HDMI cables?

[daveh0]

Does anyone know why the price in these things fluctuates so drastically? You can get a 3ft Monster (brand) cable for like $75 at Best Buy or a 3ft OEM cable for $7 on-line.

Is it possible that the quality of the cable can be THAT different at the consumer electronics level? I find it hard to believe.

I'm tempted to buy both and do a comparison but I'd rather just hear someone who knows what they're talking about say that with the more expensive cables, you're just paying for the name...

Thoughts?

[sparks]

Try this http://hdguru.com/

[Patonb]

Yha thee is a difference..,. It's like a yugo vs a rabbit

[JustinB]

More like Ford vs Mercury. One has better packaging.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024008&p_id=3992&seq=1&format=2

I bought several cables from monoprice, all work fantastic.

Including a 15ft DVI - HDMI for connecting my macbook pro to my TV. Works like a champ. $25.00

-- JB

[dan_nc]

The difference only matters in terms of signal degradation/artefacting over a longer runs (say > 10 ft). For a short cable, it shouldn't matter much.

[tbdeaux]

Just make sure it is HDMI version 1.3a.

[daveh0]

Thanks all! Very helpful.

[Andy]

monoprice.com FTW!

[MikeC]

A related question. Has anyone used an HDMI hub for plugging in more than 2 (that's how many inputs my TV has) devices? Right now our playstation is plugged in not using HDMI because the cable and DVD have HDMI cables.

Thanks,
Mike

[WADDiE]

http://www.cablestogo.com/index.asp? has quality cables and not too overpriced... www.provantage.com (http://www.provantage.com) actually sells their cables for around half. i have a coaxial for sound hdmi to hdmi and hdmi to dvi from them and they're trully awesome thick quality cables. highly recommend.

Edit//. MikeC: Cablestogo has all that. check it out

[Zeus]

When buying HDMI cables, just get the cheapest one you can find. Monster brand HDMI cables are just ripping you off.

While things like gold-plated connectors make a huge difference to analogue cables (like component and composite RCA cables), HDMI cables only need to carry a digital signal. Even with a substantial amount of signal degradation, the target device only needs to distinguish between binary digits.

With HDMI being digital, you will either get a perfect signal or no signal. There is a tiny middle ground where you get a very corrupted signal, but you'll know it when you see it!

If your picture looks clear with a cheap HDMI cable, an expensive one will make absolutely no difference whatsoever. If anybody tells you differently, they have no idea how digital technology works.

Chris.

[rybread]

What Chris said. The signal is digital, either it works or it doesn't.

[PN]

With HDMI being digital, you will either get a perfect signal or no signal. There is a tiny middle ground where you get a very corrupted signal, but you'll know it when you see it.
Chris.
It's called "sparkles," and it will show up on your display so you will see it. It is my understanding that this is more of an issue when the cable has to travel long distances. I believe wireless HDMI has been out for about a year and was featured at CES (Consumer Electronic Show) last year.

[Zeus]

It's called "sparkles," and it will show up on your display so you will see it. It is my understanding that this is more of an issue when the cable has to travel long distances. I believe wireless HDMI has been out for about a year and was featured at CES (Consumer Electronic Show) last year.
Sparkles are what you see when a digital broadcast is about to drop out or when you play back an MPEG file that is partially corrupt.

Traditionally, digital files need to be perfect. If you download an application that's 100MB in size, and even 1 bit is incorrect, the file will often fail to execute or the application will crash while attempting to perform certain actions.

When the JPEG and MPEG formats were developed, the creators developed these data structures to tolerate some errors. As long as the file's header is intact (the initial bits that define the file's start point, end point, data rate, pixel dimensions, etc.) the file will play despite errors later on.

Have you ever opened a JPEG where a few square patches are discoloured and look out of place? Have you ever played an MPEG video where a few frames exhibit the same artefacts? These are basically sparkles. You can also see these 'squares' if you compress a JPEG or MPEG too much (although the reasons are different though related).

JPEG and MPEG work, in part, by dividing a picture into tiny squares and looking for repeat patterns. This generates huge file-size savings in photos with large similarly-coloured patches like the sky, the sea or skin.

When you start seeing missing squares, or sparkles, through an HMDI cable regardless of source (DVD or DVB or Blu-Ray etc. - you really need 2 sources to confirm) you know the cable likely at fault. This only really happens with really long or very old cables.

Chris.

[PN]

Hi, Chris.

I think you are correct about the "tiny middle ground" where you can get a corrupt signal using an HDMI cable. If I recall correctly, if the HDMI cable is over ten meters or nearly 32 feet, you can get what is called "sparkles." I am relying on my memory, but I think the sparkles from the HDMI cable affect the pixels on the TV.

You will not get sparkles if you are downloading a data file from the Internet. Also, HDMI is not packatized, so the data is being sent out one bit after another, but if something gets interrupted you may have some problems.

[lynnifer]

Thanks for bumping this. Pretty soon, everyone's going to need a flippin consultant to buy a tv, cable and accessories .. sheesh!

[McDuff]

I'm still trying to figure out what the diff between HDMI 1.2<, and HDMI 1.3 is related to cables. I understand the diff in the protocol, but why would a cable of same length ~10ft or less, care?

Probably marketing. But I just ordered a new Denon 3808ci receiver(upgrading from an older Denon) and an HD-DVD player. Both of which use the 1.3 protocol. So I ordered HDMI 1.3 cables too.

BTW: get HDMI(and others) cables online, waaaay cheaper. One of the best places is www.monoprice.com , I got 3 10ft gold plated cables shipped for $68.