My HDMI Cable has Lag - Finding a New One

[@lezbriddon]

As an old ex electronics engineer a cable causing ''delay'' is simply a function of its length, at the ''almost'' speed of light, so addimg 10m to a 1m cable you will not detect.. Now adding into that equation a wobbly connection, that itself does NOT cause lag it causes DROPOUT in the datastream which the receiving device either has to rebuild from error correction code/parity data which can cause a delay (ok thats by some will be termed lag) OR it will request the data is re-transmitted, this causes retransmission delay. none of the above is really lag. cheap cables do not cause lag, they do not cause poor colour, they do not cause anything they either work or they dont as is the case with all digital signals. analog signal cables are a different beast and quality of manufacture (not resale price) makes a difference with those

[@Rashadmcka]

I love that you often review these sort of “miscellaneous” pieces of gear. Keep up the good work.

[@personalview7388]

None of the cables (except really expensive premium ones, but instead of them you can buy 10 cheap ones ) have working warranty. Terms of warranty assumes you are consumer who plug it few times, any mechanical issues will cancel all warranty. Some big shops with lot of free money, mostly in US, ala Amazon can still replace it. But it is up to them. Not using clamp is not good suggestion as female part is soldered to camera motherboard and replacement will cost a ton. It is now lof of small and affordable clamps that also work without full cage itself.

[@RobSymington]

I hope your socket survived the tests!

[@morrisonAV]

It looked more like the socket has been "rounded out" from use. The cables seemed mostly to be the same.

[@TheOnceAndFutureDoug]

FWIW StarTech is a noteworthy company. They're huge in the PC hardware space (mostly among the IT crowd) and have properly certified cables.

[@vtrphotovideo836]

I used the Sanho HyperThin and love it. It's great for gimbal to side monitor setups because it's so light and flexible it doesn't cause the gimbal to move. 3 years and running with no issues.

[@MarceloTezza]

I was watching at 2.0x speed as i usually do and noticed the funny dance of connectors from 1:46. Hahaha!

[@peternevill4404]

I love these kinds of tests!

[@DaveDugdaleColorado]

Thanks. Funny I got your comment the same time another person said my videos are getting boring.

[@peternevill4404]

Its good practical stuff! Keep it up =)

[@RobertShaverOfAustin]

I can see that this was a quick video and didn't warrant spending lots of time. Still, I can't resist a comment. (Love your channel.) The title "My HDMI Cable has Lag" caught my attention. You said that the cable caused "lag" when connected incorrectly. Then you showed us that it somehow interfered with the operation of some of the camera controls. First, that's not the definition of "lag" I was expecting. Second, what do you mean by "connected incorrectly"? I guess, after watching the remainder of the video you are indicating that the cable is worn enough that, when plugged into the camera, caused the camera controls to act strangely. That is weird. Was the other end of the cable connected or just dangling? I think a better title would be "Worn HDMI Cable Causes Camera Operation Problems" or something like that.

[@RobertShaverOfAustin]

Besides my little comment, the problem may be that the HDMI connector on the camera body is getting loose from wear. It might be a good idea to find a way to clamp a mini-HDMI-to-full-size-HDMI adapter permanently onto the body. Then the constant plugging and unplugging would ware the adapter which can be replaced for cheap compared to sending the body in to Sony. These consumer connectors are just not designed to be on portable equipment.

[@00Skyfox]

Regarding the looseness test, did you consider that the port on the camera may be wearing out?

[@reddotmedia9888]

It looks like it's the camera's port?

[@PHILMMedia]

Sanho cables. Never had an issue & they are super thin.

[@photojournalists]

I wonder a bit of play might actually be a good thing. Acting like a shock absorber and preventing damage to the camera's HDMI port.

[@lezbriddon]

not in the real world... you just get 1mm of extra cable before its ripped out....

[@seankenneyfilms]

I use the Atomos HDMI cable and it works pretty well; I wish it felt more secure, but I think that's just a result of it being micro HDMI.

[@miliofuentes]

May be this is way out of my business, but what about using the HDMI attachment clamp that comes with the camera?, or this model does not have the screw to mount this clamp?

[@DaveDugdaleColorado]

This camera came with a hdmi clamp but I am too lazy to install it each time.

