Expensive Hdmi Cables

[peedon]

There's a difference between the cheap HDMI cables and the expensive HDMI cables. As you know, in the digital age, the signals are now "1"s and "0"s and need "digital" cables. Old analog cables (like speaker cables) are all twisted and curly inside. The cheaper HDMI cables are made of these cables and as a result the digital "1"s get stuck now and then and corrupt the digital signal giving rise to crackling in the sound and pixellation in the picture. The more expensive HDMI signals have an anti-curl treatment that allows the digital "1"s to get through smoothly removing all the noise. This is main reason why Monster cables can sell at such a premium.

I hear that the next version of HDMI will have error correction in built into the high end cables..

[peedon]

On this Selby stuff is there much difference between cost in Aus vs US??

[pgdownload]

If it doesn't get there AND in the allocated timespan, it fails to register digital one and degrades the signal. That sounds eminently feasible to me!!

Which is why people get suckered into buying $300+ cables What your techi says is quite correct however the spin is in the sentence "If it doesn't get there". Again quite correct however unless the cable is actually faulty then the signal always gets there.

Its quite easy to verify for yourself - just get a $300 HDMI cable and a $30 HDMI cable. Get someone to switch them around while you're out of the room and have some fun trying to 1) even tell the pictures apart and 2) guess which one is the 'good' cable.

As many have mentioned the only real rule with HDMI cables is that is you're over 5 metres then better quality ones will more likely avoid 'sparkles'. For a one metre cable you'll get precisely the same PQ between any two given HDMI cables.

Personally I find the same debate (about expensive cables) in analogue cables (ie component) rather thin (after a certain $ value - say $80), but at least it holds some validity. In analogue cables you have the same reliance on voltage but the voltage varies infinitely between 0 and 1 in a sinusoidal curve. So over a millisecond the value might be something like:

.567, .569, .571, .543, .542, etc

Of course I'm taking a reading of the curve value at set points (which incidentally is basically how a MP3 works and so is a much smaller file). However depending on the quality of the cable you can get interference, little spikes, impedance means values are not hit correctly, etc. So play the above again and you might get

.567, .580, .575, .560, .510, etc

These variations alter the sound characteristics. But in the case of HDMI / digital everything gets rounded to either 1 or 0. So similar variations in the signal are irrelevant

.990, .780, .880, .10, .898, .21 , .3

becomes

1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0

Regards

Peter Gillespie

[phillexos]

I bought a 15 m hdmi to dvi cable for $70 from a computer friend of mine. He hunted around for a couple of days

and found one out at Auburn in Sydney. I have had no problems with it so far and the signal is very clear. The only problem Im

having is the overscan in the windows desktop on my sxrd 60". Just hoping nvidia will resolve this problem in there drivers soon.

cheers!

[Rick_In_Tas]

Its quite easy to verify for yourself - just get a $300 HDMI cable and a $30 HDMI cable. Get someone to switch them around while you're out of the room and have some fun trying to 1) even tell the pictures apart and 2) guess which one is the 'good' cable.

As many have mentioned the only real rule with HDMI cables is that is you're over 5 metres then better quality ones will more likely avoid 'sparkles'. For a one metre cable you'll get precisely the same PQ between any two given HDMI cables.

I agree. Most people (myself included) probably couldn't tell the difference between a "great" cable and a merely "good' one.

However, I reckon the 'sparkles' are more likely cause by a defect in manufacture of a particular cable than to any generic fault due to the cable being "cheap".

I've always found the more a signal route was compromised, i.e by wall plates, adapters etc. etc., the more likely the sound or picture on the other end was subject to noise or snow... or even sparkles. I went through a lot of trouble in my new set up to make sure I could join one piece of kit to another without breaking the signal path, i.e. cutting the cable in any way in order to pass it through a wall etc.

cheers,

Rick

[Polymer]

If you're doing in wall installation or it's going to be a long cable, its subject to more issues so you will probably want higher grade cables..that said, the more expensive cables aren't necessarily any better.

I've seen what should be good HDMI cables on ebay in AUS..based on what they're made out of..but I'd still buy from monoprice if given the choice. Their cables are very well made, they have a VERY good reputation on AVS..and they're cheap..

[Rick_In_Tas]

I dont no muich about HDMI cabels.. theres always seems different brands and different pricese... do all HDMI cables does just one all same thing or do all different hdmi does a different thing ?

I now hdmi is pic and audio all combine into one cable but been said with different pricese from 30.00 to 200.00 its confusing its like trying to choose a different brand shoe from cheap shoe to an luxury expensive shoe..

