High Speed HDMI Cable

What is the merits and drawbacks between analog signal and digital signal?

We’ve all known that VGA interface adopted the analog signal whereas HMDI interface uses digital signal for transmission. So what are the relative advantages and disadvantages between these two types of signals? 1. Analog Signals The advantages of analog signals are intuitive and easy to implement, but there are two main disadvantages.First of all, it has a poor confidentiality considering analog signals, especially microwave and wired open-line communications, can be easily eavesdropped. As soon as an analog signal is received, it is easy to obtain the content of the communication. The next deficiency about analog signal is its weakness in anti-interference. During the transmission of the electrical signal, it is subjected to external and internal noise interference within the communication system, which makes it difficult to separate the noise from the signal, thus degrading the communication quality. The longer the line, the more noise accumulates. 2. Digital Signals Advantages of digital transmission First of all, digital signal has a better confidentiality than analog signal. And digital signal improves anti-interference capability that can be mixed with noise during transmission, and the input signal voltage can be measured using the threshold voltage (called the threshold value) constituted by the electronic circuit. At last, an integrated digital communication network can be constructed. With time-division switching, transmission and switching are unified to form an integrated digital communication network. Disadvantages of digital signals Occupies a wider frequency band. Because the line is transmitting a pulse signal, the transmission of digital voice information all the way …

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What is USB Type-C

The famous Type-C interface. It was first introduced in August 2014, using the USB 3.1 transfer standard. The application of this standard meant that a transfer rate of 10Gbps (about 1.2GB/s) could be achieved by using this small connector with the width less than 1cm . Furthermore, USB-Type C overcomes a problem that has been accompanied with data interfaces since its dawn time. That is, at last, the Type-C port no longer possess the front and the reverse which means that it supports the random plugging. In addition, the compatibility of the Type-C interface is not to be underestimated. In addition to the traditional connection to cell phones, Type-C also supports computers, game consoles and other mass storage devices and docking stations. This is mainly due to the strong support for Type-C from the world’s leading electronics companies, including Apple.

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What is USB Type-B

The second type of interface that falls under the standard USB interface is the USB Type-B, which is typically used for larger peripherals such as printers and scanners. Considering these kind of devices requires a higher power supply, they constantly equipped with a extra power supply port. As for the inner structure, USB Type-B also has four pins, and in fact, the electrical characteristics of USB-Type B are identical to those of USB-Type A. USB Type-B is designed in such a shape to prevent users from using the interface incorrectly. The design is so shaped, presumably to prevent short-circuiting due to incorrect use of the interface by product users. Interestingly, a very awkward situation occurred with the USB Type-B update to the USB 3.0 era. In the introduction of Type-A interface, we found that the space within the initial generation of Type-A interface is very abundant, so the extra 5 pins directly “squeeze” into the original designed interface without any changes of the size or the appearance of the USB Type-A face. On the other hand, the USB-Type B, perhaps the original designer did not even consider that it will be updated, the narrow internal space for the extra five pins have nowhere to put. So the USB 3.0 version of Type-B was given a “crown” to accommodate the five pins.

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What is USB Type-A

USB is the abbreviation of Universal Serial Bus, a technology first proposed by Intel and Microsoft. Generally speaking, the USB ports we use today are divided into three categories, which we call Standard USB, Mini USB, and Micro USB. Now let’s introduce these three main types of USB ports one by one. Standard USB Type-A interface is the first generation of USB interface. Type-A has underwent a ongoing lifespan of 24 years which experienced the first generation of USB 1.0 to the latest USB 3.2. This is quite an miracle for it existed in such a fast development industry that constantly accompanied with the replacement of old version of the product by the faster and better new product. From the diagram below, we can see the initial generation of Type-A interface contains four pins. Respectively, they connect to two power lines and two signal lines. The USB 3.0 version of Type-A interface increased to 9 pins without changing the appearance of the case. As the most classic interface, Type-A is mostly used in mouse, keyboards, USB flash drives and other peripherals. As early as 2004, there were already more than 100 million USB devices in the world. In fact, the USB Type-A interface has been more than a simple interface. It is a time-honored technology that is deeply rooted in people’s daily habits. Just imagine, if one day USB Type-A were to be completely retired and all the mouse and keyboards were replaced with brand new and unfamiliar interfaces. …

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Why iPhone still adopts lightning interface than Type-C

We’ve already analyzed the differences between lightning and Type-C interface and made it clear that Type-C is relatively superior than lightning either in transmission or charging speed. On the other hand, there also exists apple’s product which has already adopted the Type-C interface such as 2015 Mac book and iPad pro. So why did apple’s most representitive product: iPhone still stubbornly uses lightning interface rather than give a chance to Type-C? First of all, Type-C interface didn’t enjoy an unparalleled advantages on mobile phone platforms considering mobile phone relies less on physical interface than its desktop or tablet companion but more inclined to wireless connection. For example, we tend to conduct business presentation or large file transmission via our laptop but hardly through our mobile phone. Thus, a Type-C interface with multiple function seems to be futile in mobile platforms. Then, Apple is a relatively closed mobile phone producer in the mobile phone industry considering its closed operating system, independent processor and unique interface which may require unique components and accessories for iPhone. And this unique demand means a huge market revenue and great cost reduction for Apple by adopting the following existing measure. To begin with, Apple vigorously conducting market campaign by stressing the unrivaled quality and compatibility of original Apple accessories. This method has been combined with the concord brand identity between apple’s product and its official accessories. With the help of these two factors, a great amount of iPhone users will would rather purchase Apple’s more expensive …

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What are differences between lightning and USB Type-C

