HDMI cables.... Good vs BEST (1 Viewer)

I only have one question... what is the big difference between "Monster", "Dynex", and the normal plain cables; for examples off of monoprice.com.... on monoprice they are like 4 dollars for a 6 foot with gold plated ends just like monster and dynex. The only major difference i can see is that monster has a THX cerfication which i still don't understand all the way... So if im buying a cable for my blue-ray to my HDMI tv why would i pay 80-150 for a monster or dynex 6 foot when i can buy one off monoprice plain black 6 foot for 4 dollars?????????????

 

[nolesrule]

I only have one question... what is the big difference between "Monster", "Dynex", and the normal plain cables;

Profit margin

 

[Jason Charlton]

Have you seen the AWESOME packaging those Monster cables come in? It's freaking incredible! So shiny, colorful, and sparkly - not to mention how SECURELY it holds the cables in place. When you order those cheap cables from Monoprice, they just come in a box, a plastic sheath and a couple of twist ties. Who wants such crappy packaging - I'd much rather spend 20 minutes with a knife extracting my cables from their cozy, protective cocoon.

OK, all sarcasm aside, there is no difference. It's a digital transmission - so it's either 100% there or not at all. Oh, and ALL digital transmissions go at just about the speed of light, so there's no truth to "fast", "faster", and "Super-duper fast" HDMI cables, either.

As long as it's version 1.3a compliant you're all set to go.

 

[Jim Mcc]

I agree. I love Monoprice cables. Expensive cables are the biggest scam in the A/V industry. People keep buying them though because they don't know any better.

 

[ralphPerez]

Just ran across a well known site that has real reasonable price on Hdmi cables " Amazon" ordered them and set them up on my PJ and PS3 and have a excellent, beautiful picture and sound and could not believe it, the reviews are all 5, try the site.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

There is no "BEST" in HDMI cables. HDMI is a robust protocol with more than sufficient error detection. If the cable is not up to snuff, the picture deteriorates rapidly and recognizably, displaying sparkling and pixelization, followed by a blank screen. In other words, HDMI either works . . . or it doesn't. If they work, you are getting the absolute BEST picture you can get, no matter the cost of the cable. Let me say that again . . . if your HDMI cable is working (i.e., you get a picture at all, with no obvious sparkling, pixelization, etc.), then you are getting the BEST picture you can get. Buying a "better" cable will never, repeat NEVER, give you a better picture. The only thing buying an overpriced HDMI cable will do is remove more money from your wallet.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Jeff,

So let me get this straight.... You are saying that the $100.00 Monster Cable Digiphile 10,000 Special Collectors edition, boxed set, HDMI cable doesn't make the 1's come out with sharper edges and the 0's with more defined curvature?

 

[Parker Clack]

One of our sponsors Blue Jeans Cable make fantastic HMDI cables and are very well priced. I have three of them and have had nothing but fantastic results.

What every one above has said there is no difference from one HDMI cable to another.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I just ordered three 10' HDMI cables from monoprice for less than $20 (including S&H). The cables cost $4.44 apiece.

I saw at Wal-Mart last night a guy picking out a single 6' HDMI cable for $26.

It's a crazy world in which we live.

 

[TheBat]

I found some HDMI cables locally at blockbuster video. they sell both 2 ft and 3 ft. the 2 is 9.99.

Jacob

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Originally Posted by Brett DiMichele

Jeff,

So let me get this straight.... You are saying that the $100.00 Monster Cable Digiphile 10,000 Special Collectors edition, boxed set, HDMI cable doesn't make the 1's come out with sharper edges and the 0's with more defined curvature?

That's what I'm saying. Haven't had anyone prove me wrong yet.

 

[Jason Charlton]

DAMMIT! Why do they have to go and start doing this? It's just going to add fuel to the fire and further confuse everyone. If anything, the difference between the cables is related to BANDWIDTH and not SPEED, but they just HAVE to use product naming language that completely distorts the technical difference between the cables. FYI - the link refers to an article about how the naming convention of HDMI 1.4 cables will change. Yes, Virginia, there will now be an HDMI cable that is "officially" HIGH SPEED. Dammit.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Wow, Jason.

