Just when you thought it was safe to go out and buy an HDMI cable, now you have to consider an interesting new concept; flat hdmi cable. What the heck were the manufacturers thinking when they came up with that idea? I thought all cables were supposed to be round.
Using flat HDMI has some advantages, but in my opinion these advantages have nothing to do with the quality of the video. I have used flat and round HDMI cables in many installations and compared them side by side. I have never seen a difference in image quality. I have asked other installers I work with to also compare plan to round and they agree with my comparison. Visually we cannot see any difference in image quality between the two cables.
Of course, home theater fans will disagree with me and will say that a flat HDMI cable will give you better video quality. There is a theory that a round HDMI cable has internal cables that wrap around each other, where the flat cable separates each internal cable across the width of the cable. This is supposed to eliminate the “crosstalk” (interference) that you may experience in round cable. Flat HDMI can eliminate this “crosstalk,” but it doesn’t make much of a difference in image quality visually.
The biggest advantage of using a flat HDMI cable is convenience. It is easier to work with and I use it when my facilities do not give me much space to move.
Here are some advantages of using a flat HDMI cable:
- It bends easier. A round HDMI cable is thicker and cannot be bent as easily as a flat one. This facilitates installation on / along the walls.
- It’s easier to hide behind a hung HDTV. A round HDMI cannot be wrapped as tightly as a flat one and will tend to stick out behind the TV.
- You can hide it behind a plinth better. It sits flat against the wall and this allows you to fit the skirting board flush with no gaps.
- Running it under the rug is easier. Just make sure you don’t put it under the carpet in a high traffic area. This is something that installers are doing these days as the cord doesn’t cause lumps in your carpet.
- It can be painted easier than a round can. This is a huge advantage if you decide to run your HDMI flat along the top of your sockets and paint it to blend in with the wall.
So the flat HDMI cable will work just as well as the round one (maybe even better if you believe in the “crosstalk” theory), and as long as you are certified by the HDMI committee, you should consider buying the flat HDMI cable. for convenience, not for video quality.
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