HDMI cables are not absurd, unless they have RGB lighting and cost $80

(Image credit: Vivify)

For your quest to RGB all the things, a company called Vivify is offering to help out with its new Arquus W73, presumably the world's first HDMI cable with multi-colored lighting.

In 2019, I find this only slightly absurd. After all, if toasters can have RGB lighting, surely HDMI cables can, right? It was only a matter of time, really. But where this one veers off towards crazy town is the pricing—the 9-foot (2.7 meters) version costs $149.99, and the longer 15-foot (4.5 meters) version runs $199.99. Ahhh, it's like Monster cables all over again.

Both lengths are on sale initially. As a "limited offer," Vivify is selling the 9-foot and 15-foot RGB HDMI cables for $79.99 and $99.99, respectively. So, the early bird gets slightly l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶r̶i̶p̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶ better pricing.

None of those light up, though, and the Arquus W73 does. However, you don't get millions of color options here, as "RGB" has come to imply. There are seven colors—red, orange, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Though for an "increased 'wow' factor, plug in the included micro USB cable for extra brightness." Never mind what I said about the pricing!

To be fair, Vivify is touting a higher quality cable, for those who care. It's made with "quality fiber optics which allows it to surpass the distance limit of passive copper HDMI cables." Vivify also says users need not worry about electromagnetic or radio frequency interference.

"This results in fiber cables having significantly less attenuation (signal loss) and is what allows them to cover greater maximum distances than their copper counterparts," Vivify says.

It's a bit of an odd pitch, given that your choices are limited to 9 feet for 15 feet, and not some crazy long distance. Nevertheless, the company says it supports bandwidths up to 18Gbps (HDMI 2.0b) and can transmit 4K at 60Hz with 4:4:4 just fine (same goes for the Monoprice cables I linked above). These are also flat cables, which can be easier to route.

I'll pass, but if this is what you've been waiting for, the cables are available now from Vivify. Given that they're already discounted, I wouldn't hold my breath hoping for any Black Friday deals on these new cords.

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).