HDMI Cables

[Tullphan]

I'm looking at some 12' HDMI cables on an internet auction site.
The vendor i'm looking at in particular has 3 different versions...let's call them "Good, better & best".
The "Good" is your basic 1.3b HDMI cable.
The "Better" states that it's PS3 ready.
The "Best" states it's "Blu-ray & above" rated.
Is there really a difference (besides the cost)?
Thanks.

 

[MustISO]

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

Q. What is the difference between HDMI 1.3 and HDMI 1.3a, or 1.3b?

For consumers, there is no difference between HDMI version 1.3 and 1.3a or 1.3b. These minor revisions to the specification typically relate to manufacturing or testing issues and do not impact features or functionality. In addition, HDMI Licensing, LLC is actively working with manufacturers to reduce confusion for consumers by de-emphasizing version numbers and focusing instead on product features and functionality.

For Adopters, the latest HDMI Specification is v1.3a and the latest HDMI Compliance Test Specification (CTS) is 1.3c.

 

[sportage]

All I know is I "use" to get my cables from monoprice.
And had issues with hdmi connections.
Last time I went amazon and got a brand name and replaced my monopriced
cables. All is well.No issues. So, yes, I'd say there is a big diff.
I also learned not to cut corners.

 

[Tullphan]

So i'll notice no difference of picture quality if I went with the cheapest ("Good") or the most expensive ("Best)?
It's not serious enough for me to pay big bucks for "Monster" brand, tho.

 

[MustISO]

Any good quality 1.3 cable should be fine for anything.

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: MustISO
Any good quality 1.3 cable should be fine for anything.

Besides "Monster" brand, any other recommendations?

 

[s44]

Monoprice (24AWG or longer for that length). Blue Jeans (their Belden HDMI is top of the line).

Definitely NOT Monster.

 

[mmnno]

Blue Jeans sells a pretty nice economy brand cable, for not much more than monoprice will run you. Of course it won't actually be any better than monoprice, but if you're the kind of person who feels better when they're spending more money you will have the assurance that if something goes wrong it's an expensive problem (hardware) rather than a cheap one (cables).

 

[shortylickens]

I got a crummy, cheap cable from Monoprice and it works great. No issues. Image quality is fine and it doesnt have any artifacts or noise like the component cables did.

 

[hclarkjr]

read here before buying any expensive HDMI cables

 

[Rio Rebel]

Originally posted by: sportage
All I know is I "use" to get my cables from monoprice.
And had issues with hdmi connections.
Last time I went amazon and got a brand name and replaced my monopriced
cables. All is well.No issues. So, yes, I'd say there is a big diff.
I also learned not to cut corners.

No offense intended, but I'd say you need to learn about inductive arguments and statistical relevance most of all.

When you have HDMI "issues", it could be the source device, the cable, the display, or anything you may be connecting or passing through in between. And in the early days of HDMI, it was downright commonplace that certain devices worked like a charm with some devices, and wouldn't work at all with others.

I have had all kinds of positive experiences with Monoprice cables. I have one 25' HDMI and one 35' HDMI to DVI cable, and both have been flawless.

It's certainly possible that you had some faulty cables, but to now assume that nobody should but Monoprice is simply a leap in logic. Too many people have had too many positive experiences for that assumption.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: sportage
All I know is I "use" to get my cables from monoprice.
And had issues with hdmi connections.
Last time I went amazon and got a brand name and replaced my monopriced
cables. All is well.No issues. So, yes, I'd say there is a big diff.
I also learned not to cut corners.

Incorrect, it could have been a bad cable or a cable you broke by bending it inapproperately. You are quick to blame the "low quality" cables when in fact there is nothing wrong with them.

I use ONLY monoprice cables and they never have issues even when run through multiple switching devices.

Go ahead and pay more, I'm sure Monster Cable loves your $80 for what I get for $10.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: sportage
All I know is I "use" to get my cables from monoprice.
And had issues with hdmi connections.
Last time I went amazon and got a brand name and replaced my monopriced
cables. All is well.No issues. So, yes, I'd say there is a big diff.
I also learned not to cut corners.

must have gotten a defective one. I have monoprice hdmi cables and I have 0 issues.

6 of these

http://www.monoprice.com/produ...id=4024&seq=1&format=2

one of these

http://www.monoprice.com/produ...id=4033&seq=1&format=2

and one of these

http://www.monoprice.com/produ...id=2753&seq=1&format=2

 

[WraithETC]

Technically there are cables that handle 1080i and less and ones that have been certified for 1080p and lossless audio. This is mainly because hdmi came out before 1080p and lossless audio so before there were cables only certified for the bandwidth usages at the time.

But given that they have been certified at the same level there is no difference between them except for "build quality" so to speak.

 

[Modelworks]

HDMI uses a signal sending method called TMDS. Simply put you have channels (not tv related channels) , that are pulsed to send data. If you have a bad cable you can tell right away since during playback the screen will freeze, fill with square blocks then continue playing. If you have ever seen a satellite tv channel that freezes, the display looks about the same. Data was lost so the screen freezes while it gets the next data set.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Granted I only needed 6' cables, but I just bought the cheapest 1.3c cables I could find on amazon. They are used on my ps3 and cablebox, and both work perfectly.

 

[Cybertronic]

I used the 1.3a & 1.3b HDMI cable before and i honestly can't really tell the difference. To me, it's just some marketing gimmick but really the difference is un-noticeable.

 

[Noubourne]

All monoprice here too. No problems whatsoever - except figuring out what to do with the extra $400 I would have spent if I had bought Monster. Of course, that's not much of a problem.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: MustISO
For consumers, there is no difference between HDMI version 1.3 and 1.3a or 1.3b. These minor revisions to the specification typically relate to manufacturing or testing issues and do not impact features or functionality.

That's slightly disingenuous of them. The 1.3 sub-revisions did add testing and not functionality, but that testing is actually somewhat relevant, because it makes it way more likely your cheap-but-certified cable is going to actually operate in-spec.

 

[bobdole369]

No difference in any HDMI cable at the 12' point. Those marked "good", "better", "best", are all exactly the same. Once you get over 30' or so the build quality starts to effect whether it will work or not at differing resolutions.

You can pretty much count on any HDMI cable handling 1080p up to about 30'. Once you hit 50' you need a very good quality cable to put 1080p over it. Once you hit 60+' its not really possible to do 1080p anymore without a modulator/demodulator/converter/amp/something.

720p and then 1080i/below will work up to and beyond about 100', needing a decent quality cable to work around 150'.

The HDMI spec doesn't actually list a max cable length.