HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Ye' old general discussion board. Basically, for everything that isn't covered elsewhere. Come here to shoot the breeze, shoot your mouth off, or whatever suits your fancy.
This forum is not for asking programming related questions.

Moderator: General Moderators

simonmlewis
DevNet Master
Posts: 4435
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:39 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by simonmlewis »

I am looking for a 5 Metre HDMI cable, and have seen speeds of 5gb, 15.2gb etc.

I'm sure fastest is best, BUT, is fastest pointless? Can anyone who knows a bit about this, tell me what is the best speed to get for gaming. The game I play most is Burnout Paradise, and this will be to connect my laptop via HDMI to a Panasonic 42" Full HD Plasma TV.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003 ... 9NRCT2YEEM
Hope it's ok to post a link to a web site - but this is the cable I am looking at, but don't know if it is "overkill" for my needs.

Many thanks.
Love PHP. Love CSS. Love learning new tricks too.
All the best from the United Kingdom.
User avatar
Christopher
Site Administrator
Posts: 13596
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:54 pm
Location: New York, NY, US

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by Christopher »

It is my understanding that because these signals are digital all the cables are essentially the same "speed". Perhaps someone can correct me, but in articles about these expensive cables that I have read the conclusion is that you should buy the cheapest cable available.
(#10850)
simonmlewis
DevNet Master
Posts: 4435
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:39 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by simonmlewis »

Not if you look at the books and info.
Some are 2gb, some are 10gb, and then really high speed is 15.2gbps.
So if the picture you are sending is high quality, higher speed means the transfer picture is less jittery.
Love PHP. Love CSS. Love learning new tricks too.
All the best from the United Kingdom.
User avatar
social_experiment
DevNet Master
Posts: 2793
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:08 am
Location: .za

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by social_experiment »

http://www.audioholics.com/education/ca ... able-speed
You may have already visited this page but it gives a good explanation; Performance issues from your laptop are more likely to cause display problems
“Don’t worry if it doesn’t work right. If everything did, you’d be out of a job.” - Mosher’s Law of Software Engineering
simonmlewis
DevNet Master
Posts: 4435
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:39 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by simonmlewis »

So basically the different between a 5m HDMI cable at £5.99, and a 5m HDMI "high quality" cable at £15.99 (or £49.99 at retail stores) will produce the same basic quality of color, sound and refresh rates??

This can't be right, otherwise it would be against trading standards.

That said, I have a "high speed" 15.2gbs HDMI that I plugged from Laptop to a 600hz Plasma 42", and running either a game (fast moving) or simple a download BBC iPlayer video, and it's not right.

The game is a little jittery - like the lowest refresh rate of an LCD watching football. And on the video I watched, the voice was not in sync with the video. I tried resetting TV, changing cables etc.
Love PHP. Love CSS. Love learning new tricks too.
All the best from the United Kingdom.
User avatar
Christopher
Site Administrator
Posts: 13596
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:54 pm
Location: New York, NY, US

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by Christopher »

simonmlewis wrote:So basically the different between a 5m HDMI cable at £5.99, and a 5m HDMI "high quality" cable at £15.99 (or £49.99 at retail stores) will produce the same basic quality of color, sound and refresh rates??

This can't be right, otherwise it would be against trading standards.
I think there are basic rating standards for such things, but they may not matter much. With HDMI cables there appear to be only two standards. In reality they may be all the same cables from the same factory, but the higher rated ones have been tested in some way (adding to the cost). But it is quite probable that the lower price cables will work just as well given that the signal is digital.
simonmlewis wrote:That said, I have a "high speed" 15.2gbs HDMI that I plugged from Laptop to a 600hz Plasma 42", and running either a game (fast moving) or simple a download BBC iPlayer video, and it's not right.

The game is a little jittery - like the lowest refresh rate of an LCD watching football. And on the video I watched, the voice was not in sync with the video. I tried resetting TV, changing cables etc.
I don't think the problems you describe have anything to do with the cable. If the digital signal does not work you would get garbage -- not low frame rate or sync problems.
(#10850)
simonmlewis
DevNet Master
Posts: 4435
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:39 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by simonmlewis »

So what would cause it?
Love PHP. Love CSS. Love learning new tricks too.
All the best from the United Kingdom.
simonmlewis
DevNet Master
Posts: 4435
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:39 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by simonmlewis »

Rig?
It's on my laptop and runs perfect on here.
But when the video and audio runs thru the HDMI to a very high quality TV, it's bad. I assume it was the cable at fault, and at some point I will try it with a shorter cheaper cable to see.
Love PHP. Love CSS. Love learning new tricks too.
All the best from the United Kingdom.
User avatar
Christopher
Site Administrator
Posts: 13596
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:54 pm
Location: New York, NY, US

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by Christopher »

My guess from your description is that that your video card or driver can maintain the frame rate when displaying in computer video mode, but when it has to convert the video to HD 720 or 1080 it can't do it fast enough.
(#10850)
simonmlewis
DevNet Master
Posts: 4435
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:39 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by simonmlewis »

Mmmmm ok. I will try it on my smaller TV. Same basic model range, but 24" instead. It is fine on the small TV for iPlayer. Could it be that you cannot use a 5m HDMI for that kind of thing? Is my Video Card powering the TV then??
Love PHP. Love CSS. Love learning new tricks too.
All the best from the United Kingdom.
User avatar
Christopher
Site Administrator
Posts: 13596
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:54 pm
Location: New York, NY, US

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by Christopher »

Yeah, I think it is your video card. And specifically when you computer has to output to the HD port.
(#10850)
simonmlewis
DevNet Master
Posts: 4435
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:39 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by simonmlewis »

Would a difference in length of cable make a difference??
Love PHP. Love CSS. Love learning new tricks too.
All the best from the United Kingdom.
User avatar
Christopher
Site Administrator
Posts: 13596
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:54 pm
Location: New York, NY, US

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by Christopher »

It shouldn't make that much difference for digital cables. Either they work or they don't.
(#10850)
simonmlewis
DevNet Master
Posts: 4435
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:39 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by simonmlewis »

In that case, it's not my video card, because when I plug it via a 2 or 3m cable into another TV, it works fine with iPlayer. Will test today with that same cable/tv with the game too.

One thing to note, is that on my big TV I set W7 to be "connect to projector", whereas on other TV I "extend". But you cannot extend to use the game, as the game just goes full screen and cannot be "dragged across" screens.
Love PHP. Love CSS. Love learning new tricks too.
All the best from the United Kingdom.
User avatar
Weirdan
Moderator
Posts: 5978
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2003 6:13 pm
Location: Odessa, Ukraine

Re: HDMI: what speed do I need for Laptop Gaming?

Post by Weirdan »

Christopher wrote:Either they work or they don't.
Not necessarily. If the protocol used to communicate through the cable supports automatic retransmission of failed/lost data packets high packet loss ratio can cause artefacts, jitter and de-synchronization instead of just failing.
Post Reply