That article actually confused me already (not always a difficult thing to do!).

Admittedly, I know very little about HDMI (but am just now finding it necessary to learn something about the technology). But it seems as if 1.3 and under only had one basic technology per version...but with 1.4 they now plan on designing different cables to serve different functions?

And, you will (with 1.4) have to get the "high speed" version for 1080p...while with 1.3 and lower any old HDMI cable would carry 1080p?

 

[Edwin-S]

They must have hired someone from the marketing departments of Monster Cable or Rocketfish and he/she cooked up the idea. Or maybe he/she still works under the table for Monster Cable or Rocketfish and decided to figure out a way for them to charge 500 dollars for Chinese cables, instead of the 250 that they are charging now. What a great marketing tool for MC and Rocketfish: NEW! HDMI 1.4 now with HIGH SPEED!

What a crock.

 

[Jason Charlton]

I'll have to take a closer look at the specs, but I know lots of people are using their HDMI 1.3 cables for 1080p and haven't been complaining... All of a sudden, the NEWER spec comes out and most of the flavors (3 of 5) supposedly DON'T support 1080p? Ahh, yeah. That makes a ton of sense.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I see. So much like we know there's no difference between the "quality" of HDMI cables up to now, you are doubtful that the differences in the HDMI cables of the future will actually exist...

Sometimes you gotta smack me upside the head... http://www.deephousepage.com/smilies/slap.gif

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Just go w/ one of the easily affordable options like others pointed out. As long as the cable is legitimately compliant w/ the HDMI specs, you should be good to go. Don't necessarily go w/ the cheapest, no-frills, fly-by-night $0.99 cable out there (unless you don't mind taking a little risk), but go w/ what's already recommended by others (or at least sold by reputable dealers, etc). You do want something known to be reliable afterall -- and not have it cause headaches while you try to get things set up or have it fail due to insufficient QC, etc. a few months to a year later.

Also, treat your cables reasonably, if you want them to last. In practice, probably the weakest point (and most prone to failure) of a cable is the connector and where it meets the cable itself. Don't force that to bend, eg. don't push it against a wall or the back of your A/V rack/cabinet. Take a little care when you connect or disconnect the cable from a device. I can imagine the more expensive cables *might* offer somewhat more protection toward such ends, but they are not indestructible either way.

Stuff like THX certification is mostly just a marketing ploy (like already mentioned). The cheaper options just don't pass along the cost of "THX certification" (or whatever other marketing bulletpoint) to the customer is all. The wealthiest (and arguably most successful) man in the country basically "failed" to get Harvard certification some years ago (so to speak), but that hasn't stopped him from building an empire that's dominated the field for a couple decades now.

_Man_

 

[Jason Charlton]

OK, this is looking more and more like complete marketing BS by the HDMI folks themselves. That's probably the most disappointing aspect of it to me - I can understand Monster making this crap up, but for the folks at HDMI to start doing it is a bummer.

Their online Knowledge base contains no details yet on the 1.4 spec, but here are two interesting items FROM THEIR OWN SITE regarding the capabilities of HDMI 1.3:

Q: What functionality was added to each version of HDMI?

Q: What's new in the HDMI 1.3 specification?

In each instance, they specifically state that 1.3 supports full 1080p resolution, Deep Color, and x.v.Color.

I can buy that "ethernet" capability (whatever that really means) may have required an enhancement to the spec, but as far as I can tell, the rest of the "improvements" 1.4 is supposed to provide is a bunch of crap.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Not that I really want to get off on a rant here, but HDMI.org did post some high-level bullet points on what the 1.4 spec provides. In most cases, the cable spec is preceeding the actual feature spec. Hardware doesn't yet exist that can benefit from these features, nor provide a source for these features. Have the specs for the features themselves (like 3D, 4K video streams) even been determined yet? I don't see any reason to get a 1.4 cable for at least a few years.

If anyone's interested: Introducing HDMI 1.4

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Half the feature set of HDMI 1.3 has never seen the light of day (at least at the consumer level), never mind the stuff in HDMI 1.4.