A little over a year ago,
I launched my Undone purple HDMI cables
in collaboration with Kondor Blue.
And as you might expect, since doing so,
they've been the only HDMI cables I've used for my cameras.
But I've also been using them when I test new cameras,
and monitors, recorders, and transmitters.
And it was in that testing over the last year,
that I noticed some performance inconsistencies
between devices and cables.
And it wasn't just my cables;
most of the cables I own from various manufacturers,
have shown some level of incompatibility
with certain cameras and monitors.
In fact, if you recall, before any of this,
I made a whole video on the difficulty
in finding HDMI cables on Amazon
that worked for my camera needs.
When my cables first came out, we rated them at 4K60.
But we since changed that to 4K30,
because certain combinations of cameras and external devices
just don't work well at 4K60.
But those issues are illogical and inconsistent.
Here, let me give you some examples
of the weirdness of camera HDMI.
So I first noticed an issue
when I was testing the Ninja V+.
Two of the cameras I used with it
were having issues in 4K60.
But after updating the firmware on that recorder,
for unrelated reasons, those issues stopped.
But what stranger is, at the time, I couldn't send 4K60
from one of my Sony cameras to the Ninja V+,
but I could send 8K ProRes Raw from the Canon R5 and R5C.
But those same Sony cameras would work at 4K60
if I connected them to the Blackmagic Video Assist,
but then one of the Panasonic cameras wouldn't work
with that video assist.
Then Kondor Blue noticed that a specific model of Teradek
wasn't playing nice with some of the Sony cameras.
And it just went on and on like this
as we started trying literally every camera
and receiving device we could get our hands on.
Between Kondor Blue and I,
we must have gone through dozens of cable variations
and hundreds of camera and monitor combinations,
and it still doesn't really make sense.
All of these devices are supposed to be
on the same HDMI 2.0 spec,
so why do some Sony cameras act
like they need more bandwidth at times?
And why only in combination with certain recorders?
And why does it seem like each Sony model
is different in this regard?
Do they all use different HDMI ports?
They were all sending the same resolution,
color depth, profile, gamma, audio, et cetera.
So the performance you'd think would be the same.
Truthfully, we never figured out what's going on
with these inconsistencies,
but we did manage to change up the shielding
and connectors on our cables through enough trial and error,
to stop any issues from happening.
And as it currently stands, the new variant of Undone cable
works at 4K60 on every possible combination
of camera-related devices we could conceive of.
And it took a lot of testing
to be able to say that confidently.
So as of today, when you buy an Undone purple HDMI cable
of any size or shape, you're getting that 4K60 guarantee.
However, we do still have some leftovers
from the original stock
of coiled, full-size Type A HDMI cables,
and possibly some 16-inch straight ones as well.
So if you only need 4K30 and wanna save some money,
we'll be selling off the rest of these
at a heavy discount until they're gone.
So what about customers that already bought
the Mark 1 cable?
Well, if it's working well with the devices you use it for,
then perfect.
Like I said, the issue is only
with specific specific combinations
of hardware and firmware.
However, if you bought the original cable
and it's not working for your needs,
Kondor Blue has a lifetime warranty.
So we can swap out your cable for a Mark 2,
if it'll solve your issue.
But I'm asking you now,
please don't abuse this just to get a newer cable.
I don't wanna generate a bunch of waste,
so please don't go looking for compatibility issues,
or just swap them out needlessly.
I want to provide a meaningful solution to customers
who purchased a cable that didn't live up to their needs.
But I also wanted to be fully transparent
with you in this video, and give you the replacement option,
but also try and balance out the potential waste caused
by changing the product.
Which again, is why we're gonna be selling off
the rest of the Mark 1s at a heavy discount.
Also, we have a few more variations
of cables since my original launch video.
Based on your requests, we added some right
and left-angled versions of the micro HDMI.
So you now have a right angle option
for cameras like the Canon R5 and R6,
and you have a left angle connector
for Fuji and Sony cameras with micro Type-D ports.
And as I mentioned,
these cables even support the 8K ProRes Raw on the Canons.