I will soon to be buying one cable when i get the chance to buying a dvd recorder aventualy this year.. get rid slowly the old equipment from the 90's and bring the new today.

Linda

xox

Hey Linda,

You are right, the HDMI cable sends the digital audio and vision signals to your TV or amp through one cable instead of three or four.

Most people won't be able to tell the difference between a good cable and a great cable, me included. My advice is to avoid really cheap cables like those in "reject" or "$2" shops and you would probably just be wasting money buying the $200 ones too. There are places online such as Selby Acoustics in Melbourne who will sell you a very good 3m HDMI cable for $50 or so.

Not cheap, but not expensive. They will work very well, and have a 30 day refund if you're not happy. I have no connection with this business, but have bought quite a number of cables from them. They are good cables with quick delivery.

You wouldn't buy cheap shoes, now, would you?

Rick

[MR08]

Hey Linda,

You are right, the HDMI cable sends the digital audio and vision signals to your TV or amp through one cable instead of three or four.

Most people won't be able to tell the difference between a good cable and a great cable, me included. My advice is to avoid really cheap cables like those in "reject" or "$2" shops and you would probably just be wasting money buying the $200 ones too. There are places online such as Selby Acoustics in Melbourne who will sell you a very good 3m HDMI cable for $50 or so.

Not cheap, but not expensive. They will work very well, and have a 30 day refund if you're not happy. I have no connection with this business, but have bought quite a number of cables from them. They are good cables with quick delivery.

You wouldn't buy cheap shoes, now, would you?

Rick

I picked up a Selby 3m HDMI cable yesterday for $45 including delivery. I haven't tried it yet, I'll be connecting it to my new Pio 507 and Panasonic HT system next week.

You can buy from their website or you can get it for slightly cheaper on their ebay store.

I must say I was impressed with the speed of delivery. I bought on Wednesday about 10am and they were shipped by midday (they emailed to confirm this) and I received them the parcel the next day. Very happy

Edit

Thanks to this thread I was able to make an informed descision, instead of relying on the dude from HN, who would have sould me $100 cables

I love this dtv forum

Edited August 16, 2007 by MR08

[miata]

i've seen alot of different cables availble ranging from $300 to $20. so the question is; is there a difference? i know high end audio cables does make a difference but visual? i'll mainly be using DVI > HDMI connection though the computer so is $300 cables just snake oil? any feedback appreciated...

*i dont know if this is the right section to post this but i searched around but couldnt find a proper section.

There was an article in one of the Len Wallis newsletters recently, apparently better HDMI cables do make a difference over a long run, for example running to a projector placed a few metres from the amp.

[Dondomains]

Hey Linda,

You are right, the HDMI cable sends the digital audio and vision signals to your TV or amp through one cable instead of three or four.

Most people won't be able to tell the difference between a good cable and a great cable, me included. My advice is to avoid really cheap cables like those in "reject" or "$2" shops and you would probably just be wasting money buying the $200 ones too. There are places online such as Selby Acoustics in Melbourne who will sell you a very good 3m HDMI cable for $50 or so.

Not cheap, but not expensive. They will work very well, and have a 30 day refund if you're not happy. I have no connection with this business, but have bought quite a number of cables from them. They are good cables with quick delivery.

You wouldn't buy cheap shoes, now, would you?

Rick

Good morning.

Yes thats exactly right wouldnt no the differents from a 30.00dollars HDMI cable to a 300.00 expensive same lenth HDMI cable..

We all now HDMI isnt different then the cheap oir the exensive one. It carrys audio and image aswell combine into just one cable.. easy there.

But i quite dont understand whats the differents from a very expensive cable to a 100.00 dollar cable to a 50 to 30.00 dollars cables..

Would you say if you spend 300.00 for a HDMI cable your going to get luxury viewing ? can you compare it with a 40.00 hdmi cable perhaps?

There is no posible way that if they going to sale HDMI cables at about a low price its going to look dreadful ones you connect. They can not do such thing and sale these cables to consumers.. its like saleing nice sony tvs'' the cheaper will break because they made it that way for cheaper price.. they cant do that and sale things like that. If current afairs can deal with that soon fine out.

Sure i wont buy a 2.00 cable or a 300.00 luxury cable. i will send some what about 30ish to 50ish cable but defently not cheap and defently not expensive.

