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General discussion

How important is the quality of the HDMI Cable

Feb 26, 2008 2:49AM PST

Hi. I bought a new upcoverting dvd player. I wanted to buy an HDMI cable to hook it to my TV. The price for a 6 foot HDMI cable range from $5 to $99. Does anyone have any input on how important the quality of this cable is. Im not sure if I should just get any cable or spring for an expensive one.

TV: 42in Samsung 720p Plasma
DVD: Pioneer DV 400 K (Great price at Best Buy in case anyone is interested)

Discussion is locked

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there should be no differences for distances of <50ft...
Feb 26, 2008 2:57AM PST

because it's just transferring *digital* signals, there no significant degradation at all for distances of 50 ft or less. If I got the gist of some studies correctly, upwards of 100ft of cable there actually can be some digital signal loss - but you probably don't need it.

The $5 cable would be worth tryin' out.

I got a great cable for a great price from this place: http://www.bluejeanscalbes.com/
also check out this place: http://www.monoprice.com/

The only other thing you may have to check the HDMI version...I think they're on v1.4 or something. I think it's only an issue of bandwidth, which should be taken care of my reasonably priced cables.

Best,
Shalin

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Is flexibility important?
Feb 26, 2008 5:36AM PST

That's the only other issue I've heard for this-that the really cheap ones might not stand up to much wear, if they are in a spot where you're going to futz around with them much. Still not seeing people advocating going tot he real expensive, but if wear is an issue maybe you do the $15 instead of the $5?

I just got 2 10' HDMI for a total of $20 inc'g shipping, so obviously I believe the cheapest ones are fine! Actually found them on Amazon, which suprised me. Was one of their partners and the shipping took nearly 2 weeks--I was VERY not impressed by that.

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I used to be in consumer electronics
Feb 26, 2008 8:09AM PST

I used to be in consumer electronics and I can tell you that the better cables are mostly for looks. In many cases, you will get better connectors that sometimes made a difference with the older RCA style cables, but I doubt it would make a big difference with digital.

Of course if you want to brag to your friends that you have a $100 cable who can put a price on 'oneupmanship' Yeah, I've got Randall Research cables made with 100% oxygen free copper and use silver solder that cost $200/meter......

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analog
Feb 26, 2008 8:38AM PST

Expensive cables were more useful 'back in the day', back when everything was analog.

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Very Important for various reasons
Feb 26, 2008 10:55AM PST

First of all. You have to know that whatever you buy in a retail electronics store which will all remain nameless, will be extremely over priced. The fact is that it's the industry buzz; HDMI this and HDMI that. And several manufacturers are banking on it by spending manufacturing dollars on unecessary aesthetics.

A good HDMI Cable that will delivery great picture and sound should be:

HDMI 1.3 (and be backward compatible)
1080p | 1080i | 720p | Surround Sound
CL3 (In Wall) Rated
HDCP Compliant
24K Gold ends
ATS Shield (protects form outside interference from other carriers and frequencies)
FPED Dielectric
UL Approved

But remember, not over priced. You can buy HDMI cables from us starting at $3.99. www.shop4wire.com/catalog.

You will extremely satisfied. We are a retailer backed by a wholesale distributor. Shop4wire and you receives this benefit. Goood luck. Happy HD TV Watching.

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Quality a non issue
Feb 27, 2008 3:41AM PST

Digital data is "go or no go" in that you either can read it or you can't. That's it. As long as you can read it, the cable is fine regardless of quality.

The only time quality will ever come into play is for longer cables (and then it's not so much quality as wire size for better transmission) where signal loss drops beyond the point of bieng read. If you are at risk of that signal lost then higher quality may make a difference between the signal being lost at 28' when you need 30'.

Most of us keep our gear close. The TV is not 30' from the DVD Player.