RedMere introduces industry's thinnest "smart" active HDMI cables

They'll cost just shy of four gazillion dollars per meter, but the world's thinnest "smart" active HDMI cables are still pretty enticing; unfortunately for us, RedMere chose Monster to deliver said cables to retail, but we're crossing our fingers that it partners with other brands that are less soiled by frivolous lawsuits and priced even remotely close to "reasonable." At any rate, the new ultrathin cables feature RedMere's MagnifEye Active chip technology, and while we're not told precisely how slim these new strands will be, we're sure Monster will make quite the fuss whenever they begin to ship. Now, the only question remaining is this: will there be a locking version?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 11:13AM]

Hopefully sales are not limited to monster

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 11:32AM]

I'm trying to imagine scenarios where my already thin HDMI cable would benefit from being thinner.

Can't think of any.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 11:51AM]

Same here.

But I'm not clear on the concept of a "smart" hdmi cable.....what's smart about it?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 12:00PM]

But you're gonna upgrade anyway, just in case, right :-)?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 12:18PM]

From what I can gather, there's a tiny chip on each end that converts the HDMI signal from the 10 pairs (or however many pairs HDMI has) into something that can be sent over a 1 copper pair. So it's a bit like the HDMI-Optical converters, except that it's built into the cable, it doesn't require any external power, and it costs 40,000 times as much. Just kidding with the last bit - no idea how much these cables cost - we'll see. I actually have a need for a long, thin HDMI cable, so I'm quite interested, depending on cost, whether these cables can go 15 meters or not, and whether the cable can be manually terminated. I'm sceptical about the last bit, but if I could get an HDMI plug through the pipe I have, then I wouldn't need a thin cable, so it's pretty much imperative if these cables are going to be of any use.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 12:23PM]

Hell no, Carl. I'm a monoprice customer. spending any more is for suckers.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 11:59AM]

"outside diameter of only 2.3mm", according to RedMere

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 7:41AM]

Just to clear up the technology points raised in this thread... The 'smart' aspect of the cable is that the RedMere chip solves 3 non-trivial cable issues. Any active cable using RedMere’s MagnifEye technology adds ONE low-cost chip to the receive end of the cable. These Cable designs still have the HDMI structure but the MagnifEye chip improves the signal integrity to the point that extremely thin (high loss) cables can be successfully produced. The OD in the thread is correct - about 2.3mm. The chip also has a built-in self-test mode which is triggered at cable manufacture to examine cable eye quality and this guarantees the integrity of all cables produced. The final smart element is that the chip 'harvests' its power, so there is no need for external power - but it remains fully compliant with the HDMI standard.