Like i said.. if they sale cheap cables from cheaper to the expensive ones and the cheap ones will not be good.. then why do they make cheap HDMI for consumers ? more like ripping us off with cables thats for sure.. Its against the law to sale things like that. Again its like in asia.. they made fake colegate paste and it was made in the philipines and it was fake colegate brand making them believe it was perfectly allright and perfectly real colegate when it wasnt. well same in reverse with HDMI cables

I believe HDMI is erfect for me because been suffering from all reds/whites/yellow connections one point to another all thru the 1990's

Like i said.. its against the law to make hdmi cables for the price of 20.00 or such that wont look perfect viewing on screen... they made it to look dreadful for that price they made it to look dreadful to begine with so they say make the bad cables over here and put the good working best cables over this side.... so there as you can see the ather side putting all bad cables will lead to against the law for making them bad and sale them... wouldnt they rather sale HDMI that does work and does bring 100% promise guarranty without a dought? thats what i start to think about hdmi cableing.

We will aventualy look into HDMI cables business very soon as soon as i buy that panasonic recorder which elads to HDMI to plasma. Non of my equipments contains HDMI because its things i brought from the late 90's but the plasma this year contains many hdmi plugins and ready there to connect when ready with new applience.

Linda

xox

Edited August 17, 2007 by Dondomains

[Polymer]

Again, unless you're running it in-wall or areas w/ a lot of interference or you're running a very long HDMI cable, aside from really bad HDMI cables, you're not going to get ANY benefit from buying an expensive 300 dollar cable. Those ones in the stores you see for 200+ are a total rip off, especially since they are generally 2-3 meters in length.

Analog cables are different but digital is fairly clear cut.

Now, as far as audio over HDMI...not all devices support it but the newer revisions all have support for audio..

[Hosko]

I ordered a 5m DVI to HDMI cable from HTcustomCables.com for $99, selbyacoustics had one for $219. I only guess there is one way to find out if a cheaper one is going to make a difference.

[Hosko]

Again, unless you're running it in-wall or areas w/ a lot of interference or you're running a very long HDMI cable, aside from really bad HDMI cables, you're not going to get ANY benefit from buying an expensive 300 dollar cable. Those ones in the stores you see for 200+ are a total rip off, especially since they are generally 2-3 meters in length.

Analog cables are different but digital is fairly clear cut.

Now, as far as audio over HDMI...not all devices support it but the newer revisions all have support for audio..

The Kordz cables clearly state they "Complies to HDMI test specification 1.3a for lengths 1-3m, and specification 1.2a for lengths 5-25m" where as the Selby cables say they fully comply with the 1.3 standard. As the Selby cable is half the price I would think you would have to give them a try especially considering "Try this cable out and if your not 100% satisfied with it's performance we'll refund your payment in full including shipping within Australia! There's plenty of sellers offering super high quality at a fraction of the price, you can find these claims all over the place. Hard to believe at best most of the time! We stand by our claims!"

[MR08]

Good morning.

Yes thats exactly right wouldnt no the differents from a 30.00dollars HDMI cable to a 300.00 expensive same lenth HDMI cable..

We all now HDMI isnt different then the cheap oir the exensive one. It carrys audio and image aswell combine into just one cable.. easy there.

But i quite dont understand whats the differents from a very expensive cable to a 100.00 dollar cable to a 50 to 30.00 dollars cables..

Would you say if you spend 300.00 for a HDMI cable your going to get luxury viewing ? can you compare it with a 40.00 hdmi cable perhaps?

There is no posible way that if they going to sale HDMI cables at about a low price its going to look dreadful ones you connect. They can not do such thing and sale these cables to consumers.. its like saleing nice sony tvs'' the cheaper will break because they made it that way for cheaper price.. they cant do that and sale things like that. If current afairs can deal with that soon fine out.

Sure i wont buy a 2.00 cable or a 300.00 luxury cable. i will send some what about 30ish to 50ish cable but defently not cheap and defently not expensive.

Like i said.. if they sale cheap cables from cheaper to the expensive ones and the cheap ones will not be good.. then why do they make cheap HDMI for consumers ? more like ripping us off with cables thats for sure.. Its against the law to sale things like that. Again its like in asia.. they made fake colegate paste and it was made in the philipines and it was fake colegate brand making them believe it was perfectly allright and perfectly real colegate when it wasnt. well same in reverse with HDMI cables

I believe HDMI is erfect for me because been suffering from all reds/whites/yellow connections one point to another all thru the 1990's

Like i said.. its against the law to make hdmi cables for the price of 20.00 or such that wont look perfect viewing on screen... they made it to look dreadful for that price they made it to look dreadful to begine with so they say make the bad cables over here and put the good working best cables over this side.... so there as you can see the ather side putting all bad cables will lead to against the law for making them bad and sale them... wouldnt they rather sale HDMI that does work and does bring 100% promise guarranty without a dought? thats what i start to think about hdmi cableing.

