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Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

#1
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12/15/08 at 2:16am
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i just got my HDTV a little more than a week ago from Amazon.com. It's a Samsung LN46A650. Picked up the HD cable box from my local Cablevision the other day. I bought these HDMI cables from mycablemart.com a few weeks ago and I'm not sure if I'm getting as good quality as I should be from them . I just started using them cause before that I was using the supplied HDMI cable for my XBOX360 Elite for gaming and watching DVDs. Now that I have the ablilty to watch HD on TV i am a littlle disappointed. Here's the name of the cables i bought from mycablemart.com

HDMI Cable, 3ft Category 2/1.3a EXTREME Performance 24AWG Gold Plated

is anyone familiar with this brand? they were real cheap and i thought i was getting a good deal based on the specs listed on the site for this cable. I don't think I can return them now but they were cheap like i said and it wasn't a total waste of money for me. I can always give them to my mom when she gets a HDTV since she's not as picky about quality like I am. Anyway if these are in fact not good a brand is there a brand that gives good bang for the buck that won't burn a hole in my pocket? I was considering Monster cables but I know they're expensive and I read that you can get equal quality if not better with cheaper cables.

any help would be greatly appreciated
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#2
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12/15/08 at 3:44am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

It's been my experience that there is no difference in HDMI cables that affects the quality of the picture and sound.
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#3
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12/15/08 at 5:18am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Michael,

That cable should work fine. As Robert stated, all HDMI 1.3a cables should work the same, and the price is reasonable for the one in your link. Monster HDMI cables are extremely overpriced.
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#4
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12/15/08 at 5:53am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

HDMI is a robust protocol with error checking, so a cable cannot "improve" the picture. Instead, a cable either works or it doesn't; you either get a perfect signal, or you get an unwatchable picture (sparkling, pixelization, and finally a black screen).

Don't buy the hype of Monster and other cable manufacturers. An HDMI cable isn't magic, and there is nothing about the manufacturing of HDMI cables which should cost over $10-20, never mind the hundreds of dollars charged by Monster.
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#5
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12/15/08 at 10:33am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bleach
i just got my HDTV a little more than a week ago from Amazon.com. It's a Samsung LN46A650. Picked up the HD cable box from my local Cablevision the other day. I bought these HDMI cables from mycablemart.com a few weeks ago and I'm not sure if I'm getting as good quality as I should be from them . I just started using them cause before that I was using the supplied HDMI cable for my XBOX360 Elite for gaming and watching DVDs. Now that I have the ablilty to watch HD on TV i am a littlle disappointed.

What is it that has you disappointed? Maybe it is something we can help with.
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#6
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12/16/08 at 8:29pm
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Willow
What is it that has you disappointed? Maybe it is something we can help with.

i guess it's just that the HD quality on the HD channels I get just don't impress me as much as i thought they were going to. I remember being more impressed with my friend's reception on HD channels but he's got a much older HDTV. but he does have Verizon Fios and i have Cablevision. maybe they have better quality? I guess overall I'm just being too picky. this HD stuff is still relatively new to me. I think I compare the quality experience also to the stuff I've seen on blu-ray. But then again I have blu-ray just on the computer and it isn't even 1080p nor 720p on my monitor. but i still find it satisfying. I plan to get a PS3 for Blu-ray as soon as they do the eventual expected price drop cause i read today that the PS3 is not doing too good sales wise. I want a PS3 cause i've read from many sources it's one of the best for Blu-ray.

One channel I watch alot in HD is Monsters HD. The picture quality ranges on there from excellent to just ok in my opinion. but the channel's programming does run the gamut from the old black and white movies to today so there's bound to be a few bad apples that just don't shine in HD. but ironically i watched some of the 1930's version of The Mummy and it looked pretty nifty to say the least. go figure.
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#7
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12/16/08 at 9:25pm
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Michael:

Have you adjusted your TV's image with a calibration disc like Avia Guide to Home Theater or Digital Video Essentials? Almost everyone who goes from a "nomal" sized SD TV to a larger HD set is initially disappointed by the picture quality. SD stuff often looks horrible and HD material doens't look as good as it should. The culprit is nearly always the factory settings, which are pushed to the max to make the picture "pop" under salesfloor lighting and surrounded by 20 other screens. Odds are these are not your viewing conditions at home, hence the nasty appearance of the picture.