But I'm gonna talk a bit more
about how HDMI raw fits in all this mess
at the end of this video
we're also adding a slightly longer straight version
of the cable.
Previously, the straight was 16 inches,
but I found that an 18-inch version provided better support
for gimbal use, better reach on some cinema cameras,
and a nicer length for wrapping around the monitor mount
when placed on top of your camera,
which is something I personally like to do
to keep my rig tidy.
The 16-inch version just felt a little tight
for those use cases.
So now you have this longer option
which is also 4K60 guaranteed,
and which doesn't cost any more than the 16-inch version.
Lastly, during my original launch,
some of my international viewers expressed concern
that shipping was either unavailable
or very expensive to their region.
Well, I'm happy to report that while far from perfect,
we have expanded that availability
and we're actively working on expanding it further.
Not only is Kondor Blue working on offering
lower shipping rates to customers in the UK and Canada,
as well as obviously in the US, where they're located,
but we've also added local resellers in the UK and Europe.
I'll try to keep an updated list of resellers
in the description of this video
so you can hopefully find one near you.
Oh, and in the US you can now find my cables on Amazon,
and they're carried by B&H Photo as well.
And for my fellow Canadians, both Gosselin Photo in Quebec,
and my hometown camera store, Camera Canada,
will be carrying these cables in store
and on their website for order.
I have to say, there's something really cool
about having your own product in your local camera store.
So big shout out to Camera Canada for the support.
Now, it's possible that some of the resellers
might be using the old descriptions of the products,
and haven't updated yet to indicate the 4K60 improvements,
or Mark 2 versions of the cable.
But don't worry about that.
As far as I'm aware, the Mark 1 cables
are no longer in the hands of any resellers.
So feel confident ordering any of these products
knowing that you're getting the latest and greatest.
But it also means that the only place
to get the price-reduced Mark 1 cables
is on Kondor Blue's website.
This way, we don't get confused about which edition
of the cables we're sending to resellers.
So if you want the 4K30 cables at 40% off,
head over to Kondor Blue and snatch them up
before they're all gone.
Just like before, any cable you purchase, new or old,
will have a lifetime warranty from Kondor Blue.
Now finally, let's talk about raw over HDMI.
I've noticed in the comments of various videos
that many of you find it confusing
how the different resolutions and frame rates are possible
against the provided spec of HDMI, and rightfully so.
For example, HDMI 2.0, which is what's found
in the majority of cameras we're all using.
In fact, I think only the X-H2S from Fuji
is using HDMI 2.1.
Anyway, 2.0 is only rated for up to 4K60
if you want full color information.
Apparently you can do 8K up to 30p on HDMI 2.0
with chroma subsampling and other limitations,
but none of this matters if the recorder doesn't support it.
And just like the cameras,
most of the recorders on the market are HDMI 2.0 as well.
And this includes the Atomos Ninja V+,
which advertises itself as 8K,
but this is an important distinction.
The Ninja V+ can't support 8K natively
as a full colorful bandwidth signal.
Again, you need HDMI 2.1 for that.
So what does that tell us about HDMI raw?
Well, it would suggest that there's compression
and bandwidth control going on with the HDMI raw
in order to pipe 8K over HDMI 2.0.
Perhaps not too dissimilar to the DSC option
that allows you to send even 8K120 over HDMI
to some TVs and monitors.
DSC stands for Display Stream Compression,
and significantly reduces the bandwidth required
for a given HDMI standard.
Of course, this is muddied further by the subgroups
of each spec, mismatched marketing,
and increased demands from variables like HDR, color depth,
subsampling, regional refresh rates, and audio streams.
I guess my point is that when it comes
to cameras and recorders, 8K isn't always 8K.
And 8K doesn't mean HDMI 2.1.
And even if it did,
it doesn't matter unless the camera, recorder, and cable
are all HDMI 2.1, and hopefully all in agreement
on what 2.1 actually means, which they aren't always are.
So thanks for listening.
I hope some of this video was helpful.
A big thank you to the early supporters of my cable line,
and I hope these improvements
to the cable and the distribution of that cable
are useful to my current customers
and any future customers I might earn.
Alright... I'm done.