Pixelgen THX Interconnect Ultra High Speed HDMI 2.1b Cable (Short-Range Copper)

Ultra High Speed HDMI® Cable

Short-range Passive Copper

0.5m/1.6ft to 5m/16.4ft

For longer lengths up to 15m/49.2ft, click here for THX Interconnect Long-range Hybrid Optical Fiber/Copper cables. 

FIDELITY. TOTALITY.

THX Interconnect is a best-in-class family of Ultra High Speed HDMI Cables with full HDMI 2.1b functionality that ensures all home theatre components will have the highest resolution at the highest bandwidths. No bells and whistles — just optimal performance for each length.

THX Interconnect cables have been designed in Burlington, Ontario, Canada by PIXELGEN — an engineering and design house specializing in video connectivity and processing products — in collaboration with THX to ensure the highest level of signal integrity from a high-speed, low-speed and DC-power perspective.

These cables didn't just pass the base HDMI ATC testing to earn the Ultra High Speed HDMI® certification label. They have also been validated to stringent THX Certified 8K Interconnect Standards, having completed rigorous testing at THX Labs for the highest level of reliability and interoperability, especially critical in long-reach and in-wall implementation.

Pixelgen has even designed these short-range cables to uphold convenient overall thinness and flexibility while still maintaining standards compliance and system robustness for each length. Quality is assured: every THX Interconnect goes through a final electrical test before making its way to you, validating its functionality with a high-speed signal generator and bit error rate tester. 

Never leave a single HDMI link to chance. Whether striving to master perfect symmetry within a professional rack design or simply connecting to inputs of a receiver or television, THX Interconnect short-range UHS cables guarantee uncompressed 48Gbps signal delivery and total HDMI 2.1b transport functionality. 

KEY FEATURES

• Standards Certification: Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable® certified & validated to THX® Certification 8K Interconnect standards
• Ultra-Thin Design: Flexible, lightweight design with robust strain relief and minimal bend radius under 20mm
• Minimized Cable Diameter: Internal high-speed & eARC differential pairs utilize 30–26AWG conductors to achieve as small as 6mm cable thickness
• High-Speed Differential Back-Twisting: High-speed differential wires grip one another, reducing gaps and preventing detrimental crosstalk effects

BUILT TO THX STANDARDS

• 100% uncompressed high-speed signal delivery validation up to 48Gbps (8K60 12-bit 4:2:0)
• Maximized 8K HDMI equipment compatibility and interoperability
• Stringent fitness-to-application testing, including hot-plugging events, power sequencing, and time-lapsed burn-in testing with pixel error detection
• Real-world live HDMI 2.1b protocol feature-set testing of HDCP 2.3, eARC, HEC, and CEC

TOTAL HDMI 2.1B FUNCTIONALITY AND AT THE HIGHEST 8K BANDWIDTH

Each THX Interconnect cable supports all HDMI 2.1b features, including 8K-10K signal delivery up to 48Gbps, Dynamic HDR (HDR10, HDR10+, HLG & Dolby Vision), enhanced audio return channel (eARC), Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) and HDCP 2.X Compatibility (HDCP 2.3, 2.2 & 1.4).

HDMI ENHANCED GAMING FEATURES

Never let gameplay lag with the all-new gaming-centric enhancements of Quick Media Switching (QMS), Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Quick Frame Transport (QFT).

ENHANCED AUDIO RETURN CHANNEL (eARC)

Send uncompressed/lossless audio codec such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X at 37Mbps upstream from display to AV Receiver or Soundbar over a dedicated and highly controlled channel within. All THX Interconnect lengths up to 15m utilize this feature.

THIN, FLEXIBLE, ROBUST

THX Interconnect cables cross over from 5m (16ft) total-copper construction to the 7.6m (25ft) PXLGLASS optical solution to maintain a thin outer diameter and flexible design, avoiding heavy inconvenient cabling which can cause unnecessary strain on HDMI equipment ports. The light-weight design, thinnest possible diameter and small bend radius at all lengths make installation and management easier and highly effective, and can increase equipment lifespan.

