HDMI Cables

[-Zer0-]

I've never really paid any attention to them until recently as I'd been looking more and more at new HDTVs and their occasional topic popping up in some threads. The price ranges I've seen seem to vary around $30 to $200 in various stores here with the different cable models. Are they worth it for viewing movies and gaming? Will I notice the difference between a v1.0 and v1.3a or higher? Noticeable differences with or without HDMI cables?

Right now I'm just looking at some for a 37" LCD 1080i HDTV, and maybe for a 360 and PS3 in the future if that matters.

[Vinen]

Buy the cheapest cable you can find... there really is not much if any bonus from having a more expensive digital cable...

[Popeh]

1.3 will help reduce quantisation (colour banding) over 1.1, but it's mainnly for 1.3 devices like entertainment systems etc which allow auto sound sync and auto setup etc.

At the end of the day, you pay for what you get exactly as you do with anything else.

Why would anyone spend thousands of dollars on a TV and then buy a crappy cable which is the key element in what you're gonna see on screen.

$100 would be an ideal price imo in a general electrical store.

cheap cable - low quality materials, little shielding
decent price cable- high quality materials for greater efficiency of data transfer, more sheilding to protect against electrical interference.

That being said, you are not really going to see a big markup on decent > expensive on 1080i.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/depar ... p?c_id=102 is a prett cheap site for cables.

Hope that helps.

[Popeh]

Buy the cheapest cable you can find... there really is not much if any bonus from having a more expensive digital cable...

Not always.

Edited.

[Tyche]

Unless you are going strictly for overkill, there is no point in HDMI for 1080i. Components will support it if your periphs will support it.

[Kazen]

I've known people that went the cheap route and they werent happy at all with the results, I got Monster cable myself and I find it to be pretty good. It's a middle/plus priced cable, I think I paid 89.99 for mine.

[Jefe]

Get em at amazon.com, bought mine for $.75 cents, I saw them today for $.50 cents. Regarding the versions, the PS3 supports v 1.3 and some others.

Edit: I tried my cheap cables and my friend's more expensive ones with his 1080p HDTV and my 1080i HDTV (both using PS3 and tried "Planet Earth"), didn't notice any difference (between cables not 1080p & 1080i because we did). However, keep in mind the cables were about 4 m. long, don't have a clue about cheap-longer cables.

[Vinen]

Buy the cheapest cable you can find... there really is not much if any bonus from having a more expensive digital cable...

Not always.

Edited.

He's going 1080i..

[Naramaska]

Short answer: Unless you're running it over 50 feet or so, the "quality" of the HDMI cable means jack squat really. Go grab a generic cable from monoprice and you're set.

[Jotaru]

Why would anyone spend thousands of dollars on a TV and then buy a crappy cable which is the key element in what you're gonna see on screen.

Normally, you'd be right. Red/Yellow/White, Component, Ethernet cables, etc... all the same. But there's a key difference - digital vs. analog signal.

Think of analog signal as a telephone game between kids - first kid says Elephant, Second kid says Eleven Tents, third says Elegant, fourth says... etc. At the end (your TV) you are not getting what was sent out.

Digital signal is ones and zeros - its on, or off. You can't mess that up, really. HDMI is just that - digital. Through experimenting of my own, and reading various things and talking to various people, I've started telling everyone the same thing - get the cheapest HDMI cables you can. A six dollar cable will work as well as a hundred dollar cable. There might be better insulation for god knows what reason or other cute benefits, but things like gold plated electrodes no longer make a difference at this point (digital signal).

HDMI cable makers are making bank on the fact that most people still look at it as an analog signal.

Edit: I love the new feature on this board (its new, right?) that shows you recent posts while you were typing a reply. Its pretty awesome, two thumbs up.

[Elesirdur]

Good post Jotaru. Back in my EB days I conned folks out of $80 for the Monster S-Video and Component cables for their XBox and PS2 systems. However, with analog systems having the quality does make a bit of a difference, especially if you're running really big or old speakers - less chance of getting EMF interference degrading the signal either in the wire or at the contact point.

About the only difference I can see in more expensive HDMI cables is possibly larger gauge wire in the cable resulting in less chance for loss over long distances and general build quality. HDMI is really quite nice in that you no longer have to spend ridiculous dollars to get the best signal.

[sekaran]

I got monoprice cables.. good god they're beefy.

[ertyu]

I've known people that went the cheap route and they werent happy at all with the results, I got Monster cable myself and I find it to be pretty good. It's a middle/plus priced cable, I think I paid 89.99 for mine.

lol @ monster cables, they're terrible and they are pricey for no reason. Whatever you do DO NOT buy monster cables.

[Naramaska]

I've known people that went the cheap route and they werent happy at all with the results, I got Monster cable myself and I find it to be pretty good. It's a middle/plus priced cable, I think I paid 89.99 for mine.

lol @ monster cables, they're terrible and they are pricey for no reason. Whatever you do DO NOT buy monster cables.

Correction: If you can get them at cost, get Monster cables. They're not "bad" cables at all, it's just that the profit on them makes payday loan centers jealous.

[Exoduso]

I don't remember the brand I bought but it's gold and was about 50 dollars-ish, works really well imo.

[Goodppls]

If you have a Big Lot's around you I paid $10 for 6' HDMI cable and they seem to work just fine, or Fry's has a sale on a 10' one for $6 about once every two months.

[Daydreamer]

http://www.amazon.com/HDMI-Feet-Super-R ... 669&sr=8-1

27c, good day.

[Stromgarde]

http://www.amazon.com/HDMI-Feet-Super-Resolution-Cable/dp/B0002L5R78/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1196918669& sr=8-1

27c, good day.

That can't be right. How much cancer do you get from those then?

[-Zer0-]

Well, it does say 27 cents lol XD, thanks all, I'm still trying to learn more about these cables and the differences or benefits they provide over Component cables. Thanks a lot, it's really helping :D I'll browse around some more tomorrow, but will keep checking back here for more info~

[Stromgarde]

Well, it's digital versus analogue. Analogue is a continuous signal, but subject to distortion. Digital is a segmented signal, sampled many times. Difference being that analogue will always come out the other side, but it will be a bit degraded, how much depends on the attenuation of the signal, while digital is an exact copy of the source material, or not at all.