Best non-monster HDMI cable

[TKG26]

Went to www.compunation.com and got everything i needed in gold connector thick gauge and 6ft long for 70$. PVR,DVD,PC to RECEIVER are ready to wire up now.

BUY the way would we not be able to see 20-30% improvement with the naked eye? Thats an outragous statement. Why spend 160$ on bling cabel that only a labratory can prove is better then a 10$ cable.

[kev604]

Interesting article, thanks for the link. The results of the test was pretty much what I expected.

[pablo13]

The first HDMI cable I bought - I paid $90 for.. UGH

The last one I bought, I paid $23

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

Both cables are good - guess which one I like better....

[ride365]

Just received 3 s-video and 1 toslink from monoprice. $17.00 with shipping. The cables came in 5 days (two days early) and are of excellent quality. I will definately be buying from monoprice again when I get a new HDTV. Thanks monoprice.

[TheKnow]

I just purchased my first HD set- a Philips 32 inch LCD 720P. The guy at best buy sold me a Monster cable for $97.00. After reading through this forum i quickly returned it. I found this cable (Eforcity 2 Meter HDMI M/M) on Amazon for a ridiculously cheap $1.07 + s/h. Does anyone have any input on whether or not this a decent cable? I see most people referencing Monoprice but nothing about what Amazon is offering.
PS- does an HDMI cable improve the quality of standard definition at all??

[57]

The cable will probably be perfectly adequate. Eforcity has pretty good reviews. The HDMI cable, in and of itself will not improve SD. In some cases it may even restrict the signal to the TV since some TVs don't accept 480i via HDMI.

[rayvick]

I bought the 12 foot HDMI cable at Costco (35$) and it works great!

[talldude123]

I never use Monster cables, due to price, and they're just huge! I've always used PureAV cables, really clear and very affordable. I believe my component cable was $30, 3 years back.

[hornjo]

I just bought a 3foot DVI to HDMI cable from Monoprice for $4.
I am trying to hook up my LG DVD player to my Sony 60" 2020 tv with this cable. I can't get a picture.
When hooked up with component, not all of my DVD's will upconvert.
Help.

[timbo]

hornjo, have you changed the input on your tv with the new cable?

My television's hdmi input is designated as INPUT 1. The component and s-video inputs are INPUT 2, INPUT 3 etc.
Make sure that you've got the correct input selected.

Also, check the LG dvd player for the correct output. My Oppo dvd player has a switch on the back for choosing component or dvi output. I wouldn't be surprised if you LG has something similar.

I've never had any trouble with my monoprice hdmi-dvi cables.

[BCScott]

It may be a handshake issue also. Once the player is on, try cycling through the inputs on the tv. On our SXRD XBR1, if I go from watching tv ( component connection) to a movie with our HD DVD player (HDMI connection), the player takes approximately 30 seconds to power on properly. If I switch the input before the player is fully powered on, I get a black screen and have to cycle through the inputs. I'm also using a cable from Monoprice, but this has nothing to do with the cable. On my Toshiba LCDs, there's no issue with the handshake.

[julvr]

I was doing a search on HDMI cables and came across this thread (it's quite high on google). I thought I would reply to save some people from getting ripped off by moraly corrupt corporations.

First, some background -- my job is developing the HDMI component software for televisions sets -- pretty much if you buy any major brand mid to high end TV in the next few years, odds are I will have worked on the HDMI interface. So I know exactly what I'm talking about.

At my desk at work, is a 37 inch true 1080p monitor, a $20000 signal generator, and a $5 HDMI cable.

HDMI is a digital technology, and that means that it either works or it doesn't work -- video or audio noise cannot be introduced over the cable. So, the image you recieve with the cheap cables is EXACTLY the same quality as the signal you recieve from the rip offs.

If you're getting a cable less than 10 feet long, the $10 cables (yes, you can get them for that price) work just as well as the $200 cables -- there is no difference in the output (assuming you are not outputting over 1080p). Longer cables, and higher resolutions need a thicker gauge, which is a bit more expensive, but again, you can get these cables for very reasonable prices. If you pay more than $3 a foot for a long cable, or $2 a foot for a short cable, you're being ripped off!

A lot of storeswill try to sell you monster cables, because their margin on a $250 cable is much higher than their margin on a $10 cable. In fact, its a good guage of the integrity and knowledge of the sales staff at a store.

The higher priced cables sell because of the simple fact that people can't fathom that there isn't a difference between a $250 and a $10 cable (that, and the stores push the higher priced cables more vigerously due to the increased profits). Sadly, there are enough gullable people in the world to support such a trend -- don't be one of them. The fact that the high priced, high margin cables sell so well leaves little incentive for stores to carry the reasonably priced ones, and therefore its becoming hard to find cables at good prices. There are several good online stores however, that still give good deals.

Now, to say there is no difference between the cables is not quite true either. The more expensive cables are more resistant to noise, which allow them to transfer more data over a longer distance. But this is not a good excuse to up the price by 10 times... In fact, you can get wires that are rated to transmit the exact resolutions over the same distance at a fraction of the price of the Rip-off cables. Gold plated connectors also have no effect on video quality. If you have a really bad connector on your TV, it might work where other cables fail, but we don't have gold plated connectors at work, and I have yet to see a device that makes a bad connection.

When buying a cable, figure out how far you want to go, and buy the cheapest cable that transmits 1080p over that distance. The online stores seem to have the best prices on HDMI cables, but I'm hoping enough people smarten up to drive the demand for good cables at the big box stores as well.

[57]

julvr Check out the following thread, especially the links near the bottom of post 1, which basically say what you have stated and reinforced.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=30452

[westcoastinc]

My Uncle and Cousin just got this tv and its coming in 10 days. They dont have HD or Digital just basic standard cable. My cousin is going to buy a PS3.

Just wanted to find out what the best way to connect the two is? Buy a HDMI cable right? I heard ps3 comes with a HDMI cable but if not can someone post a link to what cable I should tell him to get from that cheap webiste not the monster cables from FS or BB. I went to that site monoprice but theres so many cables.

[REFLEX]

Yes, a HDMI cable is the best you can use in this particular case. To make sure its done properly hook your PS3 up to the TV with the supplied composite cables (the regular yellow, red and white ones) AND the HDMI cable.

Turn the PS3 on, find the right source on the TV, go into the PS3 menu using the controller and change DISPLAY options to HDMI and then AUTO. It will ask you to switch over to the proper source on the TV and hit "OK". Then you can unhook the composite cables and just use your HDMI.