hdmi

[Gromnir]

have gotten a couple different answers from some o' our tech savy friends, and we won't get a chance to talk to our IT yoda pal 'til monday, so maybe somebody here can help Gromnir unravel a knot for us.

 

we got a hdtv and we got an hd receiver and we watch hd programming, but as Gromnir paid something like $80 for his component cables a year or so ago, we never bothered to use our new(er) tv's hdmi interface. nevertheless, we finally decided to get rid o' some 'o the tangle o' cords we got and hooks up an hdmi cable. the thing is, there is a huge range in prices for hdmi cables and Gromnir can't get a straight answer as to why one cable is better than another. digital signal doesn't degrade, right? you either got signal, or you don't... so why is Monster hdmi cables retailing for something like $140 U.S.? other hdmi cables is as little as $30... or even less.

 

...

 

anybody know what makes one hdmi cable better than another... if anything?

 

thanks in advance.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[taks]

digital data itself is either there or not. the problem is due to the fact that there is still an electrical interface. i.e. it's still a signal until detected as a 1 or 0 on the receive side. better cables will likely be less subject to noise and therefore have a lower chance of degradation in the signal (granted, there is probably some form of error checking going on, but i don't know a whole lot about hdmi).

 

in short, yeah, it may make a difference but i doubt it. monster is just waaaay over priced when it comes to cabling, but their stuff is good. maybe even the best (particularly for car stereos).

 

i'll see if i can find anything that makes sense online.

 

taks

[Gromnir]

any info would be much appreciated. as we noted above, Gromnir gots some double talk from a few folks on the subject... 'nuff for us to be able to tell that they really didn't know and were just guessing.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[taks]

i cursory browse indicates what i thought. the biggest impact with better cables is due to, probably, lower guage wires and maybe protective jacketing to shield for noise. the benefit, btw, is that you can run longer cables. under a few meters, i wouldn't expect any difference in signal quality.

 

taks

[Gromnir]

thanks. useful info indeed as it is likely to save us somewheres in the neighborhood of $90. we probably woulda' gone ahead and gotten top-o'-the-line monster cable... just to be safe. nevertheless, some o' the stuff we were being told just didn't seem to add up right.

 

and here we were thinking that these boards were getting useless.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Atreides]

wut.

[Skynet]

thanks.  useful info indeed as it is likely to save us somewheres in the neighborhood of $90.  we probably woulda' gone ahead and gotten top-o'-the-line monster cable... just to be safe.  nevertheless, some o' the stuff we were being told just didn't seem to add up right.

You don't need a cable costing over a hundred dollars, but I'd be careful about getting a really cheap one too. Try to get something in the lower-middle range.

[Child of Flame]

Huh?

[Gromnir]

thanks.  useful info indeed as it is likely to save us somewheres in the neighborhood of $90.  we probably woulda' gone ahead and gotten top-o'-the-line monster cable... just to be safe.  nevertheless, some o' the stuff we were being told just didn't seem to add up right.

You don't need a cable costing over a hundred dollars, but I'd be careful about getting a really cheap one too. Try to get something in the lower-middle range.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

if you got some reasoning, we would like to hear. if quality of audio & visual is same with cheap or expensive, and if Gromnir only need less than a meter of cable, then why would we pay for anything other than cheapest of hdmi cable?

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Guest Fishboot]

No chance you could get a demo somewhere? Considering how voodoo the home electronics market is (read one of those home sound system magazines in a large bookstore - they advertise glaringly obvious snake-oil every other page) I would think that the cheapest stuff would be where I'd go absent a useful demo.

 

Edit - a blind demo.

Edited September 30, 2005 by Fishboot

[Gromnir]

the strange thing is that most major retailers only sell the expensive stuff. is not like we can't handle $150+, but when Gromnir went to best buy and circuit city we didn't see no hdmi cables for less than $100 in spite of fact that we had seen many hdmi cables for less money when we were perusing on-line sites... so we asked the sales folks what were the difference 'tween expensive and cheap... on-line sources got hdmi cables from $30. major retailers not seem to got anything less than $100. even so, we can't seem to find anybody who can tell us why a 1m long $30 hdmi cable would be worse than a 1m long $150+ cable.

 

 

[Child of Flame]

the strange thing is that most major retailers only sell the expensive stuff.  is not like we can't handle $150+, but when Gromnir went to best buy and circuit city we didn't see no hdmi cables for less than $100 in spite of fact that we had seen many hdmi cables for less money when we were perusing on-line sites... so we asked the sales folks what were the difference 'tween expensive and cheap... on-line sources got hdmi cables from $30.  major retailers not seem to got anything less than $100.  even so, we can't seem to find anybody who can tell us why a 1m long $30 hdmi cable would be worse than a 1m long $150+  cable.

 

 

[Gromnir]

so why not do the same with component cables and s-video cables n' such? go into a best buy anywheres and you will see a huge range o' component video cables. servant's explanation makes perfect sense... save for fact that it don't explain the anomaly... which is the reason we is curious in first place.

 

conspiracy theories? voodoo economics & electronics? consumer ignorance? retailer ignorance? Gromnir ignorance?

 

*shrug*

 

is not a big deal, but Gromnir is always curious 'bout anomalies... after all, when you get down to it, our job is to understand such things.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Child of Flame]

That is interesting.

 

Maybe it has to do with HD being a new[er] technology and it generally takes time for the lower end (which are generally knockoffs of the higher-end) stuff to filter into the general market (offline).

 

Really I have no idea as I'm no audiophile by any stretch of the term.

[Kaftan Barlast]

in short, yeah, it may make a difference but i doubt it.  monster is just waaaay over priced when it comes to cabling, but their stuff is good.  maybe even the best (particularly for car stereos).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Ive had digital TV for years and although it isnt the same as HDTV, the only differance I noticed between cheap and expensive cables is that the contacts on the cheap ones break and become glitchy. Just like cheap guitar chords go gaga after a while.

 

 

But I wonder what the differance between HDTV and the normal 16:9 digital that I have is?

[taks]

if it is not receiving HDTV, then you are only getting PAL/NTSC and you have a receiver that fits it to 16:9. i believe it is EDTV? not sure... they just can't seem to make up their minds what will be the leading technology.

 

gromnir, what kaftan said is correct. typically, the cheapest cables will have the cheapest connectors. middle of the line is probably your best bet as skynet suggested.

 

beware, however... i saw one online site advertising silver contacts and made a really good case that silver is a better conductor than gold or beryllium. it is. unfortunately, the reason nobody in the industry (like me) uses silver is because it tarnishes. very bad for a connection. gold and beryllium do not.

 

taks