HDMI cables

[6pot]

My friend is telling me to spend as much as possible on one of these because more exspensive is better? i thought they were essentially all the same but when i come to buy they start at about £10 and go up to £110! for a bloody cable! He says monster are a good brand but i just cant see anything tangible in the adverts that justifies another £50 on a cable that looks the same as a tesco jobby at £10?
can anyone tell me what the differences are?

 

[Sp!ke]

What length cable do you need?

If its just a 1m cable then you shouldn't see any difference between a £3 cable and a £100 HDMI cable.

It carries a binary signal and will either work or it wont. Yes, an unshielded cable could suffer interference but I've yet to experience this over HDMI.

 

[Tan]

I am a fan of quality cables up to a reasonable level, as I feel they will perform better in the long term.

I recently bought a IXOS cable at £17 but that offer has ended now, I also have a QED one that I bought from Tesco for £19.99 though I believe they are £29.99 now.

This company QED HDMI Cables - HDMI Cables - Page 1 - HiFiCables.co.uk are selling QED HDMI from £21.95.

 

[Satch]

This may help. Or not....

HDMI versions; what you need for 3D TV - The Ins and Outs of HDMI

 

[A210AMG]

As above with a standard length 1M HDMI cable I doubt very much you could tell the difference.

I'm all for good quality speaker cable / optical cables etc and in the past have spent a silly amount on gold plated this and that.. but being on some of the AV forums there is NO need to spend a lot on a 1M cable.

If you need a 5m plus cable then its a different story.

 

[6pot]

Its just a 1mtr length for the PS3, i have one already but its old and damaged.

Interesting reading on the version of cable, so thats something to look out for. I cant see me ever needing a 3DTV so looks like any gold plated one will do!
Thanks for the advice everyone, another reason i enjoy the friendly and helpfull people on the forum!

 

[tpwuk]

I just bought a 15m HDMI cable from an eBay trader. Paid £12 for it and it works perfectly! Anything bigger than 15m will need an extender / repeater of some kind.

 

[Noodle-Pulp]

A couple of weeks ago I was given some BS by an instore assistant at a well known electrical retailer who told me, it's all about lifespan, the cheaper ones won't last as long, you'll get drop-out much quicker than with a gold plated one.

I quickly moved on..
So as far as my own common sense and having been a network analyst/programmer some time in the past, I understand something about different specifications and length... obviously the longer the cable needs to be - the higher spec it needs to be.

 

[The _Don]

I would use as a minimum the qed range they are very good (i am in the trade so better qualified than most here)

 

[tpwuk]

I would use as a minimum the qed range they are very good (i am in the trade so better qualified than most here)

You mean you're in the trade so people need to spend more than they have to?

 

[whitenemesis]

Careful with PS as they can be fussy with cables.

Over 1m you won't see any difference between a £10 cable and a £100 version..

 

[The _Don]

You mean you're in the trade so people need to spend more than they have to?

http://awards.whathifi.com/winners/cables/2010

Is that you and a friend on a night out ?

ps we make more margin on a cheaper unbranded lead than the qed range...........................

 

[tpwuk]

^ No, that's Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer! lol

I keep more margin in my pocket too!

 

[grober]

Law of Diminishing Returns

Like all this HiFi/Av stuff its a law of diminishing returns after a fairly low level quality peak. Pay a bit more than rock bottom price will ensure you will get a better constructed/better screened cable than a cheapo but paying a lot more i.e double the price will not double the quality IMHO.
As for 3D television many argue that at present its flawed technology relying on software modification of the original non 3D signal to produce an artificial image.
quote:-

Automated software tends to work on basic algorithms, said Graham Thomas, a broadcast expert at the BBC's research and development labs.

" I think the technology will improve but fundamentally it's difficult to get the depth without the cameras.
They all work by using some simple tricks, which work most but not all of the time," he said.
"One method is to automatically make the lower half of the picture appear to be at the front and the upper half behind," said Mr Thomas.
Others are programmed to move colours, such as making greens appear closer and blues further away, while DDD uses a combination of motion capture and colour to create the illusion of depth.
"Depending on the content, it will generally either work well or look weird," said Mr Thomas.
"I think the technology will improve but fundamentally it's difficult to get the depth without source 3D cameras initiating the picture ."
However there are some shots that even the 3D cameras cannot capture, he warned.
A tight zoom - onto a sports player on the other side of a pitch for example - proved impossible for stereo cameras used during a 3D experiment while filming the recent Six Nations rugby cup, said Mr Thomas.
"The pragmatic way is to do it in 2D and bring the person forward, pushing the crowd back (in post production)," he said.
"It works for a few seconds."

To put it another way - having increased your picture quality with high resolution/high bandwidth you then degrade it with extra signal processing to produce a dodgy "effect" and a poorer quality picture than you had at the start.---oh and charge more for it.

 

[timskemp]

HDMI is a digital signal, as long as 100% of the data makes it to the other end you're ok, if it doesn't you'll know about it (sparklies, dropout etc). Beyond that it's down to convenience, constructional quality and style.

I work closely with this guy and any of these cables will work fine for you, we've done lots of installations (domestic and commercial) with them and they're as much as you need to spend.

 

[nickcc101]

Bought a cheapo cable off ebay, about £10, and the end fell off first time i unplugged it, bought new one from Asda, about £18, never been a problem.

 

[Burger]

I've used HDMI cables many times, some permanently and some get seriously abused being coiled up, uncoiled, plugged in and out many times over. Used with repeaters and splitters and the most I've ever spent is £30 for 15m cables. These people on eBay in my experience are supplying an excellent quality product.

HD Cable Shop

Regards,

 

[Satch]

I used these in place of the ropey looking no-brand wonders that came as part of the package with my BluRay player

2METER PRO GOLD RED HDMI TO HDMI CABLE WITH: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Cannot say that there was a "wow!" factor in terms of picture quality (although I think it is better) but the audio certainly cleared up markedly and is more punchy at the same volume settings

 

[Apial]

I bought a 19m HDMI cable for about £40. It runs from a PS3 up to a ceiling mounted 1080p projector. I've had no problems at all, no sparklies etc. I could have spent £300.

"A fool and their money arer easily parted!"

 

[kwakdonut]

I got a free HDMI cable when I bought my Sony TV, can't remember the brand but it retailed at £40-£50. When the Sky guy cam to put in our new HD box he said ' I'll use your cable to connect the box as the ones Sky provide are s**t!!'

Buy the best you can afford and they last for years. I am still using speaker cable and inter-connects I bought 15 years ago.

I rate QED, Ixos, Monster - all good quality and way better than anything is better than the c**p you get in the box!