Brand-Name HDMI Cables: Are They Worth It?

[kinobas]

Well i read an article about this here: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/tests/4235717

I have a lg 3D tv (LG lw5600 47" ) and a 3D Blueray LGBD670 and i want to nice quality. I was thinking about the "Max 3D Monster Ultimate high speed 900" it handles a 17.8 Gbps. What do you guys think??

 

[Drako]

Seems pretty obvious the "generic" cables are just as good.

I have nothing but Monoprice HDMI cables at home, and they all work just great.

edit: I fell for an obvious troll thread, oh well

 

[JackBurton]

Monoprice cables will do just fine for you, however I prefer BlueJeanCables. They're better constructed and don't have that cheap feel Monoprice cables have. They're also nicely priced too.

As for Monster cables, they're really nice quality cables, but you won't see a difference compared to Monoprice cables on your LG.

 

[kinobas]

thx for the quick answers . The bad/good news i spent $79.99 + tax on a 4ft monster hdmi cable at bestbuy. Bad purchase i guess, although the cable looks pretty nice and well done with all the golden details.

 

[kinobas]

here is a guy's review telling why a expensive cable is worth for a 3d system
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2I8OON...R2I8OONK9DZFK4

Maybe i just want to justify my $79.99 purschase

 

[Drako]

here is a guy's review telling why a expensive cable is worth for a 3d system
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2I8OON...R2I8OONK9DZFK4

Maybe i just want to justify my $79.99 purschase

LOL, nice review!

My 3D plasma works just fine with the $3.00 cables I got from Monoprice.

This made me ROFL:

"But then I tried 3D signals. The TV picture would flash on and off as it would handshake, lose it, handshake, lose it. That is also the behavior the computer had with a 2D signal though the sound system. The issue here is the sound system. Apparently there are enough losses in the sound system and input selector circuitry that it put me over the edge for the 3D signals and the combined losses and reflections from source to TV were just too much for the TV to stay locked in on the HDMI signal. Until I got these cables, I had to bypass the sound system and just feed the stereo out from the TV into one of the AUX inputs on the sound system for sound. What a waste of the surround sound system."

 

[RockinZ28]

Is anything from Monster worth it? Saw the founder on West Coast customs, he has a shitload of exotic cars and is obviously loaded.

Wish I could come up with a scam like that.

 

[Naeeldar]

HDMI = digital. So the connection either works or it does not. It's not like the old analog that had varying degrees of quality.

So the answer is no, not worth it. Take it back to best buy if you can.

 

[wirednuts]

Monoprice cables will do just fine for you, however I prefer BlueJeanCables. They're better constructed and don't have that cheap feel Monoprice cables have. They're also nicely priced too.

As for Monster cables, they're really nice quality cables, but you won't see a difference compared to Monoprice cables on your LG.

yeah bluejeans uses belden manufactured cable, and they put their own ends on them. very high quality.

 

[mmntech]

here is a guy's review telling why a expensive cable is worth for a 3d system
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2I8OON...R2I8OONK9DZFK4

Maybe i just want to justify my $79.99 purschase

Five will get you ten he works for Monster Cable. Heck, even the TV studio that made your program doesn't use cables like that.

 

[Modelworks]

Biggest issue I have had with the very cheap hdmi cables are the ends can come off. No need to go extreme though, something in the $10 range for a 6ft cable is about what I spend. The quality connectors sell for about $1 each rubberized in qty 10K and the good cable is about 25 cents a foot, so a 6ft cable minus labor is about $3.50 cost. I try to go with an established company vs black box generic as the generic companies rarely even test the cable for HDMI certification, most use the HDMI logo illegally.

 

[Anubis]

ive been using monoprice cables and some cheap ass ones i got off the hot deal forum (10$ for 12 6ft ones) without issue for a few years

 

[JackBurton]

HDMI = digital. So the connection either works or it does not. It's not like the old analog that had varying degrees of quality.

So the answer is no, not worth it. Take it back to best buy if you can.

Digital doesn't mean picture or no picture. The HDMI specification doesn't include error handle so the digital signal is sent but there are no guarantees every bit will make it to the other side. And if it doesn't make it, there is no request to retransmit. The quality of cable still makes a difference, but quite honestly most cables are good enough. Monster cables use better quality material in their cables compared to cheaper cables, but most people really don't need them. They are great if you need extra shielding or need to route your cables through a wire management system, but other than that, BJC are a great balance between quality and price.

And for everyone thinking Monster cables are ridiculously overpriced, you obviously haven't seen Audioquest's offerings. Monster looks down right dirt CHEAP in comparison.

 

[Naeeldar]

Digital doesn't mean picture or no picture. The HDMI specification doesn't include error handle so the digital signal is sent but there are no guarantees every bit will make it to the other side. And if it doesn't make it, there is no request to retransmit. The quality of cable still makes a difference, but quite honestly most cables are good enough. Monster cables use better quality material in their cables compared to cheaper cables, but most people really don't need them. They are great if you need extra shielding or need to route your cables through a wire management system, but other than that, BJC are a great balance between quality and price.

