Wednesday, August 30th 2023
THX Ltd. Announces New THX Interconnect Cables to Elevate Home Theater Entertainment
THX Ltd., a world-class high-fidelity audio and video tuning, certification, and technology company, today announced it is launching THX Interconnect, designed in partnership with Pixelgen. THX Interconnect are a family of Ultra High Speed HDMI 2.1 cables capable of delivering 100% uncompressed 48 Gbps signaling to optimize the fidelity and reliability of nearly any sized or configured home theater system. THX is also relaunching its popular home theater installer THX Certified Training series. Both will be highlighted in early September in Denver, Colorado at the CEDIA Expo.
"The THX mission is to empower high-fidelity entertainment, regardless of where and how consumers want to enjoy movies, music and games," said Jason Fiber, chief executive officer, THX Ltd. "The THX Interconnect cables ensure all home theater components work in harmony at the highest resolutions, regardless of the length. We are pleased to bring home theater enthusiasts around the globe this cost-effective and incredibly reliable new solution. We also look forward to reintroducing the THX Certified Training program which has been dormant for a few years but is back due to overwhelming demand from the home theater installation industry."
THX Interconnect cables are ideal for everyone who enjoys movies, music, gaming, sporting events, and streaming content at home over their TV, projector, or personal computer display. The cables come in nine lengths to meet the needs of nearly any setup, home theater, or private cinema. Utilizing Pixelgen's PXLGLASS Hybrid Fiber/Copper technology, the THX Interconnect cables maintain the smallest cable diameter possible regardless of length when crossing over from copper to long-reach optical fiber requirements, making installation and management easy and effective.
"The weakest home theater cabling link has the potential to bring down an entire system, and the end users viewing experience with it," said Jack MacDougall, founder, and chief executive officer, Pixelgen. "THX Interconnect cables have been tailored to give everyone optimal system stability, total HDMI 2.1 functionality, and the maximum 48G bandwidth passing through their system."
THX Interconnect Ultra High Speed HDMI cables support the maximum 8-10K resolutions at 60 frames per second, and include:
Source:
THX
"The THX mission is to empower high-fidelity entertainment, regardless of where and how consumers want to enjoy movies, music and games," said Jason Fiber, chief executive officer, THX Ltd. "The THX Interconnect cables ensure all home theater components work in harmony at the highest resolutions, regardless of the length. We are pleased to bring home theater enthusiasts around the globe this cost-effective and incredibly reliable new solution. We also look forward to reintroducing the THX Certified Training program which has been dormant for a few years but is back due to overwhelming demand from the home theater installation industry."
"The weakest home theater cabling link has the potential to bring down an entire system, and the end users viewing experience with it," said Jack MacDougall, founder, and chief executive officer, Pixelgen. "THX Interconnect cables have been tailored to give everyone optimal system stability, total HDMI 2.1 functionality, and the maximum 48G bandwidth passing through their system."
THX Interconnect Ultra High Speed HDMI cables support the maximum 8-10K resolutions at 60 frames per second, and include:
- THX Interconnect (Copper) short-range cable for six sizes: 0.5 m (1.64 ft), 1 m (3.28 ft), 1.5 m (4.92 ft), 2 m (6.56 ft), 3 m (9.84 ft), 5 m (16.4 ft); and
- THX Interconnect (Copper + Optical Fiber with embedded PXLGLASS Technology) long-range cable for three sizes: 7.6 m (24.9 ft), 10 m (32.8 ft), 15 m (49.2 ft).
- 100% uncompressed high-speed signal delivery up to 8K60 48 Gbps.
- Total HDMI 2.1b Protocol Functionality including Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), Consumer Electronics Control (CEC), Dynamic HDR (High Dynamic Range), HDCP (High bandwidth Digital Content Protection) 2.X as well as all new gaming-centric features, VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), QMS (Quick Media Switching), ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), and QFT (Quick Frame Transport).
- Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable Certification (HDMI 2.1b Category 3 for Optical lengths) with scannable official UHD label affixed to packaging.
- Internally validated to THX Certified 8K Interconnect Standards; maximized 8K HDMI equipment interoperability, in-system reliability, stringent fitness-to-application testing, hot-plugging, power sequencing and time-lapsed pixel error testing.
- Smallest cable diameter possible, ensuring minimal bend radius and encouraging maximum flexibility without compromising reliable signal delivery.
73 Comments on THX Ltd. Announces New THX Interconnect Cables to Elevate Home Theater Entertainment
I replaced them with $20 2.1 cables from UGREEN and I've had no issues for a few years now. Hopefully they'll be fine if I ever upgrade my TV and receiver.
I expect there are cheap 2.1 cables that actually have problems with 4K120 or 8K.
Strange times.
Monoprice used to be my go to, but too many people have reported issues w/ their DP and HDMI cables; more than 2 'tech'toobers have confirmed samples of Monoprice's cables not meeting spec, aswell.
I'll still buy from Monoprice (just got a glass monitor stand from 'em), just not their high-speed serial-link cables (that includes USB3.xGenx and Type-C).