2020 is the eighth year of Apple’s adoption of lightning interface. It is also the sixth year of USB Type-C interface’s publication. These two types of the products has been designed to replace the former generation of the interface: Apple’s dock interface and most android phones’ Micro-USB interface. Years of market prevalence has proven them as the optimum successor of the former generation. However, what are the exact differences between these two types of interfaces? The TYPE-C interface is a rotationally symmetrical connector which contains 12 pins on each sides. It can support up to 20V voltage and 5A current. Correspondingly, the lightning has eight pins on each sides which also support random plugging, and the white part is designed to insulate the pins from each other. The outermost metal actually serves as the function of grounding cable, therefore, lightning connector essentially adopted a 9-pin design. In charging and data transmission, Type-C is comparatively superior than Apple’s lightning, On the principle of charging communication skills, TYPE-C has a high-power PD charging protocol, which is the reason why Type-C interface can achieve up to 120W fast charging. On the other hand, lightning interface only support the maximum charging power of 18W which may take around two hours to fully charge a iPhone via this interface. This period could be cut into half and even faster for android phones with a Type-C interface. As for data transmission, considering lightning interface still use USB 2.0 protocol which only obtains top speed of 480 Mbit/s, …

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How to Choose a DP Cable (part 2)

3.The third vital factor is about the different version of DP cables. Currently, there are two types of DP cable which dominated the market. They are known as DP 1.2 and DP 1.4. Comparatively, DP 1.4 is the newest version of DP cable which enjoys the merits of wider bandwidth(32.4 Gbps) and larger compatibility of resolution(up to 4K@144Hz and 8K@60Hz). On the other hand, the old version of DP 1.2 is only 2K 144Hz, 2K@165Hz and 4K@60Hz supported. Nevertheless, there also lies a significant price gap between DP 1.2 and DP 1.4. If you only intend to purchase hardware that is under the standard of 4K@60Hz or you are satisfied with your hardware and haven’t got a plan to update your hardware in near future, DP 1.2 is far beyond your need. After all, most ordinary hardware user never requires 8K@60Hz or 4K@120Hz visual experiences. These visual levels also exceed most current graphic processor’s ability. However, if one of the readers is a heavy E-sports players who feel desperate to pursuit not only ultimate refresh rate but also ultra-resolution. A superb graphic processor should be accompanied with a cable with extra bandwidth such as DP 1.4 or HDMI 2.1. 4.The last part of this passage would like to foresee DP 2.0. On June 26, 2019, VESA had officially released the 2.0 version of DP interface. Overall, it theoretically reaches the payload of 77.37Gbps which is almost triple than the last version. Apart from that, DP 2.0 is also designed to …

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How to Choose a DP Cable(part 1)

In our daily game and film usage, with the high-speed development of GPU hardware and filming technology, The PS5 and Xbox Series X, which has been released in 2020, can currently output 4K/120Hz graphics, while Nvidia’s recently RTX 3090 graphics card can output 8K graphics. This trend has put old series of the cable into an unfavourable situation. For instance, A display with 2K resolution and refresh rate of 165Hz can only display images with 2K resolution and 75Hz refresh rate under sRGB colour space when connected with HDMI1.4 interface. Only DP1.4 and HDMI 2.1 have the ability to fulfil such level of image output. Hence, here we provide some tips for choosing DP cable to cater to one’s game or film need. 1.To begin with, There are two types of DP connector. The standard DP connector is about the size of a USB connector, and this type is typically used for PC displays which support DP interface. The smaller mini DP connector is mainly designed for laptops which also includes Apple products. This could include Thunderbolt, which is widely used in Apple products. You can connect any DP display to a Thunderbolt source using a standard DP cable. As a result, the first and foremost thing is to check the DP interface type of your devices. There is no possibility of connecting your computer with your display while you fail to choose the correct type of DP interfaces. 2.Secondly, except for the interface type, length and material of the …

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What is the longest transmission distance of the VGA cable

The history of the VGA interface can be traced back to 1987. The blue plug is generally used, and it is also the most recognizable interface. The VGA interface has 3 rows of pins, 5 in each row, totaling 15 pins. Our childhood memories—Big head monitors use VGA ports. The VGA interface transmits analog signals with weak anti-interference ability and supports a maximum resolution of 1080P. The transmission distance of the 3+4/6 VGA cable is 15-30m. The oxygen-free copper VGA cable with thick conductor and good shielding can reach a transmission distance of 30m, and the inferior VGA cable over 15m will cause image quality problems such as smear and blur.

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How to Choose a Network Cable

The network cable actually has a great influence on the network speed. No matter how good your switch or router is and how high the broadband speed is, if the quality of the network cable is not good enough, the entire network will be greatly reduced. At present, the most commonly used network cables in the market are Cat.5e and Cat.6 network cables. Cat.5 network cable has a maximum transmission rate of 100Mbps, which only supports 100M networks, and is now used less. Cat.5e network cable is a transition product from Cat.5 to Cat.6, with stronger anti-interference performance, lower attenuation and higher cost performance during transmission. Cat.5e network cable can be used in Gigabit Ethernet, can stably support 100Mbps transmission rate, and can negotiate up to Gigabit (1000Mbps) rate. Cat.6 network cable can stably support Gigabit networks, and its transmission rate is much higher than Cat.5 and Cat.5e network cables, up to 1Gbps, and can stably support 1000Mbps transmission, and can be used in a network environment requiring a transmission rate higher than 1Gbps. The copper diameter of the Cat.6 network cable is thicker, and the cross-insulating skeleton is added, and the near-end crosstalk and return loss of the network cable are lower. How to choose a network cable? ①Copper conductor of network cable The conductor diameter of the Cat.5e network cable is 0.511mm, and the conductor diameter of the Cat.6 network cable is 0.574mm. The thicker the copper conductor of the network cable, the smaller the resistance, the better …

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