USB A connectors

[#1]

What is the difference between a USB A Type 2 connector and a USB A Type 3 connector?

I am trying to connect my wife's camera which has an HDMI interface to her laptop which has a USB A Type 2 interface, but the best solution I have found so far seems to be a  cable that has a USB A Type 2 Male connector at one end and a USB C Socket at the other, plus another cable that had a USB C plug connector at one end and an HDMI connector at the other.

From what I understand of USB, a USB A Type 2 connector and a USB A Type 3 connector apparently differ by the Type 3 having an extra pair of contacts. Is that correct? If it is correct can I use a Type 3 plug in a Type 2 socket, without doing some damage?

Is my solution too simple? Do I have to take into account something else, in which case what?

Thanks for any help.

[#2]

USB2 and USB3 ‘should’ be interchangeable despite the extra cores in the USB3 version. Have you tried just using the one cable? You won’t damage anything.

The extra cores in the USB3 is used to increase the potential bandwidth of the cable.

[#3]

@penneck  Honestly, I don't think an HDMI port can connect to USB in any useful way with "dumb" cables, you need an "active" adapter of some sort to convert the signals. They will often take power from the USB port.

Loads of devices available to buy for beer money, so check you exact requirements and Google for options.

What is it you're actually trying to do, what sort of data are you hoping to move from what to what?

e.g. HDMI is typically used to carry continuous live video signals, whereas USB copies finite data files or fixed size images.

[#4]

@HPsauce 

 My reading is that @penneck is successfully transferring data using a USB 2 extension plugged in to a USB 3 to HDMI cable. So all that is happening is that the USB2 to USB 3 interface is happening at the cable junction.

[#5]

The OP omits to mention what they are trying to do i.e transfer files or stream video as a webcam !

Reading the Camera's PDF copy of the full manual would be far safer than having forum members speculate.

[#6]

If the OP is currently successfully transferring data using two cables in series, then where's the speculation? The question becomes one about USB2/3 caompatibility

Whilst they should be compatible, I have come across one instance where a USB 2 device would not work when plugged into a USB3 PC input,, hence 'should' work.

[#7]

@Baldrick1 "If"! @penneck says "I am trying" so probably NOT successfully. 🤣

[#8]

For file transfer I pop the SDXC cards out of the camera and use a Lexar USB 3 Memory Card Reader.
UHS-II cards & readers can exceed 120 MegaBytes per second, handy on bulk transfers.

The OP mentions USB and HDMI, on (our) Nikon cameras these have two distinct functions.

1) USB :  File transfer to / from either SDXC card or if supported, use the camera as a Web Camera or remote control.

2) HDMI : Send live Video & Audio to an external monitor during video recording or playback video / audio to a TV etc.

[#9]

@PhilipHeyes , @HPsauce  & @Baldrick1 

Actually gents I haven't tried to do this transfer, I was looking at ways to do it, starting with the problem of connecting the camera to the pc. First I was trying to find out if a Type 3 USB A connector will plug into a Type 2 USB A socket without damaging anything.

Second, there was the confusing situation where HDMI cables have a USB C connector at one end, and some of these cables have what looks like a block at the other end with, I assume, a converter inside it, but not a cable to connect to the camera. Other HDMI cables end in hopefully suitable connectors for the camera with maybe a block part way along their length (does this block contain a converter? who knows). To add to the confusion, some HDMI cables state they are adapters and some do not. If I need the first of those two HDMI cables (the one that ends at the block), then do I need a third cable to complete the camera to pc connection or not?

Hopefully, you are not as confused as I am

[#10]

@penneck Exactly which camera is it and what are you actually trying to do? Sorry if you have said previously, but answers to those two questions may simplify things.

[#11]

HDMI cables have a USB C connector at one end
 
These are one way cables used to connect to from a laptop's USB port to a Projector or TV or Monitor's HDMI input.

i.e. only for : Laptop >>>> USB to HDMI adaptor cable >>>>  TV Screen

[#12]

Hello John,

The camera is a Panasonic DC-FZ82.

I'm assuming my wife is trying to download the photos from the camera to her laptop

Cheers

Graham

[#13]

Hello @PhilipHeyes 

I didn't notice anything in the adverts on these cables that they were one-way, so thankyou for making me aware of that. As I wrote in my reply to jab1, I'm assuming my wife wants to download the photos from the camera to her laptop, which makes that cable wrong for what she wants to do. On the other hand, why would anyone want to load anything onto a camera?

Regards and thanks

[#14]

@penneck looking at the manual for the DC-FZ82, the HDMI connection is only for viewing videos. The camera has a USB-C connector for connecting to a PC to download photos.

See page 233 of the manual

[#15]

---

@penneck wrote:

Hello John,

The camera is a Panasonic DC-FZ82.

I'm assuming my wife is trying to download the photos from the camera to her laptop

Cheers

Graham

---

If you/your wife merely want to transfer/copy the pictures to a computer, then the easiest way is to do by removing the card from the camera, and use a card reader. Saves all the 'cable' questions and potential issues.