Buy or rent a calibration disc. (For a quick and dirty calibration you can run the THX Optimizer software found on many DVDs. At the very least you can simply adust color and tint by eye, turn brightness and contrast down to no more than 50% and turn the sharpness way down. "Sharpness" makes edges stand out artificially by adding video noise to the signal and is the single biggest culprit in makinig an HDTV look lousy out of the box. I have sharpness turned down to nearly 0 after calibrating my set. Turn it down to no more than 10% to start with and see where you end up after doing some proper adjustments.)

Regards,

Joe
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#8
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12/16/08 at 10:06pm
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
Michael:

Have you adjusted your TV's image with a calibration disc like Avia Guide to Home Theater or Digital Video Essentials? Almost everyone who goes from a "nomal" sized SD TV to a larger HD set is initially disappointed by the picture quality. SD stuff often looks horrible and HD material doens't look as good as it should. The culprit is nearly always the factory settings, which are pushed to the max to make the picture "pop" under salesfloor lighting and surrounded by 20 other screens. Odds are these are not your viewing conditions at home, hence the nasty appearance of the picture.

Buy or rent a calibration disc. (For a quick and dirty calibration you can run the THX Optimizer software found on many DVDs. At the very least you can simply adust color and tint by eye, turn brightness and contrast down to no more than 50% and turn the sharpness way down. "Sharpness" makes edges stand out artificially by adding video noise to the signal and is the single biggest culprit in makinig an HDTV look lousy out of the box. I have sharpness turned down to nearly 0 after calibrating my set. Turn it down to no more than 10% to start with and see where you end up after doing some proper adjustments.)

Regards,

Joe

I forgot about that. I've been constantly messing around with my settings on my HDTV to make it look good. there's a thread over at this other forum that is dedicated sorely to my brand and model of my HDTV. it's got TONS of posts in that thread and I just need to sit down one day and go thru them cause some people have posted recommended settings to try on that particular model. But I think i will indeed rent or buy a copy of Video Essentials. I hear that it's very good. i had no idea though that new HDTV owners are initially disappointed with the picture quality from upgrading from a standard def tv. i had a feeling it was factory settings that was probably the reason for my unhappiness with the HDTV. I just forgot to address it in previous posts.

I just did a quick search on Netflix and they do have a Video Essentials disc for rent. I have a account there so I will definitely make that my next rental. i tried to get to the THX Optimizer menu on a old THX certified Army Of Darkness dvd i had. Couldn't find it. Can't remember how I found it originally. But I was pretty sure it was on there. I'm sure somewhere else in my vast DVD collection I have a THX Optimizer test on it.

thanks a lot Joe and everyone else who chimed in here so far. I am going to rent the Video Essentials disc and try to find the THX thing and then after that I'll post back what happened and if I have any more questions. You guys are a very big help here. And very friendly to boot!


Cheers!
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#9
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12/17/08 at 6:47am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Quote:
I just need to sit down one day and go thru them cause some people have posted recommended settings to try on that particular model.

That can be a good starting point, but the fact is that even TVs that came off the same assembly line within minutes of one another aren't identical. Settings that look great on one TV won't look good on another of the same model. And, of course, your viewing conditions (lighting, distance, angle) will affect how your picture looks and make if different from those other sets.

So you'll definitely want to rent DVE.

Finally even after dialing a set in with a calibration disc, you may find yourself tweaking the result to get the image that is most pleasing to your eye even if it is not technically the most accurate according to the specs.

Regards,

Joe
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#10
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12/17/08 at 6:55am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
That can be a good starting point, but the fact is that even TVs that came off the same assembly line within minutes of one another aren't identical. Settings that look great on one TV won't look good on another of the same model. And, of course, your viewing conditions (lighting, distance, angle) will affect how your picture looks and make if different from those other sets.

So you'll definitely want to rent DVE.

