Q Our HDMI cable was installed with the input and output on the wrong ends. Can the ends be reversed? - Noemi, Glen Cove, NY

2 ways to answer this post:

1) NO, the cable will have to be removed and re-run to gain optimal use of the directionality of the wire.

2) It will make no difference if the arrows that are printed on the wire do not point the same way as the flow of current.

Now, there are lots of other questions that get raised before either of those answers can be applied:
What indicates that the input and output are reversed?
What brand of cable?
How long is the cable?
Is there a repeater involved?
Is there a different connector on each end of the cable?

in theory it may be fixable, but HDMI cables connections are delicate so you would probably have to send it back to the manufacturer where it may fall under its warranty guidelines, but with that said they may not be able to fix it.

This is part of the reason why you don’t see field terminatable HDMI cables out there.

It may also be less expensive to just buy a new one.

I don’t know who manufactured the cable, but I know companies like Transparent, Straight Wire, Tributaries are companies that back their products and have policies to protect their clients’ purchases. It’s part of the value of spending a little bit extra to buy products from manufacturers of this level.

Some people view cabling as throw away items, but they are an under valued part of the system equation.

HDMI cables are not directional. All signals are wired pin for pin so there is no ‘source’ or ‘display’ end to the cable. Nearly all cables are terminated with a Male connector at each end, with all equipment utilising the female chassis version.  If the problem is that there is the wrong connector sex at each end of the cable then it may be possible to use a combination of MM and FF adaptors to put things right.

All HDMI cables are factory terminated and due to the close physical tolerancies required to ensure correct signal transmission hand termination or modification is not an option. Never take seriously anybody who says they can modify or re-terminate a cable in the field. They will just be opening a can of brown wriggly things and costing you money when you have to buy a new cable.

Certain manufacturers label the directionality of the flow to mark the termination of the shielding.  It is supposed to avoid distortion in analog transfer, I’ve only seen it in analog audio and subwoofer lfe cables.  There is no such thing as directionality in an HDMI cable, but if you are using an extender and need to add adapter, remember that you will probably diminish the quality of both video and audio signals-and it will probably show with audio first. As my personal advice, don’t ever use an hdmi in a prewire. I did it once and the 75ft cable got damaged sometime during the construction phase. The best solution is to use Cat5e or Cat6 and then use a balun. Or you can use RapidRun system- I prefer the first solution.

I agree that for wire safety purposes it’s probably best to run cat 5 with a balun or the Rapid Run cables. Another solution is to run conduit and then pull the cable later.

HDMI won’t be going away and the best that CE Pro’s can hope for is that as the technology matures that its issues get ironed out.

In the case of this install however I would say that someone probably purchased cheap Chinese cable and most installers know those Chinese products go through no QC at all and they often don’t follow HDMI tolerances because of the limitations of producing that cable at a profitable level.

Steve Crowe - 08 July 2009 11:19 AM

Q Our HDMI cable was installed with the input and output on the wrong ends. Can the ends be reversed? - Noemi, Glen Cove, NY

Noemi,
The answer is YES and NO.   YES it can be reversed by removing the cable and installing it in “reverse”. If this is not possible then the answer is NO, the ends ca not be “reversed”, but the problem can be solved by installing male/female and female/male adaptors at each end.
Ovi