There are certainly better options on the market now though. This was during early hdmi 2.1 cert process + pandemic so honestly, the fact it was in stock, certified and wasn't 5 MILLION DOLLARS was almost a reason to buy it.
Yeah, it makes a difference on analog RCA. But nearly everything else? Nope.
That's my dream.Thankyou for the brand name. From my research so far, optical HDMI cables are plentiful, and work well. But DP cables not. Probably because the different signal. And i need DP cables the most, or i will have to start looking at mini-DP to HDMI converters.
One thing i can't understand is most GPU's have multiple DP outputs, and maybe one HDMI output, while most monitors have multiple HDMI inputs, but usually only one DP input.
My new screens have one DP input, plus altmode USB-C. I just ordered a "DeLock DisplayPort Adapter for a USB Type-C Monitor 4K 60 Hz"
Hope it works.
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So I have been looking at the newer DisplayPort 2.1 @ 80Gbps, turns out its all just bandwidth reduction (bit like compression).
The encoding has changed to 128b/132b, allowing up to 80Gbps (77.37Gbps), and no cable upgrades.
If this is the case, and we had 80Gbps optical (raw), encoding will do the same, so one cable for life @ 100 years life span.
If I took an audio PCM @ 37mbps file and compressed (encoded) it to FLAC @ 8mbps, the bandwidth required has changed.
If I compared sending a RAW video file, and an encoded 128b/132b file (not decoded), the end file size will be different.
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Intel High Definition Audio - Wikipedia (HDA, HDAUDIO) | @eldon_magi, you might find this interesting.
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SPDIF_Tx v1.20 | Infineon (15* Channel SPDIF Transmitter) ||CS42528 | Cirrus Logic (8 Channel 192k SPDIF Receiver).
* Also has 'Don't care' mode (0), which I presume means any number of channels (16+).
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DP2.1 also increased the signal frequencies by a lot (can't find the number but ballpark about double the frequency) and new and better cables are definitely needed.
You technically could call compressing encoding something in a different more efficiant way but your comparison is incorrect because if you're sending the video encoded in 128b/132b vs sending a raw 1:1 bit stream you'd be increasing your bandwidth requirement because you're transmitting an extra 4 bits vs the raw bit stream.
All compression requires encoding data in a different way, but not all encoding is compressing data ;)
Also, if the cables where 3x 40Gbps, 120Gbps, why cant we do 80Gbps with the older encoding? Or can we?
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PAM4 Modulation & PAM4 vs NRZ | PAM-4 Signaling| Understanding NRZ and PAM4 Signaling
If you can find a unicorn $1/m cable that works flawlessly with 4K HDR then I want one too. So far I have had to spend a little more per meter than that, iirc the previous cable I had to upgrade for somebody was ~$10 for a 3m cable. So those prices are approaching old Monster Cable snake oil(tm) territory. And how long until we see fake THX logos on cables? Any on Amazon by now?What fact would that be? That you are factually wrong? All Razer got is this piece of software.
www.businessinsider.com/razer-buys-thx-george-lucas-gaming-2016-10While you're at it, you can also send an email to Razer themselves who are apparently convinced they bought THX in 2016.
press.razer.com/company-news/razer-acquires-thx/Thankfully there are specialists on the internet who know more than official press releases.
While you're at it, perhaps you could change the wikipedia page as well.
Older cables were able to do X bandwidth, 32gbps on the old DP1.4 (which was already problematic) and now cables need to be built slightly better to do a bit more (40gpbs) or much better to do a lot more (80gbps). For some lenghts this is just not feasable so we jump to optical.
The cables were't 3x40gbps, Display ports uses 4 lanes, in the past each carrying 8.1gbps (x4 = 32.4 gbps) and now jumping to 10/13/20 gbps (x4 = 40/60/80 gpbs)
@trsttte, Agreed I should have put a 4x X Gbps in my example, what I meant was the physical bandwidth of the copper. What has changed with the newer cables, higher gauge?
100% copper and oxygen free wont change, so I am trying to workout how the bandwidth has essentially more than doubled.
And also, wouldn't it be the case of more copper = more antenna effect (EMI), one lane would surely pickup less EMI than 4 in a row, same for gauge?
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So with my optical internet I get 5ms ping UK to China (there and back in 5ms). According to Google, the distance is 4833.76 miles.
Lets makes that 4800 and x2 (there and back again, by Bilbo Baggins). 5 / 9600 = 0.00052083333ms, a mile.
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@trsttte, you have been very helpful, so thanks for that.
Second image below, I put out a bi-directional optical system for HDMI-DP. Single specific lanes of single fiber, a multi-fiber cable.
The video lane could start at 100 Gbps (NRZ), and later move to 200Gbps (other encoding, example PAM4).
The audio and data lane can-will also have their own bandwidth, 125Mbps audio 10Gbps data.
This would require a new version, due to the built in optical transmitters-receivers (not in the cable or connector).
This is all on paper, and semi-randomly generated numbers, of coarse. Blanking periods for audio-other are not required.
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Optional read (Audio): www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/dmas-design-spdif-optical.307991/
Technically speaking, a GPU can already support 125Mbps TOSLink @ current consumer standard.
This includes the module which the cable plugs into, but for some reason they don't.
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