Premium DisplayPort 2.1 & HDMI 2.1 cables

[Dr. Dro]

I have just upgraded my DP cable coming in my LG UD58-B 4K monitor box with the ultra-high quality Ugreen 16K DP 2.1 cable for 20 bucks, and you know what - the image is now crystal clear, very colourful, vibrant. With the previous cable, it wasn't the case - much worse image quality, kind of graining, and images resembling analogue signal with worsened strength and quality.
Obviously, that old cable was a bottleneck with its low bandwidth.

1. I don't believe you. This is where practicality and technicality clash: people on Blur Busters are extreme enthusiasts and while they can be and usually are right on many occasions, this is akin to comparing an uncompressed waveform or properly encoded FLAC to a 512 kbps HE-AAC v2 audio stream, good luck telling them apart even if you have the sound equipment for it. DSC or native has little bearing if your panel isn't up to snuff, and news flash, unless it's OLED, it ain't!
2. The cable itself has no bearing on the settings you are using. If you used settings the went beyond your cable's capabilities, you would get scrambled graphics as this is a digital bitstream.
3. 4K/120 at 10 bpc is entirely possible with an HDMI 2.1 48Gbps connection without compression or subsampling. This setting has more colors than practically any high-end OLED can reproduce today, including the likes of the LG G or Z series OLEDs and the Samsung S95 series.

 

[ARF]

Lower grade cables can't transmit the full Hz speed. You need premium, certified cables to run high quality with high framerate pictures.

 

[Frick]

Lower grade cables can't transmit the full Hz speed. You need premium, certified cables to run high quality with high framerate pictures.

You said the image became more colorful and vibrant, nothing about frame rates. It'd be interesting to see before and after pictures.

 

[R-T-B]

Lower grade cables can't transmit the full Hz speed. You need premium, certified cables to run high quality with high framerate pictures.

If they are cert'd they can absolutely transmit what they are cert'd up to and probably a bit more.

 

[ARF]

You said the image became more colorful and vibrant, nothing about frame rates.

The framerates are quite different after I changed my TV HDMI cable, and on the PC with the new DP 2.1 16K cable that makes the monitor images crystal clear, the full 10-bit colour and 60 Hz. Very discernable, very smooth YouTube 4K videos playback.

It'd be interesting to see before and after pictures.

Everyone can test this for themselves. You only need two PCs or two TVs with different cables.
Maybe I will try to make some side-by-side video comparisons to showcase this.

 

[R-T-B]

the full 10-bit colour

I really doubt the youtube vids you are watching are even encoded with 10bit color...

 

[Dr. Dro]

I really doubt the youtube vids you are watching are even encoded with 10bit color...

10-bit 4:4:4 is incredibly bandwidth intensive. YouTube isn't streaming ProRes RAW here, even their AV1 should be 8-bit 4:2:0 with a focus on bandwidth conservation first and a small improvement in image quality second

 

[Athlonite]

Premium cables are mostly snake oil as it's a digital signal it either is or isn't going to work
The only time you should pay a little more is if your going more than 5 meters otherwise pointless
as for DP2.1 well there aren't really any GPU's out there with more than DP2.0 ports on right now and there isn't alot of monitors that have DP2.0 on them either unless your buying large expensive 4K 120Hz+ oled monitors

 

[Onasi]

as for DP2.1 well there aren't really any GPU's out there with more than DP2.0 ports on right now

There are, technically. The current Pro Radeon lineup has UHBR 13.5 DP 2.1.

Premium cables are mostly snake oil as it's a digital signal it either is or isn't going to work

Welcome to the thread, enjoy your stay. This has been reiterated to @ARF dozens of times and he still insists on a visible difference. We are in Head-Fi levels of denial by now.

 

[ARF]

Premium cables are mostly snake oil as it's a digital signal it either is or isn't going to work

Wrong. You won't pass an exam if you write this there.
Different cables have different available throughput. You don't say that 1 Mbit internet connection is going to work in the same way as 1000 Mbit internet connection.

 

[Frick]

I think people are using words differently. ARF said he bought a ultra-high quality cable for $20, that's hardly audiophile-gold-plated-power-cord levels.

 

[Onasi]

@Frick
No, I am fairly sure everyone understands the topic quite nicely. What people take umbrage with is this part:

The pictures are much better. A premium cable gives you images which you can't see with a cheapo cable that comes with your monitor.

That is simply not how digital video signal works. Full stop. A bad cable will either flat out not work, or will give you MAJOR artifacting that would be impossible to not notice. If the cable is working, but lacks bandwidth due to older DP/HDMI version of spec, you will simply not get res-refresh combos that require more. Between two properly working cables, however, there will not be any difference in terms of output.

