HDMI Licensing Announces Certification Program for High-Speed Cables in 4K Applications

HDMI Licensing announced a 4K Ultra HD cable certification program Monday. The Premium HDMI Cable Certification Program is designed to ensure that consumers who buy the labeled cables enjoy the full potential of the 4K Ultra HD experience, said HDMI Licensing. The program encompasses cable testing and an anti-counterfeiting label program. Participating HDMI adopters will be able to design and test their high-speed HDMI cables for reliability and performance in 4K applications, said the organization. The program includes a best-practices design note and an expanded set of cable testing requirements, it said. Participants will test cables at an HDMI authorized testing center to certify that their HDMI cables can reliably support the full 18 Gbps bandwidth of the HDMI 2.0 specification, which is what is “typically needed for the most advanced video formats” such as 4K Ultra HD, wide color gamut and high dynamic range, said HDMI Licensing. The program also incorporates new testing guidelines for EMI (electromechanical interference) levels to minimize unwanted interference with wireless signals, it said. Once cables have passed testing and been registered, companies can brand and promote their cables as Premium High Speed HDMI Cables or Premium High Speed HDMI Cables with ethernet, said the licensing group. Certified cables will carry a tamper-proof, anti-counterfeit label to differentiate them from other HDMI cables, it said. A mobile app that scans the label will allow manufacturers, distributors, retailers and consumers to confirm the authenticity of Premium High Speed HDMI Cables, it said.