“4k” is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days, particularly pertaining to TVs and HDMI cables. Consumers constantly see packaging and marketing saying things like “Supports 4k” or “4k image quality”. If you buy a new TV at a big-box electronics store, employees there may tell you to remember to get a 4k HDMI cable to go with it only to tell you that that cable costs $100. The correct answer to that question is, “No, thank you.” All HDMI cables built to modern standards today support 4k, from cost-effective $3 cables and up. Many general stores will sell them much more expensively simply because most consumers do not know that and will buy them even when they are horrendously overpriced.

This article will cover why a $3 HDMI cable at ShowMeCables is just as good as a $100 one at a big box store by explaining what 4k is and what the legitimate differences are between low-end and high-end HDMI cables.

 

What is 4k?

 

Most people know that 4k means a TV, monitor, or other display device will have a clearer, nicer image. While that is true, the explanation goes a bit deeper than that. Electronic images are made using pixels, small colored squares that blend together to display the pictures from the movie, TV show, video game, etc. being displayed onscreen. As more pixels are used, they blend together more smoothly to make clearer images. If a picture with a small number of pixels is enlarged, it becomes blurrier because the pixels are stretched larger.

 

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