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If you have ever enjoyed a movie or video game with dazzling graphics and sounds, chances are you were reaping the advantages of an HDMI cable and connector. Video game consoles, Blu-ray players, and cable boxes&#;each of these devices have developed with HDMI outlets, so HDMI cords can transmit visuals and audio to your TV screen or gaming monitor. Though HMDI cables are extremely popular these days, their variety of functionalities, types, and different setups can make things a little confusing for the average person. If not paired with the right devices or cable management processes, your HDMI cable&#;s performance may falter. CableWholesale looks at everything you need to properly set up your HDMI connectors to prevent poor HDMI performance from happening.

What Is HDMI?

If you have ever enjoyed a movie or video game with dazzling graphics and sounds, chances are you were reaping the advantages of an HDMI cable and connector. Video game consoles, Blu-ray players, and cable boxes&#;each of these devices have developed with HDMI outlets, so HDMI cords can transmit visuals and audio to your TV screen or gaming monitor. Though HMDI cables are extremely popular these days, their variety of functionalities, types, and different setups can make things a little confusing for the average person. If not paired with the right devices or cable management processes, your HDMI cable&#;s performance may falter. CableWholesale looks at everything you need to properly set up your HDMI connectors to prevent poor HDMI performance from happening.

HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface. HMDI connectors are the modern middleman for establishing a connection between audio-visual devices.

Simply put, it&#;s responsible for getting audio and video to your television, projector, or speaker system. Different HDMI cords offer different functionalities, such as Ethernet or especially high-grade video and audio transmission. For the most part, people use only one type of HDMI cable and connector&#;more on that later.

What Do HDMI Cables and Connectors Look Like?

Separating and categorizing your home or office&#;s cables can be a hassle. CableWholesale describes the appearance of both HDMI cables and HDMI cords, so you don&#;t have to waste time rummaging through a bundle of wires.

What an HDMI Cable Looks Like

The HDMI cable used to transmit data from one device to another will look different than most cables because of its chunkier end with the connector component that goes into your monitor or speaker system. This part of the cable is often rectangular, dense, and holds the connector in place. Most HDMI cables are black, but you can always color-code them with a little electrical tape.

What an HDMI Connector Looks Like

The connector is typically what sets the HDMI cable apart from the rest. They&#;re unique from a USB connector, as the outlet on your television or other audio-visual device is shaped like a trapezoid. This means that you can only plug the cord in one way for it to fit, nixing the indecisiveness of whether you have your cable plugged in correctly.

You&#;ll find that most HDMI connectors are silver, though there are the occasional gold-plated HMDI connectors that stand out. Gold plated or not, your HDMI connector will work just as well. The base of an HDMI connector, or the bulky part that supports both connector and cable, is usually black in color.

On the market, there are straight and right-angled cables. Straight HDMI cords are very popular, though right-angled are favorable for hard-to-reach spots. If you already have a straight connector, but would enjoy the benefits of a right-angled connector, you can always utilize an HDMI cord adapter to achieve the same thing.

Different Features of HDMI That Users Love

Here are a few advantageous features of HDMI that users appreciate.

Transition-Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS)

With ordinary cables, log distances tend to interfere with data transmission, meaning inconvenient signal loss and disruptive noise. TMDS safeguard HDMI from these hindrances as it transmits audio and video data from one device to the next.

High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP)

With HDCP and Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) chips on connectors and ports, HDMI devices can authenticate the credentials of both devices that are receiving and sending information. Once legitimacy is verified, data is transmitted in a process that&#;s known as a &#;handshake&#; in the IT world. This protective measure shields whatever your HDMI is transmitting from interception.

Display Data Channel (DDC)

HDMI build enables VESA DDC support, which is essential to your devices projecting the data in an optimal fashion. The VESA DDC is a set of protocols that enable HDMIs to adjust monitor settings after inquiring about the audio and video formats it can process. This information swap between source and display is known as Extended Display Information Data, transmitted by the Display Data Channel.