METICULOUSLY CRAFTED

Maximized strain-relief ensures all force is transferred away from critical HDMI signal solder points. IR Soldering creates consistent solder joints for solid wire-to-pad connectivity and to assure minimal “stubs” that can cause signal reflections and errors.

PROFESSIONAL AT EVERY LENGTH

From 0.5 to 15 meters, THX Interconnect cables come in nine-length segments to meet the needs of nearly any home theatre or private cinema. 

PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Ultra High Speed HDMI® Cable Certification

Compliance with the Ultra High Speed HDMI® (UHS HDMI) Cable certification is a requirement for 8K interconnect system infrastructure. It is also a crucial security measure. Without the assurance of HDMI as a technology, there is no guarantee of the cable’s capacity to handle the top speeds necessary for 8K-10K delivery. The presence of the new Ultra High Speed HDMI Certification label on every (genuine) UHS HDMI cable, whether short, long, or in between, provides this much-needed security.

The UHS HDMI cable certification holographic sticker now features a standard scannable QR code, a useful addition by the HDMI organization. It guarantees the cable's trustworthiness in a market filled with counterfeit cables, assuring consistent, sparkle-free 8K-10K signals at the highest 48Gbps speeds within the HDMI 2.1b specification. 

UHS Certification testing focuses on high-level physical layer testing, assuring only HDMI-approved plug/receptacles are integrated and within mechanical HDMI limits. Secondly, HDMI tests the essential electrical parametric characteristics within the cable itself.

Here are such signal characteristics tested in the HDMI ATC (Authorized Test Center) labs: Interpair skew (differential FRL pair-to-pair matching) and Intrapair skew (differential FRL inner-pair or +/- wire-to-wire matching), High-speed FRL Data Eye Diagram (Jitter) testing, Far End Crosstalk (ensuring that signals don’t interact with one another at the end of cable transmission), Insertion loss (cable attenuation), differential impedance testing (how close are the differential pairs to the 100ohm tolerance which ultimately minimizes signal reflections and maintains tight signal coupling), DDC/CEC line capacitance and voltage (to avoid EDID and HDCP handshaking failures) and also DC testing, which includes testing the +5V power consumption and its overall power characteristics (critical to long-reach cables). These tests are crucial for a cable running four 12Gbps differential signals in tandem.

THX Certified Cable standards

THX Certification standards for 8K Interconnect provide an extra layer of confidence. They go beyond base standards, with a focus on exploiting real-world failure events like power sequencing, hot-plugging, and time-lapsed high-bandwidth burn-in testing, to name a few.

Most importantly, THX superbly finds repeatable ways to expose these historical real-life HDMI system failure points. Thus, THX Interconnect cables were tested to complement the HDMI ATC testing program to reassure customers and installers of the interconnects’ reliability and interoperability, especially critical in long-reach and in-wall implementation.

The THX Interconnect family of cables assures 100% uncompressed high-speed signal delivery, enforces real-world live HDMI protocol feature-set validation, and provides the highest standard of in-system 8K-10K interoperability and reliability. Moreover, the THX badge guarantees 100% uncompressed signal transmission, ensuring only uncompressed signal delivery occurs — all bits in and out. Cable interconnect methods that use compression techniques cannot pass the same rigorous pre-release testing process of the THX Interconnect cables (category cabling and IP-based solutions, for example). Although some end-users may not know about these implementations, the THX badge guarantees 100% (uncompressed) fidelity and full HDMI 2.1b protocol functionality. 