Finally even after dialing a set in with a calibration disc, you may find yourself tweaking the result to get the image that is most pleasing to your eye even if it is not technically the most accurate according to the specs.

Regards,

Joe

good point. i didn't think of that. i had a question. which do you recommend more worth getting? Avia or Video Essentials. I changed my mind about renting those discs from Netflix cause i read the reviews on there and alot of members complained about it since Netflix doesn't supply the filter or something like that. So I'll buy it instead. which one is best between those two calibration discs? but yeah i know i'll be tweaking it even more after setting it up with one of those discs for my personal taste. i'm a perfectionist for quality when it comes to picture quality.
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#11
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12/17/08 at 10:52am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Avia is a bit dated. Avia II is newer and a bit easier to follow, IMO. If you have Blu-Ray, then DVE Essentials is excellent. And yes, you should have the blue filter to get the colors right.
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#12
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12/17/08 at 11:07am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Willow
Avia is a bit dated. Avia II is newer and a bit easier to follow, IMO. If you have Blu-Ray, then DVE Essentials is excellent. And yes, you should have the blue filter to get the colors right.

oh ok. gotcha. i don't have Blu-ray yet for the HDTV just the computer. so i'll get Avia II then. thanks for the tip pal.
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#13
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12/18/08 at 6:00am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Just edited: those cables are fine, I think it happens to be an issue with the cable company. Some of the channels are good and others well, let's just say can be a disappointment. Nothing to do with cables.

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#14
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12/18/08 at 12:12pm
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

yeah, i was going to say in my area the local cable company doesn't have very good HD. i work for directv and our HD smokes the cable company. i think we have more HD channels to offer then most providers as well. but we dont have verizon here and i've heard good things about them. might wanna look into those two.
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#15
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12/21/08 at 2:54pm
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

@Jerome

oh ok. thanks for the update. glad to know the cables i have are fine

@Axxion

hmmm. interesting. if you don't mind me asking billy where are you from i ask cause i wanna know if we share the same cable company. that being Cablevision. I'm in NY. thanks for the tip billy. but for now i might wanna stick with Cablevision since they're the only provider that has Monsters HD from the best of my knowledge and that's the HD channel I watch the most. But if Verizon or DirectTV get Monsters HD i might consider changing my provider.
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#16
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12/24/08 at 12:56pm
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

With digital you either get the signal or not. If you hook up the HDMI cable and the signal is displayed on your TV that is probably as good as it gets. I use 4 very inexpensive HDMI cables and I doubt the $135.00 monster cables will make any difference in picture quality. The HDMI cable is not your problem.
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#17
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12/27/08 at 8:49am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

I bought a set of the 1M and 2M Dayton HDMI cables from Parts Express... a high-quality cable for dirt cheap clearance prices.

Parts Expressayton HDMI-2M HDMI Cable 2m
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#18
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12/29/08 at 5:15pm
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

@ernest

thanks for the info. good to know. thanks.

@headknocker

cool. i already have the HDMI 1.3 cables i bought but if i'm looking for a replacement or more cables i will look into this site. thanks!

thanks again to everyone who's chiming with helpful info. it's greatly appreciated
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#19
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1/22/09 at 7:40am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

I bought hdmi cables from eforcity.com and one was bad. t worked for a few times with my bluray and then I started getting a message on screen saying mode not supported and after a call to Samsung they said it was a bad hdmi cable. I swapped out the cable and everything is fine now, it played the entire movie that I had the problem with befor changing the cable.
fyi the cables were like 3.00 each on special sale, I should have known that was too cheap

Bob
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#20
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1/22/09 at 10:05am
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

hey rebs,

sorry to hear that. do you know what kinda HDMI cable it was? 1.3? i'm still learning this stuff tho. my cables i bought still work for me. haven't had any problems yet. where did you get the replacement cables from?
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#21
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1/22/09 at 12:38pm
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Re: Are These HDMI Cables Good? Newbie To HDTV's here.

Blue Jeans Cable -- Broadcast-Quality Cables at Reasonable Prices

HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

Pretty much all you need when it comes to cables.

Joe
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