 

[Frick]

@Frick
No, I am fairly sure everyone understands the topic quite nicely. What people take umbrage with is this part:

That is simply not how digital video signal works. Full stop. A bad cable will either flat out not work, or will give you MAJOR artifacting that would be impossible to not notice. If the cable is working, but lacks bandwidth due to older DP/HDMI version of spec, you will simply not get res-refresh combos that require more. Between two properly working cables, however, there will not be any difference in terms of output.

Oh yeah that is a ... thing to say for sure (I still want to see the video @ARF), but buying a DP cable for $20 isn't weird. Saying a $20 cable makes the image better requires proof though, had he said he bought it for $200 I wouldn't have blinked and just assumed he's a jutnob, but $20 is a strange amount to be arguing about.

 

[Onasi]

@Frick
Nah, it was even said repeatedly that grabbing a good quality cable to have as a known variable is a good practice and nothing to frown at. There are plenty of vendors making those that can be obtained for reasonable money and there is no issue with that, nobody argued otherwise, if you go back through the thread. It’s just that the claims of improved visual quality and statements showing complete misunderstanding of how digital signaling works just kept on coming and he repeatedly doubled down on that, so… here we are.

 

[ARF]

how digital signaling works

How does it work?
Learn about video bitrate.

What is video bitrate, and why does it matter?

Answer (1 of 3): Every video retains some data; a pro-quality video includes a decent amount of data, whereas a video with lower quality has less data. Regardless of the amount, video bitrate is the quantity of data transferred from your device to the internet in a given time. > Technically, vi...

www.quora.com

 

[Dr. Dro]

How does it work?
Learn about video bitrate.

What is video bitrate, and why does it matter?

Answer (1 of 3): Every video retains some data; a pro-quality video includes a decent amount of data, whereas a video with lower quality has less data. Regardless of the amount, video bitrate is the quantity of data transferred from your device to the internet in a given time. > Technically, vi...

www.quora.com

OK you've proven you know how to use Google, now learn what codecs and chroma subsampling are, then come back here for stage 2

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Okay, I'm curious what your goal of OP is.
Are you in the cable business?

 

[Onasi]

@TumbleGeorge
He is in the Dunning-Kruger business.

@ARF
Are you now claiming that cables impact bitrate of videos? That’s a bold strategy, let’s see where you’re going with this.
Come on, dude. Weren’t you schooled enough on your lack of knowledge in the Zen 5 thread? And the fan thread? And multiple display threads? You understand that if A LOT of people tell you you are wrong that maybe, perhaps, by some eldritch chance - you are?

 

[Laurijan]

There is so much scam and crap on the HMDI cable market that I only get myself HDMI premium certified cables. These are lab testet that they hold up to specs (example HMDI 2.1). There is a QR code on the package to verify the certificate online.

 

[R-T-B]

There is so much scam and crap on the HMDI cable market that I only get myself HDMI premium certified cables. These are lab testet that they hold up to specs (example HMDI 2.1). There is a QR code on the package to verify the certificate online.

And that's fine. But all you need is certified hdmi 2.1 like you said, no need to break the bank beyond that is all.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Club 3D | Ultra High Speed HDMI 4K120Hz, 8K60Hz Certified Cable 48Gbps M/M 2 m / 6.56 ft

The Club 3D CAC-1372 Ultra High Speed HDMI™2.1 Certified Cable is built to handle the highest quality video- and audio- signals. HDMI™2.1 Increased Bandwidth to 48Gbps. The increase in maximum bandwidth compared to previous versions is achieved by increasing both the bitrate of the data...

www.club-3d.com

I use this with my G3 and 4080. It's as good as it gets for a cable, not obnoxiously expensive, certified.

 

[Laurijan]

And that's fine. But all you need is certified hdmi 2.1 like you said, no need to break the bank beyond that is all.

yeah they dont cost very much usually. also alot less than some scam cables.

 

[Athlonite]

Wrong. You won't pass an exam if you write this there.
Different cables have different available throughput. You don't say that 1 Mbit internet connection is going to work in the same way as 1000 Mbit internet connection.

And I stick by my point most so called high end cables those asking for 50+ bucks are nothing more than snake oil 20 bucks for a cable is not what I call high end that's just normal pricing for a cable you expect to atleast work.

As for you analogy about 1Mb internet not working the same as 1000Mb I'm afraid you are wrong as it will work the same it may take a little longer to load a page but it will eventually load the page will you be streaming 4K video on it no not at all can you stream video on it yes you can and the same thing with monitor cables it's a digital signal can you run your monitor with it yes you can will it do 4K 120Hz+ maybe not but it will still run nonetheless unless it's a totally shitty cable and half the signal is not getting through then it won't run.

 

[AusWolf]

I need a vote option for "I only use premium cables as and when the situation requires it, e.g. high resolution, high distance between devices, etc.".

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Tbh I just use the DP cable that came with my Dell 34" UW monitor, it works ok at the required Res/refresh but after reading through this thread, I think maybe I need to buy a £20 cable to replace it with. /s

I always remember, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.