HDMI Cables

Topbike77

Is there much difference between the expensive and the cheap cables? I bought a cheap one on ebay roughly 9 months ago and its after dying but it seemed fine up until today, any thoughts?

coylemj

There may be loose connectors inside your cable which is probably a good reason not to go too cheap but as far as the cable themselves are concerned, there is no difference. The data is digital so once you have a picture with no sparkly pixels, the data is being received loud and clear and no amount of precious metals or fancy shielding will make the slightest difference.

I buy them in Tesco. Even PC World has thrown in the towel and no has a 'no brand' cable rack though not right beside the expensive cables mind. They still try it on with the fancy stuff if they think they can get away with it but somewhere else in the store you'll find the cheap cables which do exactly the same job.

Soundman

I bought three of THESE 3 years ago and they are still going strong.

Topbike77

Thanks for the recommendation. Im actually using it for gaming purposes and was wondering if a shorter cable = faster response?

EI2011

deals stores are doing them for 1.49 there as good as the 20 quid hdmis im telling you

coylemj

There have been stories of the connectors breaking off very cheap cables and getting jammed in the TV or cable/gaming/satellite/DVD device.

Add up what you've paid for the gaming device and the TV, is it going to kill you to spend €10 to buy a half-decent cable instead of a heap of sh1te costing €5 from eBay or a pound shop?

Soundman wrote: »

I bought three of THESE 3 years ago and they are still going strong.

Yes, and my grandad smoked 40 Woodbines a day and lived to be 120.

micks_address

I would say yes pay up to a tenner for a hdmi cable but dont buy a Monster gold plated cable or QED cable for 70 euro and think you're going to see a difference.. the one place expensive cables can make a difference is over long runs or if you are using 3d.. you'll need hdmi 1.4 spec cables.. Depending on the amount of equipment you have around the tv and the size of the tv it may be worth buying a better shielded cable.. its ones and zero's at the end of the day..

Soundman

coylemj wrote: »

Yes, and my grandad smoked 40 Woodbines a day and lived to be 120.

What is your issue? They aren't expensive but are really good quality cables. I use them at home and in work as well. Used a few times a week I haven't had any problems with them.

clintondaly

other than the actual build quality of the connections there is no apparent difference in cheap versus expensive HDMI cable,there are 2 types of cable however.

Standard (or "category 1") HDMI cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 75Mhz or up to 2.25Gbps, which is the equivalent of a 720p/1080i signal.

High Speed (or "category 2") HDMI cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 340Mhz or up to 10.2Gbps, which is the highest bandwidth currently available over an HDMI cable and can successfully handle 1080p signals including those at increased color depths and/or increased refresh rates from the Source. High-Speed cables are also able to accommodate higher resolution displays, such as WQXGA cinema monitors (resolution of 2560 x 1600).

Plus,HDMI lose quality on cable over25ft in length

coylemj

Soundman wrote: »

What is your issue? They aren't expensive but are really good quality cables. I use them at home and in work as well. Used a few times a week I haven't had any problems with them.

My point is that the exception doesn't prove the rule.

The OP bought cheap and the cable stopped working after 9 months, were his cables 'really good quality'?

Paying hundreds of euros for a TV, DVD or Blu-Ray, PS3 or xBox, AV receiver etc. and then scrimping and saving 5 or 10 euros by buying cheap HDMI cables off eBay is complete madness. I don't support buying those overpriced Monster cables but I certainly would not spend less than €10 for a HDMI cable.

cursai

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/BNIB-Genuiine-Monster-HDMI-Cable-1000HD-17-8GBPS-4-Metre-Lifetime-warranty-/180863908880?pt=AU_CablesConnectors&hash=item2a1c543c10

Lifetime warranty lads! LIFETIME warranty. 1000hd! Thats better than 4k resolution surely and has a 17.8 gigaflops thing as well.

cursai

Alternatively this one would do fine.
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/1m-3ft-HDMI-Cable-Wire-Gold-HD-for-PS3-Xbox-Sky-DVD-Blueray-/261136259478?pt=UK_Computing_Sound_Vision_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item3cccef1996

I bought a monster cable from harvey normans about five years for around 80€ and it broke a year later. No snapped head or anything, just stopped sending signal. like all electronics theres an element of luck involved.

