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General discussion

HDMI Cable 120vs240

by volvogirl Oct 25, 2009 7:19AM PDT

My friend bought a Samsung 46" LED 240hz at Best Buy. They told him he had to get a HDMI cable rated for 240 and sold him a Monster cable for $99. Is that true? I read the posts here about all the cables basically being the same and you don't need to spend a lot, but what about this 120hz and 240hz?

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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HDMI
by sosowhat Oct 25, 2009 8:33AM PDT

The people at bb are full of crap! Any HDMI cable will carry all the signal you can throw at it. 120hz or 240hz tv's do the processing in the tv and not through the HDMI cable so that was shamefull what they said. They just wanted to sell an overpriced cable.

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BB is absolutely shameless.
by minimalist Oct 25, 2009 10:05AM PDT

Tell him to bring the cable back and demand to see the manager and report this BS. Get a refund and go to Amazon, blue jeans cable or monoprice.com and buy a 10 dollar cable. All of BB's cables are onscenely overpriced (both Monster and Dynex).

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HDMI Cables
by FaithfulSinner Oct 26, 2009 4:09AM PDT

Previous 2 posts are very accurate. You need to have that cable returned. Specs are what matters and 99% of HDMI cables out there will support 120Hz. 240Hz is not necessary for most applications available today. 120Hz is really only needed for BluRay and PS3. Beyond 120Hz is virtually unreachable by most sources today.

That $99 cable was purchased for 10 bucs from the monster and made for $2 overseas. It's a great marketing-based scam. Please spread the word.

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Went Back to BB
by volvogirl Oct 27, 2009 3:11AM PDT

We went back to Best Buy to get the Free Samsung BluRay Player that was advertised with the TV the next day in the Sunday Ad. (Had bought the TV Saturday night. Good Deal!

Complained to the mgr about being sold the special 240hz Monster cable. She never addressed the 240 part. All she kept saying was HDMI cables are 70% video and 30% audio and you can get the audio out of synch with the lips, etc. And if you do you need to use an audio cable....
What is that all about?

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Got to Love BB
by FaithfulSinner Oct 27, 2009 4:07AM PDT

They will never have anything to say about the 240. If they do, ask them what it is for or what supports that refresh rate. They will either lie, or tell you that you do not need that rate because the components you have don't support it.

Also, if you need to run audio separate because it looks out of sync(video/audio) then you need a new HDMI cable. The one you have is defective. One of the benefits of HDMI is only needing 1 cable for audio and video.

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She telling half truths that don;t really matter
by minimalist Oct 27, 2009 4:11AM PDT

to misdirect you and keep you buying their absurdly high margin cables.

Gizmodo did a full scale investigation between Monster Cables and Monoprice ones and found that while Monster's were indeed more capable when it came to future high end standards (standards which aren't anywhere near being implemented in the next 5 years and arguably will never be implemented... we aren't talking about 1080p Blu-ray here... we are talking about 4K signals) it made absolutely no difference to people with the typical 6 foot runs found in most home theater setups. If you want to keep the same cable for the next 10 years so you are ready for 4K TV when it comes then by all mean buy the Monster Cables. Of course you run the risk that these super high end standards may never actually be implemented or that a newer better cable type comes along in the meantime.

If you want to read more check the three part Gizmodo story out:

http://gizmodo.com/266616/the-truth-about-monster-cable
http://gizmodo.com/268788/the-truth-about-monster-cable-part-2-verdict-cheap-cables-keep-upusually
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2007/07/the_truth_about_monster_cable_2/

Gizmodo's final verdict?

"Monster has a point about future-proofing. I have no doubt, given our testing, that Monster cables can outperform other cables in video formats that are not yet in use....The only people who should buy Monster cable are people who light cigars with Benjamins. Fortunately for Monster, there are plenty of those people. They?re not even suckers, they are just rich as hell, and want the best. This testing did not prove that Monster is not the best. It just proved that the best is, for the most part, unnecessary."

Just demand your money back and go buy a 10 dollar cable online at Blue Jean Cables, Monoprice, or Amazon.

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Thanks for these posts and replies.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 28, 2009 1:41AM PDT

All I can write is wow, the consumers are being milked!

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