Consumer Electronic Control (CEC)

Many modern streaming devices support CEC, which allows users to navigate up to 15 HDMI devices connected to one TV with a single remote.

Chroma Subsampling

A form of video data compression, chroma subsampling minimizes color data during transmission to reduce the odds of a hindrance to image quality.

Different Formats That an HDMI Cord Can Support

Various Audio Formats

HDMI devices support at least the minimum standard of uncompressed stereo LPCM audio. HDMI supports common audio formats for television, movies, and music, including the following:

HDMI 1.0-1.1 Video Formats

• 720p at 25/30/50/60 Hz
• p at 25/30/50/60 Hz

HDMI 1.2-1.2a Video Formats

• 720p at 100/120 Hz
• p at 25/30 Hz

HDMI 2.0-2.0b Video Formats

• p at 240 Hz
• p at 100/120 Hz
• 4K at 50/60 Hz
• 5K at 25/30 Hz

HDMI 2.1 Video Formats

• p at 240 Hz
• 4K at 100/120 Hz
• 5K at 50/60/100/120 Hz
• 8K at 50/60/100/120 Hz
• 10K at 50/60/100/120 Hz

Are There Different Kinds of HDMI Connectors?

Yes, there are five different types of connectors. Though only one type is typically used, the other HDMI connector types are worth a mention in our guide to everything you need to properly set up your HDMI connectors, as we want to ensure you&#;re not purchasing the wrong one.

Type A Connector

The standard HDMI connector, type A is often used for entertainment systems such as DVD and Blu-Ray players. This type of HDMI connector has 19 pins, is 13.9 mm x 4.45 mm, and compatible with single-link DVI-D.

Type B Connector

B connectors are physically smaller than type A and offer dual-link connections.However, type B connectors are now obsolete because their transmission speed is overshadowed by type A.Testing to see what works with this.

Type C Connectors

C HDMI connectors are mini connectors designed for connection with portable devices. They still have 19 pins but are 10.42 mm x 2.42 mm in size.

Type D Connectors

This type of connector is considered a micro connector and dons a size of 5.83 mm x 2.2 mm.

Type E Connectors

E connectors are known as automotive connection systems. They secure cables in place with locking tabs and have an adapter for connection with other HDMI connectors.

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HDMI Connector Pinout: pin connections

HDMI connectors have19 pins although the pin configurations of pinouts are different for the different HDMI connector types: A, C, D, & E

HDMI Technology Includes:
HDMI - the basics     HDMI versions     HDMI connectors     Pinout / pin connections     HDMI cables     USB C to HDMI     HDMI & DVI     HDMI switch, splitter & matrix - the differences     HDMI extenders     HDMI repeaters     Essential HDMI products    

The HDMI system has five connector types that are defined for the system: HDMI Type A, C, D & E. Type B, although defined has not been used and therefore it is not described here.

Once defined, the pinout or pin configuration for each HDMI connector type has remained the same, meaning that there are no backwards compatibility issues.

Despite this the different HDMI connector types have different pin configurations which means that care needs to be taken when designing equipment or making cables to make sure that the right pin numbers are used for the different signals.

Fortunately as the different HDMI connector types cannot mate with connectors of a different type, there is no issue with cross connecting them and having signals on the wrong lines.

HDMI type A connector showing the 19 pin format

The main HDMI connector types include the Type A which is used for most TVs, Type C which is a mini format, a Type D which is a micro format and the Type E which is used for automotive applications and has a retainer and dirt protection.

HDMI Type A connector pinout

The Type A HDMI connector is the most widely used. It is the one that is present on most TV sets, recorders, set top boxes and the like. It is the connector that most people associate with HDMI.

The HDMI type A male connector measures 13.9mm × 4.45mm, while the female sockets are fractionally larger because they need to accommodate the male and they measure 14mm × 4.55mm.

Often the backshell for the HDMI type A connector seems to be relatively large for the connector size - this is because of the large number of pin connections required.

The type A connector pinout can be seen to consist of two rows of pins with numbering alternating down the length of the connector so that pins 1 and 2 are at one end and 18 and 19 at the other.

