The title is my question-is there such a cable? I know Bluejeans Cable uses Belden cable, but are assembled in China. Every cable I find locally is made in China and I assume the low cost cables online are also. I would rather buy something made in North America.
U.S. made HDMI cables?
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As far as I know, there is no such thing. Bluejeans is the closest I'm aware of, with the cable stock manufactured in US (as you mentioned). I've seen some that make it sound like they're made here, but if you read the details a little, they're made in China like the rest.
I think the labor costs would make them too expensive, and IMHO 99% of americans won't pay more for "made in america". I like your thinking, though.
I think the labor costs would make them too expensive, and IMHO 99% of americans won't pay more for "made in america". I like your thinking, though.
Yep, no such thing as a US-terminated HDMI cable. We have looked at doing it, and still haven't entirely given up, but the problem is that the cost is so high that it would drive away all of the customers who aren't real buy-American diehards. As you can imagine, too, the problem gets worse the shorter the cable is, yet the greatest volume of work is in the short lengths; and without large volume, the cost per unit is even higher.
I know, from my contacts at Belden, that others have looked at using US cable stock and having it terminated in China, but we are the only ones who have been willing to do it. I think that's primarily because the Belden cable stock is the most expensive bulk HDMI cable in the world (American labor's not cheap in bulk cable manufacture either!), and most people just don't want to mess with an American product when there are cheaper Chinese alternatives, especially given that those Chinese alternatives are a lot quicker to deliver to a Chinese assembly house. Most people in this market have a very high retail price to manufacturing cost ratio; if the cable needs to retail for 1000 to 2000 percent or more of manufacturing cost, the impact of manufacturing cost on the pricing model is very high, and the result is that it doesn't make sense to use American cable unless you are operating on much smaller margins, which we can do because we are direct-to-consumer.
From a cost standpoint, our Series-1 cable is on average about 90% American content; because the lengths are shorter and the stock smaller, the Series-F2 percentage is lower--but still, if I recall correctly, about 60 to 70% American content on average. The percentage of everyone else's is easy to work out: it's zero.
One interesting side effect of this, by the way, is that we occasionally are contacted by a customer who is outraged that we use Chinese assembly, and we are told how awful, and shameful, that is. Oddly, nobody ever calls to holler at us about how awful it is that our economy Tartan Cable line is made (100%) in China--and we imagine that the many, many suppliers who have their cable made entirely in China don't get these calls, either. I am too diplomatic to tell them so directly, but when we do get those calls I always feel like saying that if they want to vote with their feet and buy the all-Chinese product somewhere else, that's a very odd way to protest our use of Chinese assembly services.
On the subject of "where is HDMI cable stock made": I did learn at CES this year that there is one company that manufactures HDMI cable stock in Taiwan. Like us, they can't terminate it economically in their own country, so they send it to China for termination. To my knowledge, that's the only other HDMI cable in the world with any non-Chinese sourcing (and, of course, if you follow the US government's official "one-China policy" on these things, Taiwan is China, too...). I can't recall the name of the company, but it's not a name you would recognize unless you buy your HDMI cable by the containerload, and I think they've got a pretty small share of the market--I've never seen one of their cables in the US.
Kurt
Blue Jeans Cable
I know, from my contacts at Belden, that others have looked at using US cable stock and having it terminated in China, but we are the only ones who have been willing to do it. I think that's primarily because the Belden cable stock is the most expensive bulk HDMI cable in the world (American labor's not cheap in bulk cable manufacture either!), and most people just don't want to mess with an American product when there are cheaper Chinese alternatives, especially given that those Chinese alternatives are a lot quicker to deliver to a Chinese assembly house. Most people in this market have a very high retail price to manufacturing cost ratio; if the cable needs to retail for 1000 to 2000 percent or more of manufacturing cost, the impact of manufacturing cost on the pricing model is very high, and the result is that it doesn't make sense to use American cable unless you are operating on much smaller margins, which we can do because we are direct-to-consumer.
From a cost standpoint, our Series-1 cable is on average about 90% American content; because the lengths are shorter and the stock smaller, the Series-F2 percentage is lower--but still, if I recall correctly, about 60 to 70% American content on average. The percentage of everyone else's is easy to work out: it's zero.
