage cable and significantly outperforms conventional twisted-pair designs. This cable, though made in 28 AWG and therefore quite thin and flexible, is certified under HDMI 1.3a (CTS 1.3b1), Category 2 (high-speed) to 15 feet, considerably longer than any other 28 AWG HDMI cable. While a larger cable of the same design (our Series-1, below) will outperform it in distance runs, when extreme distance is not required the Series-F2 will provide identical performance to the much heavier, stiffer, larger-gage cable, without the difficulty of bending and fitting that the larger cable can present. The Series-F2 is rated CM for in-wall installation (higher than the typical CL2 or CL3).

Series-F2 Facts:

HDMI 1.3a (CTS 1.3b1) certified;
CM rated (higher rating than CL2);
Unique Patented Bonded Pair Construction;
This and Series-1 are the only HDMI cable stock made in USA

Series-1 Facts:

HDMI 1.3a (CTS 1.3b1) certified;
CM rated (higher rating than CL2);
Unique Patented Bonded Pair Construction;
This and Series-F2 are the only HDMI cable stock made in USA

BJC Belden Series-1 Bonded-Pair Cable: Best for Long Runs

For situations where distance is a factor, our best cable is our original Belden Series-1, a 23.5 AWG cable. The Series-1 is quite thick and stiff, which is a drawback in terms of installation convenience, but performs better over distance than anything else we have seen. It is certified under HDMI 1.3a (CTS 1.3b and b1) at the longest distances of any cable we know of--45 feet for Category 1, 25 feet for Category 2. In actual usage, it ordinarily will work at distances exceeding these--we have run 1080p video through a 125 foot cable without any information loss, but results will vary depending on the capabilities of the sending and receiving circuits of the devices in use. Like the Series-F2, this cable uses Belden's patented bonded-pair technology and the cable stock is manufactured at Belden facilities in Kentucky and Indiana.Read more details, or view specs, on our BJC Series-1 Bonded-Pair HDMI Cable.

BJC Series-2 HDMI Cables:

In addition to our new Belden-built cables, we continue to offer our more economical, Chinese-sourced Series-2 HDMI cables. These cables are of excellent quality and we have found them dependable up to lengths of 50 feet at all resolutions up to 1080p/60. They are rated CL2 for in-wall installation, and use 24 AWG silver-plated copper signal conductors.View the drawing and spec sheet on our Series-2 HDMI and HDMI/DVI Cables, in .pdf format.

Our new Economy Brand: Tartan HDMI Cables

Sometimes, the best value for the money is the best product you can find; but sometimes, it's the least expensive product you can find. For those more inclined to the latter than the former, we now offer Tartan brand HDMI cables. These come in two types: tin-plated-copper 24 AWG, CL2 rated cables, and high-flex, tin-plated-copper 28 AWG cables (not CL2). The cable stock comes from Copartner, a leading Chinese manufacturer of HDMI cable (and, incidentally, the producer of the more costly, lower-attenuation silver-plated 24 AWG cable used in our Series-2 cable, above). One note: you'll find these same cables on many different sites, from many different vendors, at a wide range of prices; our pricing is the best we know of, and beats even those sites that sell primarily on the basis of having the lowest price. Tartan HDMI cables are listed below; if you'd like more information on the Tartan line, see our Tartan HDMI Cables page.

Blue Jeans Cable Series-2 HDMI/DVI Cable

DVI/HDMI Cables:

All of the cables above are available in DVI/HDMI configuration as well as the standard HDMI/HDMI configuration. DVI/HDMI cables have a single-link DVI-D connector on one end and an HDMI connector on the other. These cables function equally well in either direction: HDMI to DVI, or DVI to HDMI. We're often asked why there isn't a DVI-I to HDMI cable or a DVI-D Dual Link to HDMI cable; the reason is that HDMI (at least, the 19-pin version of HDMI implemented on all consumer HDMI devices) is a single-link, digital-only standard, so there's no way to hook it up either to a DVI analog or Dual-Link signal; one could put the DVI-I or Dual-Link type connector on the cable, but the additional pins at the DVI end wouldn't actually be hooked up to anything. In principle, HDMI is supposed always to be backward-compatible with DVI, so that any HDMI device should work with any DVI-D single-link device. In practice, although the two almost always work together, it's not uncommon to run into device compatibility issues.