[@thatcherfreeman]

At this point I'm really only interested in cameras that have full sized HDMI ports for the durability (or I guess SDI too but those cameras are a little outside my price range). Hope Sony steps up to the full sized connector with the A7S3.

[@DaveDugdaleColorado]

Boy I would like that too, come on Sony you need to to what Panasonic is doing.

[@Loftikaz]

The lag is part of hdmi design also your camera port gets wear and tear too

[@KOTAKVISUAL]

agree with T-Freeman, Sony should have FULL size HDMI port

[@TheOnceAndFutureDoug]

Yeah 'cause you know what I want? One port taking up 90% of the port space on my camera. There's a USB-C port, they should fully utilize that.

[@KOTAKVISUAL]

@@TheOnceAndFutureDoug USB-C port for display ? maybe that's a good idea

[@KOTAKVISUAL]

@@TheOnceAndFutureDoug but seriously, full sized hdmi = no wiggling, no i/o lag, sony so far behind panasonic right now

[@TheOnceAndFutureDoug]

@@KOTAKVISUAL Cable wiggle tends to have more to do with the quality of the cable, though wiggle isn't inherently an issue for connections. It's mostly just annoying. But USB-C solves all the problems. It's a very stable connector (though only a friction connection) but it can do power, data and high-bandwidth video. You could do a full sensor readout probably in real time.

[@skakdosmer]

Here in the EU there's at least two years warranty on almost anything, because that's simply the law. By the way, aren't you afraid that all that wriggling might damage the socket?

[@DaveDugdaleColorado]

Yes I do worry but since I buy a new camera about every 18 months, I guess I am not worried enough.

[@tvurk]

If the male connector has wear and tear then the female socket must get some wear and tear too, I wonder how long those micro hdmi sockets last when heavily used.

[@lmallard3788]

Camera socket could be worn

[@SatanicJamnic]

Ahhh, those slow electrons in bad cables. They are sooo slow.

[@riotrob]

You should just hot glue in a full-size hdmi adapter. Stop the wear & tear on your camera.

[@Noealz]

Seems these days everyone has a n Atomos :o

[@shanepikelin]

Micro HDMI sucks and never will be anything good. Either full sized HDMI or put mini SDI or full sized SDI. When I used a Sony a7s with a ronin. I use putty and smush it around the HDMI port. It molds to the connector and keep the connection a bit more secure. Less wiggle up down left right like you tested.

[@morrisonAV]

I agree with Shane. The HDMI interface was never designed for the portable uses that cameras subject them to. They were originally intended for the back of your TV where they would get plugged in once and rarely disturbed. Compound that with a mini- or micro- sized variant and it's a recipe for disaster.

[@matthewroddy1]

Thanks, Dave. Your work is always appreciated. No ThumbsDown from me! But... You start off with the premise of, "...Cable has Lag." Now, sure, the comment below mentions what you were seeing can be considered something other than, "lag," but in starting off this video and mentioning how your camera isn't behaving properly, I was hoping to see if the camera is NOW behaving well after the new cable. It's almost a given that the new cable worked, since you didn't circle back around to it, but... um... did the new cable solve the initial problem?

[@DaveDugdaleColorado]

Oh wow, I am sorry I didn't mention that, yes all the new cables solved that issue.

[@matthewroddy1]

@@DaveDugdaleColorado Thanks again, Dave! Always a pleasure seeing new content from you.

[@PIXscotland]

What the world needs is a suitable locking HDMI connector for cameras. Of course that will never happen as it'd be too large and only really suited to lower end professionals who probably make up 50% of these camera buyers. I hate HDMI as it's unreliable and flimsy. Let's not even discuss mini-HDMI. The world needs to stop pushing for smaller connectors and phones and really start looking at use case and reliability.

[@cmdr.shepard]

What you need is SDI.

[@PIXscotland]

@@cmdr.shepard I totally accept that, but for the lower end cameras that's too difficult to interface to. A better HDMI out would be better for most applications.

[@SergiMedina]

Micro-HDMI is as bad as micro-USB, cable-side and camera-side even worse, as it's mostly unfixable! They're too small and flimsy... Also, I purchased an Atomos, and it broke on me the third time I used it. And it broke by the normal, big HDMI side! Cheap plastic, unbelievably.

[@Halyavwikam]

Hi in Uzbekistan

[@SAMSONIKS]

WarranTea