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I have been having an interference problem with a short (1.5m) run of HDMI cable between my laptop and screen for quite some time.

My setup is as follows: I live in a university residence and my laptop (Dell XPS 16), screen (Dell 24" 1080x1920) and fridge are in close proximity to one another.

The problem presents itself as follows: For reference it is remarkably similar to this issue discussed in this post but I have learned some more through experimentation.

The dropouts occur when me or my roommate’s fridge’s thermostat kicks in or out thus leading me to believe there is some problem with the cable. Also, when placing my mobile phone (Blackberry Curve 8250) on the HDMI cable and initiating a data connection it also drops out.

The cable: A $5 cable I purchased on eBay that works fine otherwise. I suspect the plastic molds near the ends are fake and do not contain real ferrites.

Here is a picture:

enter image description here

Summary:

  • Is there some way to better shield the cable or otherwise resolve the problem?
  • Should I cut open the molds to see if there are ferrites inside?
  • Should I buy a new one?
    • And if so, what should I look for in a new cable to prevent this?
Giacomo1968
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Konsalik
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4 Answers4

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After playing around with proper cables and removing the insulation off the Ebay ones, I came to the realisation that the cheap cables had no foil or wire shielding. This also resulted in the case of the connector not being grounded.

Replacement with another cable with sufficient shielding and proper grounding resolved all issues.

Konsalik
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Just buy a reasonable cable in the first place. It's only a HDMI cable, nothing special is required. If you are unsure, that you will experience electrical interference, a mildly shielded cable will suffice. There is absolutely no need to spend a fortune on a "super you beaut" heavily shielded HMDI cable. Digital cables do not suffer from interference as would a analog cable.

Tony
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Yes there are lots of other cables with different shielding. If the shielding is good they are advertised by something like fully shielded or 3-layer shielding or something like this. I seems that the one you have does not have much. Other than cable shielding, the covering of connectors is also important. Yours have a plastic covering, better versions have ceramic shielding for the connectors.

Ali
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I know this sounds very conspiracy-nutty, but you can create a very cheap and somewhat effective shield using tin foil (aluminum foil) to wrap the cable end to end and then making sure the foil wrap is unbroken and earthed (I've done this with the top pin of a UK plug and occasionally other places). It has the advantage of being very cheap to try, so no reason not to give it a shot - certainly before you go sourcing other cables.

Adam C
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