We will aventualy look into HDMI cables business very soon as soon as i buy that panasonic recorder which elads to HDMI to plasma. Non of my equipments contains HDMI because its things i brought from the late 90's but the plasma this year contains many hdmi plugins and ready there to connect when ready with new applience.

Linda

xox

OMG where do you start

I don't have time to pick through all of that post.

Linda, its not against the law to make " hdmi cables for the price of 20.00 or such that wont look perfect viewing on screen".

You basically get what you pay for.

If you buy a $20 you run the risk of getting a dud. The more you pay then the chances are greater that the brand will want satisfaction out of their product.

Most of the time you are paying a premium for the brand name. So $30 -70 cables should suffice.

[Polymer]

The Kordz cables clearly state they "Complies to HDMI test specification 1.3a for lengths 1-3m, and specification 1.2a for lengths 5-25m" where as the Selby cables say they fully comply with the 1.3 standard. As the Selby cable is half the price I would think you would have to give them a try especially considering "Try this cable out and if your not 100% satisfied with it's performance we'll refund your payment in full including shipping within Australia! There's plenty of sellers offering super high quality at a fraction of the price, you can find these claims all over the place. Hard to believe at best most of the time! We stand by our claims!"

Yeap..which is why price doesn't determine the quality of a cable....The best HDMI cables I've used are actually quite inexpensive...

[davc88]

well i have a 1.5m $20 hdmi cable. we couldnt tell the difference between that and a $90 cable thats bought from JB by my friend. this reminds me of the argument between glass TOS cable vs plastic TOS cable...as long as you see a red light coming out of the other end of the cable your good

[Dondomains]

I wouldnt spend 200 or 300dollars for hdmi cable. Thats alot of money for a cable that pretty much can work as good as a cheap 30.00 cable.

So the cheap cables isnt (run the risk of not working correctly) but more of the manufactors making the cheap cable to make it look that it will not work correctly.

I think that people shouldnt spend so much for cables and defently not cheap cables.. just buy something like 40.00 or such but dont waste money if you now a cheap hdmi to a expensive one does the same job +

Linda

xox

[Dondomains]

Yeap..which is why price doesn't determine the quality of a cable....The best HDMI cables I've used are actually quite inexpensive...

Yep could try check out some of the many stores here in melbourne for the good price on the HDMI cables.. Just dont spend too much and dont buy the ones under 30.00 just spend suppose 40 to 50 dollars and see how that goes.. We all want hdmi cable to work perfectly. But if it end up not working you would think and wonder why do they make such brands if it dosnt work in the first place. Good luck with that

Linda'xoxo

'

[StarLane]

Are the expensive HDMI cables better shielded than the cheapies?????

[AndrewW]

Are the expensive HDMI cables better shielded than the cheapies?????

Not necessarily.

There are far too many variables involved.

Some $30 cables will perform just as well as a $300 cable.

But then some $50 cables will be absolute crap.

It's really a matter of sticking with the recommended brands based on people's real life experience (or buying from a store that will give your money back if the cable doesn't perform).

[metal beat]

I have a dick smith $40 HDMI and a Belkin $200 HDMI and there does not seem to be a difference in PQ.

My experience with cables in hi fi and audio is that cables DO make a difference.

[AndrewW]

I have a dick smith $40 HDMI and a Belkin $200 HDMI and there does not seem to be a difference in PQ.

And there is no real reason why there should be.

The cable will either work or it won't (and by won't I include dodgy "sparklie" cables).

[Dondomains]

I yet need to reveal HDMI cables as soon as i buy my dvd recorder.. which elads to hdmi.

But i wonder how im going to be choosing hdmi cable from all different level price to different brands.. they all seem very good package brands making it all confusing its like choosing sony v's panasonic cables or such and both are 100% good but like i said.. i sure wont be spending a fortune for cables at that price... maybe suppose 30 to 50dollar hdmi will be fine and will check to see how that goes when i get it.

Good luck

linda

xox

[diesel]

Or see if the Retailer will throw in the cable when you purchase your DVD recorder

[Jackal939]

Or see if the Retailer will throw in the cable when you purchase your DVD recorder

Yea most the time you are able to get the retailer to throw in some cables if you push the point.