Cheap component cable from Monoprice (1 Viewer)

[Ennsio]

Has anybody ordered component cable from monoprice.com? Their prices are so much lower than anywhere else that I've looked, so I was wondering if the quality is much lower, or if there is something significant missing from the cables' construction.

For example, prices for a 6ft component cable are:
Premium - $12.54
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...ormat=2&style=
Standard - $4.21
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...ormat=2&style=

Specs on Premium cable:
PREMIUM 6FT 3-RCA Component Video RG-6 18AWG 75Ohm CL2 Rated Cable
# Specifications: Color Coded: Green, Red and Blue
# Triple heavy-duty super shielded RG-6/U coaxial cables to maximum signal transfer and minimize interference.
# Gold plated RCA plugs to improve conductivity.
# Color coded and labelled for the luminance (Y) and chrominance (Pr, Pb) Signals.
# Solid center conductor: 18 AWG (1*1.02) Super shielding: 120 % aluminum foil + 9*16/0.12 TINNED COPPER Braid
# Fully molded construction. Excellent quality.


Anywhere else that I have looked for component cable has priced them around the $50 mark, including bluejeanscable, Monster (obviously overpriced), and Bestbuy's in store brand, Rocketfish.

I am looking at getting component cable for my DVD player, as I am currently running it on S-Video. My tv is a 27" JVC CRT with one component input, one S-video, and three composite inputs. I also have a PS2, which I have running into the tv in the component input as the PS2 component cable was far cheaper than a regular component cable for the DVD player. All audio from the DVD player and PS2 player is going into my Denon AVR 786, and I have digital audio coming from the DVD player. If I upgrade the DVD player from S-Video to component, it would require two cables - one from the DVD player to the receiver, and then one from the receiver to the tv (I would then plug PS2 video into the receiver).

I would like to upgrade my picture quality on DVDs from S-Video to component if it is cheap enough, but did not think it was worth it at $100 for the two cables. With the $24 price at monoprice, it becomes much more feasible, so I just wanted to check if anybody can see a reason why these cables are so cheap, and if there is some reason that this is too good to be true. One point to keep in mind is that I will not be upgrading to an HDTV anytime soon, as we are planning on moving overseas in a couple years.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

A lot of people like the prices at MonoPrice and recommend their cables.

But the devil is in the details. These cables are NOT rated for HD signals or even progressive from a progressive-scan DVD player (although they will appear to work fine).

As long as you are sticking to standard-video and that tube TV - these cables would work great for you.

 

[Ennsio]

It is for a non-progressive scan DVD player to a CRT tv, so it won't be expected to handle HD signals.

Upgrading to an HDTV and upconverting DVD player or HD-DVD or Blue-Ray player is still a few years off :frowning: .

 

[Stephen Tu]

As I've stated many times before, this is quite untrue. One doesn't need "HD cables". These cables are made of the same dimensions & materials as any other RG-59 component cable that may happen to have the lettering "HD" on it. The lettering changes nothing. It defies the laws of physics to have cables of the same construction, dimensions, and materials to have drastically different bandwidth limits. This RG-59 is the same that can carry hundreds of megahertz worth of CATV signals, why should it have issues with HD analog baseband component? If you were talking SDI in the gigahertz range maybe you'd have a point but you keep on asserting that basically these things have massive attenuation starting as low as 7 Mhz which is ridiculous.

If any of your assertions about this were remotely true, you'd think on the Belden web site you'd see references to various cables that were suitable for HD baseband, and warnings that certain cables were not suitable. But you won't find any such notices, since there aren't such animals. And you won't find any company anywhere selling cheaper "standard definition only" component cables.

They will appear to work fine, because they are working perfectly fine. There are plenty of people using monoprice for HD, with zero issues.

My company installs hundreds of rooms worth of HD STBs in hotels. Mostly we use HDMI, but if we use component we certainly aren't ordering special "HD component" vs. "regular component", because this distinction exists nowhere. I don't know where you got this notion.

