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Comment by stavros | Hacker News Reader

Not really, HDMI ports are in weird orientation and mounted in hard-to-reach places as well, but the shape makes it very obvious (even by feel) which way it should (or can't) go. This is much harder with the rectangular USB plug.

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I have definitely been frustrated by an hdmi port I couldn't see. I almost always have to gain visibility on the port to get the cable inserted correctly. If I happen to already know the orientation of the port on a device I can do it by feel, but I could also do this with the microusb-b to my old cell phone.

It’s still better than nothing at all! If you can physically see the connector, that’s a huge help. For USB-A, you often had to look into the cable to figure out which way it went.

I agree that HDMI can be heads or tails based on if it’s tucked behind a TV, but sometimes I can feel enough to get it right. That was never so with the original USB.

The "by feel" part is critical. Lots of ports on various devices are deliberately in the back of the device, or otherwise hidden, so that the wiring can be kept neatly out of the way.

HDMI can be a real pain to plug in blind / by feel.

I think it's worse than USB. It's so damn narrow and has a requirement for precision. It's hard to know if you've got it upside-down or you're just not well-aligned.

I'll often use my phone and get a picture of the plugs on the device before I dive in with the cable. This is especially useful when working with gear I'd rather not have t0 move.

HDMI is better than USB but it's still hard to do plug it in in dark, hard to reach places.

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