
The differences for people will usually come down to their length and if the cord is braided or not.Ī braided cable will typically last longer, is less prone to tangles, is more flexible, and is generally just more resilient than rubber cables. When it comes to HDMI 2.1 cables, despite any fancy buzzwords that companies may use, they all perform about the same. How to choose the right HDMI 2.1 cable for you

If, for whatever reason, you need to situate the gaming console farther away from the TV or receiver, and thus need to run a really long cable along the side of the wall, consider an option like the 20-foot iBirdie HDMI 2.1 Cable, which leaves plenty of room to roam.

You'll find this with the Basesailor HDMI Cable, which even comes in a two-pack if you're lucky enough to own two consoles, or just want to connect a second HDMI device or keep one as a spare. While most of these cables come in various lengths, a standard 10-foot cable length will do for most.

It's never a bad idea to future-proof your investments, if you can afford to. In the same way, you might also buy an 8K TV even if there isn't any 8K content available yet. Or you even had a 4K source in the home, like a 4K set-top-box or top-tier streaming service subscription. You probably upgraded to a 4K TV from HD before 4K movies, video games, and TV series were released. But faster frame rates are important to a lot of people. I personally don't see a need for 8K or even 10K resolution (our eyes can't really discern the different between the two, anyway). Whether those benefits are worth it is entirely up to you. This will just result in a similar situation where you'll only receive HDMI 2.0 benefits.

If for some reason you lose that HDMI 2.1 cable or just want to use it for something else, you can also use an HDMI 2.0 cable with PS5 and Xbox Series X. If your TV only has a 2.0 port, then stated earlier, you'll only be getting HDMI 2.0 benefits out of that 2.1 cable, so any PS5 games with 120 FPS support won't be able to take advantage of it. Do you need HDMI 2.1 for PS5 and Xbox Series X?īoth the PS5 and Xbox Series X already come with an HDMI 2.1 cable included in the box, so that part should be out of the way.
