Does spending soo much money on a HDMI cable make a huge difference?

[AsRock]

There actually can be a difference with HDMI cables, but not generally with shorter cables(sub-10ft).

Longer lower quality cables can actually artifact at higher resolutions. For example, I've got a 25ft cable that shows green spots on the screen when used at 1080p, but works fine at 720p. I have a slightly higher quality 25ft cable that handles 1080p flawlessly. Mind you when I say slightly higher quality, I mean I spent $30 for a 22AWG cable vs. $20 for the 24AWG cable. No need to spend $100 on an HDMI cable, that is just ripping people off.

Could not agree more

I use a 25 foot HDMI cable without any issue but it is thick as hell some were around 10-12mm thick which makes it near as thick as the cable and is triple shielded and claims to be able to handle more than 1920x1080.

There is a limit on whats good and bad although $10 HDMI can be good or bad due to build quality like how well the hdmi plugs are connected.

To me there is no reason to spend more than $30 on a HDMI cable unless your not lucky in finding a good 25 foot one for less. I got mine on a sale.

To me go for brands that you know people had good luck with unless there falling for the Monster BS which i hated even in the analog days as i found that they strangled the sound..

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

As this horse has been beaten dead, I will simply agree that the HDMI cables I've dealt with either work, or don't. Even cheap ones generally cover 6' distances without an issue.

That said, there are two places I like to buy from.

Monoprice
http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp

Mycablemart
http://mycablemart.com/

Both offer cheap prices, but relatively high quality product. Monoprice generally comes in a bit more expensive, but offers much higher variety. Mycablemart is dirt cheap if you're in the Minnesota (Eden Prairie) area.

 

[Steve-007UK]

Had some guy in pc world trying to sell my dad a £60 HDMI cable, The guy was shocked when i told him he is full of shit and a £60 cable is no better than a cheap £10 job. He tryed to make out its like an audio cable and degrades easy lol, I don't think he liked me being a smart ass or the fact i know what i was talking about.

 

[BumbleBee]

this is all you need to know about HDMI cables.

 

[cheesy999]

Had some guy in pc world trying to sell my dad a £60 HDMI cable, The guy was shocked when i told him he is full of shit and a £60 cable is no better than a cheap £10 job. He tryed to make out its like an audio cable and degrades easy lol, I don't think he liked me being a smart ass or the fact i know what i was talking about.

the pc world/comet/currys type of shops get some incredibly high number like 75% profit margin on those cables, can't remember the exact figure, but i do remember that one monster HDMI cable has the same profit markup as just over 10 PS3's

that's why they sell them

 

[BumbleBee]

"pack in deals" is where the money is not the television. HDMI cables, financing, extended warranties, extra glasses, etc.

 

[cheesy999]

extended warranties

do not buy these, in the UK most of the big companies have actually been found out, espcially in comet, for selling warranty's that don't actually cover you for most problems

Unfortunately some staff failed to tell us about some of the policy exclusions. In fact, of the 15 stores we visited, staff in 8 of them told us we would be covered for problems that the warranty specifically excludes. Overall, we found that in every Comet store we visited staff gave false, misleading or insufficient information, all of which are potential breaches of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

overall, do not let any of the larger chains of shops sell you anything, as the 'extras' they sell are usually useless or at the very least a waste of money

 

[Funtoss]

Nope, just get a cheap one

 

[thebluebumblebee]

I'll add another vendor who had (I haven't been in for a while so I don't know if he still has it) a display of 2 identical TV's sitting side by side that had one of those "high end" cables on the one TV and one of his "generic" cables to the other. Of course there was no difference in the picture.

http://www.pchcables.com/

 

[erixx]

1) Sorry but Honda is at the core a Motorcycle company, cars is just sort of merchandise haha You know the adagio: more than 2 wheels is redundancy, lol

2) OP: wow wow wow! So in your part of the world a cheap HDMI cable is 20 and a deluxe one is 100 dollar!? wow wow wow! Here, the normal one is 5 euro and the overpriced one is 30-40 euro.

 

[caleb]

this is all you need to know about HDMI cables.

LOL digital technology and you need to move some sort of potentiometer on an equalizer in that last cable? What a load of BS. How could a receiver care if the signal is too strong if its a pack of 00010100101000101101.

 

[eidairaman1]

1) Sorry but Honda is at the core a Motorcycle company, cars is just sort of merchandise haha You know the adagio: more than 2 wheels is redundancy, lol

2) OP: wow wow wow! So in your part of the world a cheap HDMI cable is 20 and a deluxe one is 100 dollar!? wow wow wow! Here, the normal one is 5 euro and the overpriced one is 30-40 euro.

cough stability

 

[Frick]

LOL digital technology and you need to move some sort of potentiometer on an equalizer in that last cable? What a load of BS. How could a receiver care if the signal is too strong if its a pack of 00010100101000101101.

