Is my cheap cable really HDMI 1.4 if I can watch 3D Bluray with Power DVD ?

The 1.4 spec includes networking capability. Other than that, it is the same as 1.3 and either will pass 3D. Using the new terminology, all that is required for 3D is a "High Speed" HDMI cable.

So, no, it does NOT prove that you have a 1.4 cable. You would have to try using it to pass network traffic to "prove" that it is 1.4.

This is what I know....I use HDMI cables labeled as both "high speed" (NOT high speed + networking (AKA 1.4)) and older 1.3 cables and have no issues running 3D Blu Ray.

I have a 7 year old HDMI 1.1 cable and it passes frame packing just fine as well as 36 bit color. If you are not using the networking capabilities try before you buy a new cable. Actually it might be a 1.0 cable. Been so long I don't remember. Cable is an early HDMI revision from Blue jeans cable.

No, it is not. There are only standard HDMI cables and high speed HDMI cables, with or without ethernet. The only difference between standard and high speed is the bit rate they will support. If they support the required bit rate, they will support any HDMI 1.4 feature. The only changes in pin out since day 1 of HDMI are the optional changes require to support etherent.
Edited by Colm - 7/6/12 at 2:36pm

Wrong, all that is required is that the cable support the required bit rate. 1080p24 3D has a lower bit rate than 1080p60 2D, and plenty of folks do both just fine over a standard HDMI cable. Wrong again. There are no 1.4 cables, just standard and high speed, with or without ethernet.

High speed HDMI cables are reccomended for HDMI 1.4a Packed buffer 3D content from a 3D BR player or PS3. Standard HDMI cables can be used for all other HDMI 1.4a formats. It is no longer legal for cables to be manufactured with any HDMI release level information.

...anything up to about 25'. They don't cost significantly more than standard HDMI cables, and may save you an upgrade in the future. But if your current cables don't give you sparkles or worse when viewing 3D, there is absolutely no reason to change.

...or anything else...

Actually when I bought this one 43 foot cable back in 2005 all it said is that it would handle the HDMI standard at that time. But since then it has passed 36 bit color at 1080p just fine.

Although I don't use today at that bandwidth but it will pass it without any artifacts.

HDMI 1.4 doesn't mean anything for cables or anything else. HDMI logo guidelines prohibit the use of a version number with any HDMI product as of January of this year, and much earlier for cables. The reason for this prohibition is that it confuses people like you.

As previously stated, for HDMI cables, it all comes down to the bit rate they will handle.

For active devices, such as your "switch", it comes down to bit rate (until very recently no HDMI electronics could handle full high speed bandwidth) and features supported. When a source (your HTPC) and a sink (whatever you are using to display the signal) connect, the sink sends its capabilities to source, and the source selects the resolution based on that information. If there is repeater (switch) in between, it has to pass on the information to the source. It may also modify it based on its own capabilities. There is really no difference between the electronics required to pass a 3D signal and a 2D signal. A repeater only processes bits and doesn't care about the content. And there are "1.3" switches that handle 3D just fine. So, the only way a switch is going to cause this problem is either simply not passing on all the sink information to the source, or it is resetting the bits that show the source is capable of 3D. In the case of a simple switch, the solution would be to get a switch that is specified as 3D capable.

However, what you have is not a simple switch, but a matrix switch. It is a combination of a switch and a splitter. Splitters are a different beast.. Because the source can only output one resolution, and two or more sinks with different capabilities may be connected, the spltter part of the matrix will set the resolution passed on to the source to the common capabilities of the sinks. IOW if there is a 3D sink and a 2D sink attached to the matrix, the source sees 2D. I suspect this is what you are experiencing.
Edited by Colm - 7/8/12 at 1:28pm