And for everyone thinking Monster cables are ridiculously overpriced, you obviously haven't seen Audioquest's offerings. Monster looks down right dirt CHEAP in comparison.

I overly simplified the explanation but the reality is for under 25foot cables you would notice if it was not working.

"However, digital audio/video standards like DisplayPort, DVI, and HDMI don't have this problem because the data be**ing transmitted over the cable isn't as sensitive as an analog signal; it consists entirely of ones and zeros, and a tremendous drop in signal voltage has to occur before a one starts to look like a zero at the receiving end. When this does happen, you'll usually see some kind of white static "sparklies" on your TV, as the set attempts to fill in the blanks itself, but this typically happens only over very long HDMI runs (8 meters and up). For shorter cables, the cable quality shouldn't matter"

 

[Destiny]

A little birdie with connections to several HDMI Adopter cable factory told me that orders from most HDMI generics want the cheapest materials that can pass 1080i/1080p (they don't care about 4k x 2k) - although these are factories on the Adopters list on HDMI.org, the demands from the generic hdmi partners wanting cheap materials in the brand's cables to produce cables at the cheapest costs and market them as HDMI 1.4a or High Speed HDMI, when those cables really don't... why? because most people don't have devices/HDTVs that support HDMI 1.4 specs/performance and they figure profits and sales from cheap cables will be more than cover RETURNS from people who really have all HDMI 1.4a devices to try out the cables to only find out they are not really HDMI 1.4/High Speed... and like Modelworks said - most of these really cheap brands are using the HDMI logos and designations illegally...even the marketing or listing meeting HDMI 1.4a specs is illegal...

Generic = nothing to lose and can bull*** all they want to make sales, take your money and disappear into the night and reappear.... and sell generics all day

Brand = have a reputation and name to uphold so must abide by rules, laws, licensing, etc... = guranteed to work..

 

[Fallen Kell]

It "depends" on what you mean by "worth" it. I have found some of them hold their connection better into the socket, but I am sure there are plenty of others out there that do the same. Personally I have been buying from www.ramelectronics.net because I can pick them up on the way home from work.

 

[gorb]

Monoprice or BJC = all you need.

 

[bobdole369]

This has got to be a troll right?

Note to OP:

Yesterday was the first issue I've ever seen with an HDMI cable. It was a $149 big box purchase that my company made in haste (needed for a conference room that day). Its connector failed after a decent number of uses (turns out he's a stud) and is now quite intermittent. It will not mess with picture quality in any way, but it does go in and out of "sync". such that the picture disappears at random when you touch the cable. The 50" plasma it connects to shows a perfect picture, that turns on and off seemingly dozens of times per second until you get it touching just right. If you keep from touching it eventually the screen goes to "HDMI: Connecting".

Also note that I used 45 (thats forty-five cables) 35-60ft Monoprice HDMI cables in a yacht's AV room. They were all routed within one of 6 full size racks with a ton of power, audio, speaker level, component, remote, network, and all sorts of other cable runs. It still worked when installed on the vessel. That should be enough proof for anyone to use them.

 

[Modelworks]

Also note that I used 45 (thats forty-five cables) 35-60ft Monoprice HDMI cables in a yacht's AV room. They were all routed within one of 6 full size racks with a ton of power, audio, speaker level, component, remote, network, and all sorts of other cable runs. It still worked when installed on the vessel. That should be enough proof for anyone to use them.

The problem with that is the assumption that monoprice is always selling the same cables when they are not. You may order this month and get one generic brand with good quality and the next month get some with terrible quality or you may get multiple manufacturers in the same order. If you installed generic cables on my yacht you would be re-doing the install. If the retailer can't tell you who makes the cable and you can't verify the manufacturer as legitimate then I wouldn't use it in installs. That goes for ethernet, hdmi, catv or anything else.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Been using Monoprice cables for a while, and I've ordered probably 30-40 cables for friends/family and never got a bad one. Of course there's better quality stuff, but they won't improve image quality and I don't care what the cables look like since they're hidden behind the TV.

 

[Naeeldar]

The problem with that is the assumption that monoprice is always selling the same cables when they are not. You may order this month and get one generic brand with good quality and the next month get some with terrible quality or you may get multiple manufacturers in the same order. If you installed generic cables on my yacht you would be re-doing the install. If the retailer can't tell you who makes the cable and you can't verify the manufacturer as legitimate then I wouldn't use it in installs. That goes for ethernet, hdmi, catv or anything else.

And again it essentially boils down to the cable will either work or it does not. Until we have to start returning monorpice cables 30%+ of the time, I see no issue with going this route.

I'm not sure why anybody would.

 

[A5]

The problem with that is the assumption that monoprice is always selling the same cables when they are not. You may order this month and get one generic brand with good quality and the next month get some with terrible quality or you may get multiple manufacturers in the same order. If you installed generic cables on my yacht you would be re-doing the install. If the retailer can't tell you who makes the cable and you can't verify the manufacturer as legitimate then I wouldn't use it in installs. That goes for ethernet, hdmi, catv or anything else.

Well if you're running HDMI in your yacht, you're paying some installer a ton of money to do it for you