If a cable is too bad that 00010100101000101101 might turn to 000xxxxx101x0x101x01 and that's not good.

So while it is on or off, the electronics still have to know which one it is. And why is it important with good network cables in big installations if it doesn't matter what you put your signals through? You don't need fancy Monster cables, but the signals still have to make it through and buy a cheap and long enough cable and you might notice degration, like newtekie said.

EDIT: My brain melted and I did not really understand what you said caleb, so forget about it. I still stand by my second paragraph though.

 

[BumbleBee]

LOL digital technology and you need to move some sort of potentiometer on an equalizer in that last cable? What a load of BS. How could a receiver care if the signal is too strong if its a pack of 00010100101000101101.

when you start getting into longer runs you may need to boost the signal. see below.

There actually can be a difference with HDMI cables, but not generally with shorter cables(sub-10ft).

Longer lower quality cables can actually artifact at higher resolutions. For example, I've got a 25ft cable that shows green spots on the screen when used at 1080p, but works fine at 720p. I have a slightly higher quality 25ft cable that handles 1080p flawlessly. Mind you when I say slightly higher quality, I mean I spent $30 for a 22AWG cable vs. $20 for the 24AWG cable. No need to spend $100 on an HDMI cable, that is just ripping people off.

When we brought in our first test reel of Belden HDMI cable, we found that while we had perfect 480p at 180 feet, we had to shorten the cable up considerably to get perfect 1080i and 720p. With improvements, we've narrowed the difference considerably, but it it still the case that we can run 480p longer (175 feet worked fine in our in-use testing; we didn't try anything longer) than 1080p (125 feet worked perfectly on our source and display), and that 720p and 1080i fall in the middle (150 feet worked perfectly). The hardest thing to get right in HDMI cable is high-frequency performance, and so generally speaking, the lower the cable quality, the more the working distance will fall as resolution or color depth rises.

 

[BumbleBee]

alright let me put it another way

100ft 22AWG HDMI cable with or without ethernet will probably get the job done for $99.

100ft 26AWG HDMI cable with booster might get the job done but it only cost $68.

you use a booster because thicker gauge HDMI cables are slower but cheaper.

 

[Jetster]

Cheep if fine, agreed if it works it works for digital. However there is always some shit company trying to squeeze into a market with extremely poor products. So buyer beware, if its like $2.50 for a 10' cable its most likely made out of recycled tampon holders and not going to last for long. I try to keep it around $1 a foot.

 

[cdawall]

still running my like $2.50 dynex cables. have used the rocketfish ($8) cables and both are nice enough for me.

 

[Moyt]

Don't strangle me for this, but what about a VGA cable as well as an optical audio cable?
Does more expensive mean better for those cables as well?

 

[blkhogan]

I bought a hand full of HDMI cables from a local thrift shop for $2, all but 1 work just perfectly. Actually using one right now with the monitor Im on.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

I find it embarrassing that there are so many TPUers saying digital 0101 means cable quality doesnt matter! Do these same people think that you can use old CAT4 cable to run 1000ft of gigabit ethernet?! People need to understand signal characteristics, induction and capacitance in cables, crosstalk, and how this can impact low power devices trying to SEND a signal as well as low power devices trying to RECEIVE the signal.

If you are running short cables, e.g. from your xbox to your TV and the distance is 3ft or less, then a cheap cable is fine. If you have a long run, and other devices or cables potentially causing interference, then you need a higher quality shielded cable. UNFORTUNATELY, these higher quality cables which yes do cost more to manufacture are simply OVERPRICED.

 

[Steve-007UK]

Don't strangle me for this, but what about a VGA cable as well as an optical audio cable?
Does more expensive mean better for those cables as well?

Simple answer no not realy, All my VGA and DVI cables are cheap £5 jobs from the local store, some of them are 5 years old now and still work perfectly.

I've never used optical cables so no comment on them hehe.

 

[m4gicfour]

I find it embarrassing that there are so many TPUers saying digital 0101 means cable quality doesnt matter! Do these same people think that you can use old CAT4 cable to run 1000ft of gigabit ethernet?! People need to understand signal characteristics, induction and capacitance in cables, crosstalk, and how this can impact low power devices trying to SEND a signal as well as low power devices trying to RECEIVE the signal.

If you are running short cables, e.g. from your xbox to your TV and the distance is 3ft or less, then a cheap cable is fine. If you have a long run, and other devices or cables potentially causing interference, then you need a higher quality shielded cable. UNFORTUNATELY, these higher quality cables which yes do cost more to manufacture are simply OVERPRICED.

