What Are HDMI Ethernet Cables?

What the Ethernet wording means

If you’re looking at “with Ethernet” on a cable you already own, we’d check the equipment at both ends before buying another cable. Both devices and the ports joining them have to support HEC, so a cable change can’t add the feature to an unsupported port.

The wording tells you what the cable is equipped to carry. It doesn’t tell you whether the connected devices will use that extra channel. Follow the connection from one device, through its HDMI port and the cable, to the other port and device before you plan around network sharing.

What travels through the extra channel

HEC adds a data channel to an HDMI link. It gives connected, HEC-capable devices a way to exchange network data over that link while the cable serves its HDMI video connection. The Ethernet wording refers to this added channel, not to a different kind of picture signal.

The specified network connection is full duplex at up to 100 Mb/sec. Full duplex means the channel carries data in both directions. That 100 Mb/sec figure describes HEC’s network capability; it isn’t the cable’s video bandwidth rating or a promise about the picture resolution you’ll get.

HEC supports networking protocols that can run over an Ethernet connection, including TCP/IP. That’s the point of the extra channel: compatible devices can use the HDMI link for networking without a separate Ethernet cable between those devices. The feature still depends on what each connected device implements.

Keep the two jobs separate as you look at your setup. A cable’s video capability tells you about the picture it was made to carry. Its Ethernet capability tells you whether the additional network channel is available for devices that support HEC. One description doesn’t answer the other question.

Both devices need HEC

Start with the two devices you want to join. Look for “HDMI Ethernet Channel” or “HEC” in the feature information for each one. The feature has to exist at both ends of the link before an Ethernet-capable cable can help them exchange network data.

Check for the feature by name, even when both devices list an HDMI version. Features described within an HDMI specification can be optional, and the version number alone doesn’t identify which ones a manufacturer included. The useful answer is whether each device lists HEC.

This check matters if one device has a network connection and you hope the HDMI cable will serve the other. First establish that the two devices can form an HEC link. Then check the ports and cable that would make that link, followed by the network connection available to share.

The exact HDMI ports matter

Next, identify the HDMI port you’ll use on each device. Connect through HEC-enabled ports at both ends. A device having HDMI functions, or even listing HEC among its features, still leaves you with a port choice to confirm.

You may see “HEC” beside a capable port, but that marking is optional. Check the manufacturer’s port information when the marking isn’t there. Do the check separately for the two devices: confirmation for one port says nothing about the port facing it across the cable.

Once you’ve identified HEC support for both devices and the ports you intend to connect, you have a specific pair of endpoints to work with. That’s more useful than a general HDMI feature list because the network channel must run through the ports you actually use.

The cable has its own part to play

The cable between those ports must support HDMI Ethernet Channel. For cables using the Standard and High Speed names, the Ethernet-capable types are Standard HDMI Cable with Ethernet and High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet. Read the full designation when you’re checking a cable for HEC.

“Standard HDMI Cable” and “High Speed HDMI Cable” also exist without the Ethernet Channel. In those categories, the speed name alone answers a video question, while “with Ethernet” identifies the added network capability. That distinction is why checking only for “High Speed” won’t settle whether a cable can carry HEC.

Those two Ethernet-capable categories have different stated video capabilities. Standard HDMI Cable with Ethernet supports resolutions up to 1080i/720p; High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet is built for 1080p or higher. Both have the same stated full-duplex 100 Mb/sec HEC capability. Compare the video requirement and the network-channel requirement separately.

If you’re planning a longer run, check how far an HDMI cable can go for that separate connection choice. For HEC, the immediate cable check is whether the cable supports the Ethernet Channel alongside the two capable devices and ports you’ve identified.

If you already own a cable with Ethernet

An Ethernet-capable cable can still serve its HDMI video connection when the attached devices aren’t using HEC. If the picture works, you’ve seen the video connection in action. You still need the device and port checks to establish whether the extra network channel can be used.

The reverse is useful to keep in mind too. Reading “with Ethernet” on the cable establishes its part of an HEC setup, while the equipment at each end determines whether there’s an HEC link. If you don’t need network sharing through HDMI, that unused cable capability doesn’t prevent you from using its stated video capability.

If the picture is missing as well, check the HDMI signal path. A missing picture is a different question from whether compatible devices can use the added network channel.

When the Internet connection can be shared

With HEC supported by both devices and their connected ports, and an Ethernet-capable HDMI cable between them, check the network side of the path. Linked devices can share an Internet connection through HEC when there’s a routing device somewhere in the network.

That routing device can be a standalone router or a device with routing built in. HEC provides the network channel between the HDMI devices; the routing device provides the additional condition for sharing an Internet connection. Identify where it sits in the network before expecting access at the other end of the HDMI link.

If sharing doesn’t happen, work back through the actual path: HEC named for each device, HEC support on each selected port, an Ethernet-capable cable, and a routing device in the network. Each check identifies one part of the connection you can confirm without treating a working picture or a cable label as a network test.

When those conditions are met, the useful result is that the linked HEC-capable devices can share the Internet connection over their HDMI link. Check that the device you meant to connect can use that shared connection.