Pixelgen's line of cables has gone through this rigorous testing within both HDMI ATC and the THX Labs. This instills confidence in knowing that all cables have undergone an exhaustive sweep of testing at the THX laboratory built for long-term 8K-10K system reliability and adherence to the mandatory Ultra High Speed HDMI® Cable Certification Program. At its core, the THX name adds an essential extra layer of confidence. THX® Interconnect cables are built and validated to these high THX standards surpassing all others. Example THX Interconnect HDMI cables’ validation standards include:

UNCOMPRESSED HIGH-SPEED SIGNAL VALIDATION

Specifically critical for long-reach HDMI extension methods, all THX Interconnects pass through an FRL5/40Gbps pixel error analysis test. Within this high-speed frame match comparative test, THX engineers are screening for invalid pixel values between the source and destination to ensure that only uncompressed signal delivery occurs— all bits in and out. As mentioned, HDMI interconnect methods that use compression techniques cannot pass this test.

LOW-SPEED COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL TESTING

All THX Interconnects (passive & active) are tested through live low-speed HDMI protocol screening. Time-lapsed, low-speed communication protocol tests include eARC (Ensuring proper lossless 37Mbps upstream audio connectivity), CEC (Ensuring proper Consumer Electronics Control operation), and HDCP (Ensuring that all HDCP 1.4/2.2 & 2.3 content protection protocols operate as expected concurrently alongside high-speed signal delivery).

FITNESS-TO-APPLICATION TESTING

THX Interconnect cables have passed through a stringent 'real-world environment’ testing suite using 8K-10K HDMI Source, Display, and Repeater devices. THX executes lab-emulated in-field events such as multiple cable hot- plugging actions, intermittent power drops, power sequencing, and time-lapsed pixel error screening. All in-system HDMI operations must recover adequately following the abovementioned events, which are reflective of real-world scenarios in the field.

INTEROPERABILITY TESTING

All THX Interconnect lengths are put through an exhaustive sweep of interoperability testing using a large matrix of 8K-enabled (and 4K legacy) AV equipment, ensuring maximized interoperability between multiple AV equipment vendors. Additionally, the interoperability tests ensure that the combined equipment's maximum AV format bandwidth capabilities are maintained within the cable to stay within the intended video standard being transmitted. The UHS HDMI link training mechanism is a process whereby transmitted AV formats may unknowingly drop down to lower FRL High-Speed rates. To ensure an AV connection and avoid blank screens. The intent of this built-in HDMI functionality is to ensure that valid data can always be recovered by the IC’s equalizer stage within the display (or repeater) input. The THX validation test monitors and flags this inclusive HDMI link training event, assuring that this mechanism is never triggered at startup and maximizes overall system performance. All lengths and cable types (copper/optical) of the THX Interconnect have been designed and manufactured to ensure this built-in HDMI cable link training event will never occur.

By combining the Ultra High Speed HDMI Certification label with THX Certified 8K Interconnect Standards, THX Interconnect has become the most robust and dependable family of HDMI cables. These key areas of differentiation above will help all levels within the HDMI supply chain and, most importantly, the end-user experience for a superior home theatre or home listening room experience.

DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Cable Diameter: 

• 34AWG (5.2mm) for 0.5m/1.6ft, 1.0m/3.3ft, 1.5m/4.9ft, 2.0m/6.5ft lengths
• 26AWG (8.0mm) for 3.0m/9.8ft length
• 30AWG: 6.7mm) for 5.0m/16.4ft length 

Certification: 

• Ultra High Speed HDMI® Cable Certified (Full HDMI 2.1b functionality) and scannable UHS label
• Validated to THX® Certified 8K Interconnect Standards

Video:

• Up to 8K-10K BT.2020 formats

HDR:

• Dynamic (and Static) HDR10
• HDR10+
• Dolby Vision
• SBTM (Source-Based Tone Mapping)

Audio:

• eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel),
• Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD
• DTS:X, DTS Master

Control Features:

• CEC (Consumer Electronics Control),
• HEC (HDMI Ethernet Channel)

HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection)

• HDCP 2.x
• Backwards compatible HDCP 1.x

Gaming:

• VRR (Variable Refresh Rate)
• ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode)
• QFT (Quick Frame Transport)