It's not that quality doesn't matter, it's that once you have sufficient quality for the length you need, getting a better cable nets you 0% gain (unless you have really high levels of variance in your ambient EMI, in which case a cable good enough to run 1080P at the highest level of interference you can expect is as good as you'll ever need). So with digital, good enough is. With analog, better quality always produces better results (subject to diminishing returns, of course)

Quality ALWAYS matters, it's just that digital signals don't degrade in the same way analog ones do, because the signal is interpereted in a digital fashion. Digital signals are analog, interpereted in a digital manner. (for a basic example of a potential digital signaling method: 1volt is interpereted as a 0 and 3 volts as a 1, anything between 0.5 and 1.5volts is then interpereted as a 0 and anything between 2.5 and 3.5 volts is interpereted as a 1, anything outside those ranges is considered ERROR and the error correction capabilities of the protocol come into play) so as long as your signal interference doesn't rise to the point that it overwhelms the sensing and error correction abilities of the devices in play, there's 100% quality of the data interpereted from the signal, even though the physical signal is full of interference. (0.95v is interpereted as 1volt in a digital signal hence perfect accuracy where as, in analog a signal which starts as 1volt and ends up as 0.95volts would end up interpereted as 0.95v, hence inaccuracy)

(which is what I and some of the other people here were trying to say, just clarifying on my part, not "instructing")

Simple answer no not realy, All my VGA and DVI cables are cheap £5 jobs from the local store, some of them are 5 years old now and still work perfectly.

I've never used optical cables so no comment on them hehe.

VGA and DVI-A are analog signals, so the cable quality will directly affect the output, even if you don't notice a difference. DVI-D is digital, so as long as the signal's good enough to run the display, it should be 100% quality (I'm not educated on DVI's error detection and correction cabability so take with a grain of salt). Optical cables are digital, so again, as long as it works well enough, buying a better cable won't get you anything more.

 

[Steve-007UK]

It's not that quality doesn't matter, it's that once you have sufficient quality for the length you need, getting a better cable nets you 0% gain (unless you have really high levels of variance in your ambient EMI, in which case a cable good enough to run 1080P at the highest level of interference you can expect is as good as you'll ever need). So with digital, good enough is. With analog, better quality always produces better results (subject to diminishing returns, of course)

Quality ALWAYS matters, it's just that digital signals don't degrade in the same way analog ones do, because the signal is interpereted in a digital fashion. Digital signals are analog, interpereted in a digital manner. (for a basic example of a potential digital signaling method: 1volt is interpereted as a 0 and 3 volts as a 1, anything between 0.5 and 1.5volts is then interpereted as a 0 and anything between 2.5 and 3.5 volts is interpereted as a 1, anything outside those ranges is considered ERROR and the error correction capabilities of the protocol come into play) so as long as your signal interference doesn't rise to the point that it overwhelms the sensing and error correction abilities of the devices in play, there's 100% quality of the data interpereted from the signal, even though the physical signal is full of interference. (0.95v is interpereted as 1volt in a digital signal hence perfect accuracy where as, in analog a signal which starts as 1volt and ends up as 0.95volts would end up interpereted as 0.95v, hence inaccuracy)

(which is what I and some of the other people here were trying to say, just clarifying on my part, not "instructing")



VGA and DVI-A are analog signals, so the cable quality will directly affect the output, even if you don't notice a difference. DVI-D is digital, so as long as the signal's good enough to run the display, it should be 100% quality (I'm not educated on DVI's error detection and correction cabability so take with a grain of salt). Optical cables are digital, so again, as long as it works well enough, buying a better cable won't get you anything more.

Yup basicly right, I personly havent noticed any diffrence between the cables i use but im talking home use using short cables, Now if your using longer cables then its usualy best to buy better quality made ones but for 99% of home users a cheap dvi or vga should work just fine.

 

[micropage7]

I find it embarrassing that there are so many TPUers saying digital 0101 means cable quality doesnt matter! Do these same people think that you can use old CAT4 cable to run 1000ft of gigabit ethernet?! People need to understand signal characteristics, induction and capacitance in cables, crosstalk, and how this can impact low power devices trying to SEND a signal as well as low power devices trying to RECEIVE the signal.

If you are running short cables, e.g. from your xbox to your TV and the distance is 3ft or less, then a cheap cable is fine. If you have a long run, and other devices or cables potentially causing interference, then you need a higher quality shielded cable. UNFORTUNATELY, these higher quality cables which yes do cost more to manufacture are simply OVERPRICED.

yeah right, some people just take a look at the price and they gonna say no if it looks kinda expensive without asking about quality
like it said theres money, theres quality
but too much money could make you bankrupt

 

[Completely Bonkers]

I think the last 5 posts sum up the situation! I'm pleased we all agree

If you want to err on one side of the fence, then choose the slightly better quality cable.

It's always better to have more beer than you think you will need.
It's always better to invite more women to the party than you think you will need.
It's always better to spec your cable lengths and possible EMI a bit more than you think you will need.

Of course, keep the common sense. Don't go around spending double or 5x what you can; choose and select the right/appropriate cable/supplier.