 

[Steve^S]

Is the same true with HDMI? Will be connecting a hd sat receiver and a dvd player to a sony kds 60A2020.
Monoprice has these:
HDMI Cable male to male 28AWG for 4.79 each
and these:
HDMI to HDMI CL2 Rated Cable (24AWG) w/ net jacket for 15.44 each
Is one that much better than the other?
Thanks
Steve

 

[Stephen Tu]

The CL2 stuff is for in-wall installation, safety in case of a fire. The cheap HDMI cable will work fine for just connecting components over shortish runs. Over a really long run (dozens of feet) you might need the more expensive thicker ones to avoid dropouts (sparkles on the screen).

 

[Steve^S]

Thanks Stephen. Appreciate the response.
Steve

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Which of these correspond to the Mono Price cable? Who knows. The coax all looks alike.

The other thing I usually look for is the Attenuation/Frequency response. Coax for HD analog video should have a -3db point at around 100 Mhz. Since the Monoprice website does not list this information, I am going with the conservative view and assume they will work fine for the 4 Mhz max frequency of standard-def video.

 

[Stephen Tu]

Bob, you are beyond "conservative view". You are creating an issue that just doesn't exist, that no one has to worry about, that has no basis anywhere other than your own posts. It seems like you need the reassurance of "HD" lettering somewhere on the package or cable. I don't, since I have some understanding of physics. Besides, if this were a real issue, don't you think all these HD DVD/Blu-ray/progressive scan players would have warnings in the manual to only buy the "proper" component cables, and warning you about how some cables aren't sufficient? But they don't, since as I said there is no issue.

There are no "standard-def only" component cables. These are all similar size, construction, materials, they are going to perform similarly. It's simply not possible to have cables this similar yet have one have 10x more bandwith than the other. Standard-def is running nowhere close to the bandwidth limits of the cable, and neither is high-def. These cables can carry HUNDREDS of megahertz worth of normal TV. It is not until you are closer to the gigahertz range, satellite dish signals & such, that bandwidth starts to be an issue & you want to go to RG-6 instead of RG-59.

Anyone who wants to verify for themselves, can do so now quite easily, just get the HD Digital video essentials test disc, stick it into HD-DVD player and hook up component cables you want to compare. If there were significant attenuation of the high frequency signals it would be apparent on the resolution frequency sweep test patterns, the bars would grey out & you wouldn't be able to resolve them.

 

[Daddy-G]

Your explanations are compelling and seem very logical to me (I am not at all educated on this topic). However, I have a follow up Q:
Why do all the suppliers seem to offer "Standard" and "Premium" and some times "Super Premium" options for cable? For example:
Video Cable - RCA Component

I am building a custom home and must choose which cable to run from location to location (HD DVR Boxes to multiple TVs across various rooms). Based on my basic understanding, I have decided on Component as opposed to HDMI due to the long runs involved. However, I want to ensure I use adequately rated cable while not wasting money on unnecessary "upgrades" that may be meaningless.

I appreciate your insight.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

Originally Posted by Daddy-G

Your explanations are compelling and seem very logical to me (I am not at all educated on this topic). However, I have a follow up Q:
Why do all the suppliers seem to offer "Standard" and "Premium" and some times "Super Premium" options for cable? For example:
Video Cable - RCA Component

I am building a custom home and must choose which cable to run from location to location (HD DVR Boxes to multiple TVs across various rooms). Based on my basic understanding, I have decided on Component as opposed to HDMI due to the long runs involved. However, I want to ensure I use adequately rated cable while not wasting money on unnecessary "upgrades" that may be meaningless.

I appreciate your insight.
I think there would be some truth to the fact that the more expensive "premium cables" are of higher quality (heavier gauge wire, more shielding, etc), but at least with many digital cables "standard" means you don't pay a lot. "Premium" means they charge a little more and "Super Premium" means you might drop $129 for a six foot HDMI cable at Best Buy.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable can give you a better answer, but I had to throw that in there.