Cuddlesworth

As said above, when talking about short cables there really is no difference. When you add length though(5+ Meters), bad cables go downhill quickly. You don't really see the problem, you simply the throughput just can't do 1080p, then 720p etc. But the cables are only as good as the devices they connect into as well.

MHI

Agree with Cuddlesworth, i'm an AV installer over Short distance normal hdmi cables are fine but over longer distances we use high speed hdmi cables to ensure that quality is not dropped.

andy1249

As Above , Expensive HDMI cables are essentially a marketing scam.

There are no picture or sound quality differences between cables , that is totally impossible , the spec does not allow it , if it works it works.

I posted the math and the engineering to prove that in a sticky on here at one time , cant find it now though !

Edit : Found it ...
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055871082

Regarding version numbers ,
HDMI 1.4 or 1.x numbers have absolutely nothing to do with cables , they apply only to the electronic chipsets , marketing people have been using those numbers for years now to hoodwink the buying public , and HDMI.org , the official site for all things HDMI have now clamped down on it , to the point where you now lose your license if you mention those numbers in relation to the sale of any product carrying HDMI technology.

See here

http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/trademark_logo_pub.aspx

So if you see a cable with those numbers on it , its dishonesty on the part of the manufacturer , end of !!

There is an attenuation problem with HDMI cables , the longer they are the more the voltage drops , if it drops by approx .4v it stops working .... the longest cable ever to pass the high speed test is 8 meters , so that is the cut off point , if you see a cable longer than that and it says its high speed , they are lying !

In most cases , any cable will do for most people , Tescos are good mechanically sound cables and thats all you need to spend on cables folks!
No amount of extra cash will improve things, thats a fact.

When a HDMI cable goes bad it simply stops working , either that or for a few minutes or so you get massive digital breakup and strong color casts across the picture before the equipment on either end gives up and posts a "no signal" error .... in either case it can be said to be not working.

You never ever get subtle variations in quality , that cannot happen!

A few rules with HDMI cables should always be observed ...

First things first , do not hotplug , I cannot stress this enough !!
Hotplugging is removing or inserting the cable while your equipment is still powered up !!
While in theory the spec allows for this , its a bit like USB when it first arrived on the scene , it often causes problems and has been known to completely blow the ports on HDMI equipment , so always power down before removing or connecting a HDMI cable ..... Im sure at some point they will have the equivalent of USB's " safely remove" feature , but its not there yet !!

The vast majority of sudden HDMI fails , are due to excessive hotplugging either locking up the electronics or electrical arcing causing pitting on the contacts !

Second
Do not put tight bends or corners in a HDMI cable run , it will " break" in the sense that the dimensions of the twists between pairs of wires are critical for its correct operation , and sharp corners will distort these and the cable will fail ( in the manner described above) because of it , and sooner rather than later.

Summing up , dont waste money on expensive HDMI cables. There is zero benefit to doing so.

MRTULES

andy1249 wrote: »

There is an attenuation problem with HDMI cables , the longer they are the more the voltage drops , if it drops by approx .4v it stops working .... the longest cable ever to pass the high speed test is 8 meters , so that is the cut off point , if you see a cable longer than that and it says its high speed , they are lying !

Just wondering what your advise would be when needing to pass a signal more than 10 meters?
Thanks

andy1249

MRTULES wrote: »

Just wondering what your advise would be when needing to pass a signal more than 10 meters?
Thanks

Once you go longer than 10 meters , it turns into a crap shoot as to whether or not it will work with your equipment.

The best advice is not to go HDMI cable at all but to go for something like these ....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neet%C2%AE-Extender-Cat5e-network-cable/dp/B002ECYEYA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372595481&sr=8-1&keywords=hdmi+extenders

There are lots of them on the market ....

The use two runs of Cat5 cable to carry the HDMI signal , and are not subject to the same limitations in length as a HDMI cable itself.

Be aware though , that while they use Cat5 cable or "Ethernet cable" they do not carry Ethernet compatible signals when used with these devices and cannot be sent through typical network equipment like Switches or Homeplugs.

Some reading on the these devices ....

http://www.maildogmanager.com/pics/AdminDPL/library/HDMIoverCAT_DL.pdf