HDMI Connector Pinout Pin connections for Type A HDMI connector
  HDMI Pin Number Signal 1 TMDS Date 2+ 2 TMDS Data 2 shield 3 TMDS Data 2- 4 TMDS Data 1+ 5 TMDS Data 1 shield 6 TMDS Data 1- 7 TMDS Data 0+ 8 TMDS Data 0 shield 9 TMDS Data 0- 10 TMDS Clock+ 11 TMDS Clock shield 12 TMDS Clock- 13 CEC 14 HEC Data- 15 SCL (Serial Clock for DDC 16 SDA (Serial Data Line for DDC 17 DDC / CEC / HEC Ground 18 +5 V Power (50 mA max) 19 Hot Plug Detect (1.3) / HEC Data+ (1.4)

Although not all the lines may be used in every applications, all cables incorporate all the lines so that they can be used for any application.

Mini HDMI Type C connector pinout

The mini-HDMI connector is not as common as the Type A, but it is often found on items like camcorders, DSLRs and other forms of photographic equipment. Here size is more of an issue and there would not be space for the full type A connector.

HDMI Type C mini plugs measure 10.42mm × 2.42mm - this makes them significantly smaller than the Type A.

The Type C mini-HDMI pinout is quite similar to that of the standard HDMI or Type A. The differences are that all positive signals of the differential pairs are swapped with their corresponding shield, the DDC/CEC Ground is assigned to pin 13 instead of pin 17, the CEC is assigned to pin 14 instead of pin 13, and the reserved pin is 17 instead of pin 14.

A complete pinout for the mini-HDMI is given in the table below.

Pin connections for Type C or mini-HDMI connector
  HDMI Pin Number Signal 1 TMDS Data2 Shield 2 TMDS Data2+  3 TMDS Data2- 4 TMDS Data1 Shield 5 TMDS Data1+ 6 TMDS Data1- 7 TMDS Data0 Shield 8 TMDS Data0+ 9 TMDS Data0- 10 TMDS Clock Shield 11 TMDS Clock+ 12 TMDS Clock- 13 DDC/CEC Ground 14 CEC 15 SCL (DDC lock) 16 SDA (DDC data) 17 HEC+ 18 +5 V Power (power EDID/DDC) 19 Hot Plug Detect/HEC- - Shell (Ground)

Pinout for micro-HDMI connector

The micro-HDMI connector is not seen as widely as the Type A or C versions. Nevertheless it is intended for audio visual applications on much smaller electronic devices like smartphones and other similar devices that might need full HDMI capability.

The micro-HDMI is obviously much smaller than the Type A standard HDMI connector, or the Type C mini-HDMI, but it keeps keeps the same number of 19 pins in common with types A and C.

Pin connections for Type D or micro-HDMI connector
  HDMI Pin Number Signal 1 Hot Plug Detect/HEAC- 2 Utility/HEAC+ (NC on device) 3 TMDS Data2+ 4 TMDS Data2 Shield 5 TMDS Data2- 6 TMDS Data1+ 7 TMDS Data1 Shield 8 TMDS Data1- 9 TMDS Data0+ 10 TMDS Data0 Shield 11 TMDS Data0- 12 TMDS Clock+ 13 TMDS Clock Shield 14 TMDS Clock- 15 CEC (Control) 16 DDC/CEC/HEAC Ground 17 SCL (DDC clock) 18 SDA (DDC data) 19 +5 V Power (power EDID/DDC)

** description on the pin is shown within brackets.

The pinout or pin configuration for the different HDMI connectors is not often needed for making new connectors as the cables are so freely available, but it may be useful for fault finding, or when designing new equipment.

Check out the Electronics Notes: Essential HDMI Items List.

As can be seen from the tables above the pin configuration or pinout is different for the different types of HDMI connector. Care needs to be taken that the pinout for the correct connector style is used.

  Written by Ian Poole .
  Experienced electronics engineer and author.

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