HDMI cables: what the version numbers actually mean
An HDMI cable has no version. Every one of them is 19 pins. What differs is the bandwidth the cable is built to carry reliably:
- So-called “HDMI 2.0” cable — rated to 18 Gbps: 4K at 60 Hz, HDR, eARC.
- “HDMI 2.1” cable — rated to 48 Gbps: 4K at 120 Hz, 8K at 60 Hz, VRR/ALLM and full eARC.
If you play high-frame-rate games, or expect to move to an 8K display, specify cable that reaches the higher bandwidth. Otherwise a quality 18 Gbps cable is sufficient.
Does a thicker cable give a better picture?
Not necessarily. Expensive thick cables are thick because of shielding, which does reduce interference, and that is worth having. But plenty of cheap thick cables are simply a thick jacket over poor conductors — heavy, stiff, and actively harmful: hanging under gravity they can lever the socket off the board, and a bad contact can damage every device on the chain.
Note this applies to copper. A fibre-optic HDMI cable needs no such shielding because light is immune to electromagnetic interference, so modern fibre cables are thin and flexible — around 4.5 mm — and carry the signal well. For a cable pulled through conduit during renovation, that flexibility matters more than copper gauge.
What to decide before the walls close
- Conduit diameter matters more than the cable — a cable you cannot pull through later is a cable you will never upgrade.
- Fibre for long runs in conduit — thin, flexible, immune to interference; but note fibre is directional, so it must be pulled the right way round.
- Leave a draw wire in every conduit, always.
- Run spare capacity — the cost of an extra conduit at build stage is trivial against opening the wall later.
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