With all these digital audio and video capabilities, are HDMI cable lengths really critical?
A. Yes. Actually, the thickness of the internal wires—the cable gauge—matters just like with analog speaker cables. For example, if the HDMI cable’s internal wires are 28 gauge, then you can run up to 16 feet or 5 metres. More robust cables with thicker 24-gauge wires will operate up to 39 or 49 feet (12 to 15 metres). Note that the given figures are for ideal conditions. Many cables will not transmit over these lengths. For very long cable runs, there are alternatives like CAT-5 cables that can extend HDMI to lengths of 300 feet or more. So that’s the really important stuff about HDMI—for now. Yes, there were 11 questions, but HDMI has so many aspects to it that ten facts didn’t seem to quite cover it. I’ll leave comments on some of the other HDMI capabilities covering “Deep Color” and other features for the next article.