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During the CEDIA 2023 Expo in Denver, I sat down with Steve Martz, VP of Global Technology at THX Ltd., to discuss the company's forthcoming line of HDMI cables. Scheduled for a Q4 release, Steve showcased production samples and shared insights into their design and performance features.

The Offerings
Steve presented examples of the new HDMI cables so I could see and feel their construction. According to Martz, these cables will come in nine different lengths, ranging from half a meter to 15 meters. They are available for pre-order now, ahead of their official release. Short cables up to 5 meters will be made entirely of copper, while the longer variants will be hybrid active cables consisting of both copper and fiber.

Martz disclosed that the starting price for the half-meter cable would be $39.99, and the longest 15-meter cable would be available for $399. This pricing strategy is designed to make the cables affordable for a wide range of consumers.

Material and Construction
One of the key design goals highlighted by Steve was to offer thin and flexible cables, which was evident in the samples he brought. These cables claim a bend radius of just one inch, making them ideal for installations where space is constrained.

A major selling point for these HDMI cables is their full HDMI 2.1 certification, enabling them to operate at a 48-gigabit capacity. Martz emphasized that many cables on the market lack such certification, which can result in performance and compatibility issues. Steve also pointed out that these cables would feature the THX logo as a mark of quality. The cables are intended to integrate seamlessly into THX's existing categories like THX Ultra, THX Select, and THX Dominus for other types of audio and visual products.

"We want to make things easier for the consumer to make purchasing decisions and to use various things. If you think about it, THX is known—in the home theater space—for our product categories: THX Ultra, THX Select, and then our largest one, THX Dominus, right? So those are all designed so you have a size room, you have a certain listening distance, and then you pick the gear all based on that category. So you just pick Ultra Speaker, Ultra AVR, Ultra Sub, that kind of thing, and it just all works together. And this is a piece that goes together with that. You know when you buy a THX Interconnect, you don't have to worry about that piece of the puzzle either. It just all fits together. This makes it a simple purchase decision." - Steve Martz

Design Collaboration
The cables have been developed in partnership with Jack McDougall at PixelGen. Steve revealed that PixelGen's pixel glass technology has been incorporated, especially in the longer lengths, a collaboration that has been 10 years in the making.

In addition to the HDMI 2.1 certification, Martz shared that the cables would undergo extensive quality tests, including hot plugging, power cycling, and burn-in testing. Interoperability testing with various 8K sources and HDR receiving devices is also on the agenda to ensure maximum compatibility.

Conclusion
Based on the interview with Steve Martz at the CEDIA 2023 Expo, THX's upcoming HDMI cables appear to offer a blend of flexibility, affordability, and high performance. While they have not yet hit the market, their planned features and certifications make them a product to watch out for. Final judgments will, of course, await consumer and expert reviews post-launch.