One interesting side effect of this, by the way, is that we occasionally are contacted by a customer who is outraged that we use Chinese assembly, and we are told how awful, and shameful, that is. Oddly, nobody ever calls to holler at us about how awful it is that our economy Tartan Cable line is made (100%) in China--and we imagine that the many, many suppliers who have their cable made entirely in China don't get these calls, either. I am too diplomatic to tell them so directly, but when we do get those calls I always feel like saying that if they want to vote with their feet and buy the all-Chinese product somewhere else, that's a very odd way to protest our use of Chinese assembly services.
On the subject of "where is HDMI cable stock made": I did learn at CES this year that there is one company that manufactures HDMI cable stock in Taiwan. Like us, they can't terminate it economically in their own country, so they send it to China for termination. To my knowledge, that's the only other HDMI cable in the world with any non-Chinese sourcing (and, of course, if you follow the US government's official "one-China policy" on these things, Taiwan is China, too...). I can't recall the name of the company, but it's not a name you would recognize unless you buy your HDMI cable by the containerload, and I think they've got a pretty small share of the market--I've never seen one of their cables in the US.
Kurt
Blue Jeans Cable
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It isn't like anything you are plugging your HDMI cables into is made at all in the USA...
I realize this thread is inactive, but for the benefit of those might stumble across is as I did, there is an HDMI cable manufactured and hand terminated in the US: Nordost Blue Heaven HDMI cable. It's rather expensive at about $350 for a 1 meter cable, but it is advertised as being completely manufactured in the USA.
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Way to much for a cable though.
Hard to know what 'hand terminated' really means. It could just mean that a tech grabs the wire, feeds it into the termination device by hand, then has to press some buttons and pull some levers by hand - so that the cable is 'hand terminated'. Not that the tech is actually soldering ends on himself by hand. That would be very surprising.
Way to much for a cable though.
From the Nordost Blue Heaven advertisement on MusicDirect:
"...the Blue Heaven HDMI ensures that in the path from your DVD player or Blu-Ray to your TV, the picture stays crisp and sharp, the audio retains its depth and resolution, and your experience is immersive and enveloping."
"When it comes to the challenge of designing high-performance audio cables, the HDMI lead presents a "perfect storm." With 19 conductors, including high-speed digital transmission lines, each with precisely defined termination and impedance characteristics, analog signals and even DC, all shoehorned into a plug of diminutive cross sectional area, it has never been so difficult to deliver consistent results – or so easy to get it wrong, especially over the longer cable runs so often required in AV systems. To stand any chance of meeting HDMI’s exacting specification and transfer standards demands exceptional consistency from both the cable and the termination – and the only way to guarantee that is to bring manufacturing and quality control in-house. "
The funny thing is the description is not too far off of the description for this cable (also made in the USA):
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1466144/new-lirpa-labs-ultra-high-speed-hdmi-cables
From the Nordost Blue Heaven advertisement on MusicDirect:
"...the Blue Heaven HDMI ensures that in the path from your DVD player or Blu-Ray to your TV, the picture stays crisp and sharp, the audio retains its depth and resolution, and your experience is immersive and enveloping."
"When it comes to the challenge of designing high-performance audio cables, the HDMI lead presents a "perfect storm." With 19 conductors, including high-speed digital transmission lines, each with precisely defined termination and impedance characteristics, analog signals and even DC, all shoehorned into a plug of diminutive cross sectional area, it has never been so difficult to deliver consistent results – or so easy to get it wrong, especially over the longer cable runs so often required in AV systems. To stand any chance of meeting HDMI’s exacting specification and transfer standards demands exceptional consistency from both the cable and the termination – and the only way to guarantee that is to bring manufacturing and quality control in-house. "
The funny thing is the description is not too far off of the description for this cable (also made in the USA):
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1466144/new-lirpa-labs-ultra-high-speed-hdmi-cables
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Gee, and I thought Monster made the best cables
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What did P.T. Barnum say (actually it was David Hannum)? But I guess as long as it's virus proof the cost is justifiable.
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$110 for a 3' HDMI cable
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$110 for a 3' HDMI cable
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