As with all of our products, we offer a complete and unconditional return privilege. If for any reason you're not completely satisfied, just return the cables within 30 days and we'll refund your purchase price in full.

BJC Series-F2 Belden Bonded-Pair HDMI Cables:

28 AWG High-Flex version of our Bonded Pair design; our favorite for runs up to 15 feet.

Length	Price	Connectors	Length	Price	Connectors
1 foot	8.75	HDMI/HDMI only	7 foot	18.75
2 foot	10.25		8 foot	20.50
3 foot	12.00		9 foot	22.25
4 foot	13.75		10 foot	24.00
5 foot	15.50		12 foot	27.25	HDMI/HDMI only
6 foot	17.25		15 foot	32.50

BJC Series-1 Belden Bonded-Pair HDMI Cables:

Our best cable for distance runs.

Length	Price	Connectors	Length	Price	Connectors
3 foot	21.50	Temp. out of stock	20 foot	60.50
4 foot	24.50		25 foot	72.50
5 foot	27.50		30 foot	84.75
6 foot	30.00		35 foot	98.00	HDMI/HDMI only
7 foot	33.00		40 foot	110.00
8 foot	35.00	Temp. out of stock	45 foot	122.00	HDMI/HDMI only
9 foot	37.00	Temp. out of stock	50 foot	134.50
10 foot	38.50		60 foot	158.75	HDMI/HDMI only
12 foot	44.00	HDMI/HDMI only	75 foot	195.00	HDMI/HDMI only
15 foot	51.00		100 foot	256.00	HDMI/HDMI only

BJC Series-2 HDMI Cables:

(Chinese-made, 24 AWG Silver-plated copper)

Length	Price	Connectors	Length	Price	Connectors
2 foot	12.00		12 foot	25.75	HDMI/HDMI only
3 foot	13.00		15 foot	28.75
4 foot	14.00		20 foot	38.50
5 foot	15.00		25 foot	48.00
6 foot	16.00		30 foot	57.75
7 foot	17.75	HDMI/HDMI only	35 foot	67.25	HDMI/HDMI only
8 foot	19.50		40 foot	77.00
9 foot	21.25		45 foot	86.50	HDMI/HDMI only
10 foot	22.75		50 foot	96.00

NEW: Tartan Cable 24 AWG HDMI Cables:

(Chinese-made, 24 AWG Tinned Copper, CL2 rated)

Length	Price	Connectors	Color	Length	Price	Connectors	Color
2 foot	5.75			12 foot	14.00	HDMI/HDMI Only
3 foot	6.75			15 foot	15.75
4 foot	7.75			20 foot	18.50
5 foot	8.50			25 foot	21.50
6 foot	9.50			30 foot	25.50
7 foot	10.25			35 foot	30.50	HDMI/HDMI Only
8 foot	11.00			40 foot	34.25
9 foot	12.00			45 foot	35.75	HDMI/HDMI Only
10 foot	12.75			50 foot	37.75

Tartan Cable 28 AWG HDMI Cables:

(Chinese-made, 28 AWG Tinned Copper, our most flexible HDMI)

Length	Price	Connectors	Color	Length	Price	Connectors	Color
1 foot	3.60			7 foot	5.00
2 foot	3.90			8 foot	5.20
3 foot	4.10			9 foot	5.40
4 foot	4.30			10 foot	5.70
5 foot	4.60			12 foot	6.00
6 foot	4.80			15 foot	6.40

Tartan Cable 22 AWG HDMI Cables:

(Chinese-made, 22 AWG Tinned Copper, rather thick and inflexible)

Note: we carry these in HDMI/HDMI only; no HDMI/DVI.

Length	Price	Color	Length	Price	Color
25 foot	38.50		60 foot	78.50
30 foot	45.00		70 foot	87.50
35 foot	50.75		80 foot	96.25
40 foot	56.25		90 foot	104.50
45 foot	62.00		100 foot	112.00
50 foot	68.00