# Cheap HDMI cables vs Expensive ones? What to get



## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

Do you reckon there is a difference? I bought 3 of the 33p ones on amazon (to justify the 2.97 postage).

I think there is a difference, with the PS3 the colours are brighter using my more expensive cable (albeit a £14 ASDA shout) than the 33p cable.

On that note, which cable should I get for my home cinema blu ray player.

Anyone else think there is a difference? The review on Amazon suggested not hence why I went for it. But I can see there is


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## chillly (Jun 25, 2009)

On normal everyday stuff then no. But for high end stuff like blue ray etc etc A big fat yes :thumb:


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## awallacee30 (May 4, 2011)

There's defo a difference mate.

QED are a good brand to look at. They go from budget all the way up to mega expensive reference cables.

If you're not wanting to spend too much, QED sell a budget HDMI cable called 'Profile'. You can pick one of these up in Tescos in different lengths. Starts at £20 for a metre I think.

It's a good cable, and for the price would be hard to beat :thumb:

As for the reviews on Amazon, some people just can't notice a difference in quality. If you have a decent set up and you use cheap cables to run it, then switch to more expensive cables they're head and shoulders and you'd need to be blind not to notice a step up in colour reproduction and image/sound quality. 
A lot of the cheaper cables don't have the 'bandwidth' of the more expensive ones and you will notice in action/high motion scenes the picture will judder as the cable cannot keep up with what the hardware is trying to run through it.


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## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

In fairness my total outlay for 3 cables was under 4 quid - says it all.

Wouldn't want to spend more than £20. This one I got out of ASDA seems the business. I will check tesco too


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## DampDog (Apr 16, 2011)

These beasties from Amazon are excellent value..

1METER PRO GOLD RED HDMI TO HDMI CABLE WITH: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Basically due to the frequencies involved the longer the cable the greater the losses. For short cables, cheap cables are fine and you won't notice too much difference. (if any) The longer the cable the more money you need to spend on decent quality.

The above cables get great reviews and are cheap. I'd steer clear of the very cheap un-branded (thin) cables, they're really not up to the minimum quality required. Remeber digital signals can degrade and up to a point you don't realise you're missing stuff.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

HDMI cables make ZERO difference. To argue other wise is to argue with physics it's self. You would not go down to the beach in cement shoes because Canute said you'd be fine!

......maybe 33p each is pushing the limits though! Personally I would buy one of acceptable manufacturing quality (maybe up to £5) to ensure it does not break and fits properly. If I was burying one in a wall I'd but in two of different makes and reasonable quality for the same reason.

It's a real bug bear of mine - especially companies selling a range of cables and saying "this one does 1.0-1.2" and the next one does 1.3 and the premium one does 3D etc......it's all BS! A HDMI cable is a HDMI cable - it's the electronics that dictate the signal version transmitted.


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## Grizzle (Jul 12, 2006)

EXACTLY^^^

Its digital on and off there is no "cheaper version" for picture maybe build yes.

Try and find a cable in the length you require and a minimum of 1.3 spec it should mention it on the packaging. 

I got 2 from Aldi last year that were 1.3 £5.99 cracking build quality


I once argued with a guy in Comet with my brother over a £60 monster cable that was 1.0 he didnt understand the numbers... amateurs man.


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## DampDog (Apr 16, 2011)

Bero said:


> HDMI cables make ZERO difference. To argue other wise is to argue with physics it's self.


Rofl... bit of a sweeping statement but broadly true.. What I would say is that the cables that look like cheap "tat" probably are and are being knocked out by the zillion by some Chinese kid sitting in a paddy field working for half a bowl a rice a day. If you pay 'A little more" you'll get a better gold plated connector which will make a difference, and you don't even have to break the laws of physics...

Of course I could do that if you like, my mates just discovered a Neutrino that can travel faster than light..


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## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

Honestly though there is a visual difference in these 33p cable and my one from asda. 

Sharper image and better colours with the asda cable. I'll get another £10 cable come payday tomorrow, probably that one linked in this thread.

The 33p ones will probably be ideal for the likes of 1080i but the. They are probably made from string and yoghurt cups.


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## stuart5760 (Jan 22, 2008)

Think there was something on the Gadget show recently about cheaper v expensive cables. Didn't see the whole article but I think the conclusion was that there wasn't much difference.


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## gordonpuk (Mar 14, 2010)

Cheaper cables use solid core wire, more expensive cables use litz wire
see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litz_wire
The better cables use screened wire, when I was in the service game we used to have lots of problems with cheapo unscreened SCART leads
causing 'ghost' effects in the background of the picture.
But on the whole, I'd agree that most people wouldn't tell the difference between a cheap lead or expensive.


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## malky christie (Nov 15, 2008)

stuart5760 said:


> Think there was something on the Gadget show recently about cheaper v expensive cables. Didn't see the whole article but I think the conclusion was that there wasn't much difference.


I was just going to say the same thing !


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## stuart5760 (Jan 22, 2008)

malky christie said:


> I was just going to say the same thing !


Wont take this off topic but I was paying more attention to Suzi and Pollyanna!! - I'll take that discussion with me to the gentleman's club :thumb:


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## shaqs77 (Jun 10, 2008)

according to gadget show last week there is no difference. ive got a £80 qed reference hdmi cable and a bog standard hdmi i got free with my xbox. there is no difference but in my mind there is a difference cos if my wife found out that i spent £80 on cable that makes no difference she would castrate me!!!!!!!! luckily she doesnt come on dw!


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## james_19742000 (May 8, 2008)

In the old days of scarts etc i.e. analogue cables then yes you could tell a cheap cable from an expensive cable with the picture quality etc but nowadays I dont personally think the cables make any difference, I think you can tell a 'good' cable if it has a nice chunky feel to it and some nice good connectors on the end that seem to fit nicely in the whole where they are going then, thats good enough for me, I have never paid more than a few quid for a HDMI or any other digital cable and has always provided me with superb quality cable, currently say watching Tinkerbell in HD via Sky with my daughter next to me, and the colours etc are fantastic, and buying a cable that is twice/3 times the price would not make a blind bit of difference in my eyes!

So I wouldnt buy the supermarket one, get one on ebay, you will pay about £3 for one, or alternatively I have found one at home in a plain unopened pack, let me have your address and I will send it you, its only about a metre long if its any good.

Just dont ever go and buy them from Curry's/Comet etc!!!


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## buck-egit (Aug 19, 2008)

check this out . they have done this test twice with 2 different presenters and both times they couldnt tell the difference

http://fwd.channel5.com/gadget-show/videos/news/hdmi-cable-test


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## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

james_19742000 said:


> In the old days of scarts etc i.e. analogue cables then yes you could tell a cheap cable from an expensive cable with the picture quality etc but nowadays I dont personally think the cables make any difference, I think you can tell a 'good' cable if it has a nice chunky feel to it and some nice good connectors on the end that seem to fit nicely in the whole where they are going then, thats good enough for me, I have never paid more than a few quid for a HDMI or any other digital cable and has always provided me with superb quality cable, currently say watching Tinkerbell in HD via Sky with my daughter next to me, and the colours etc are fantastic, and buying a cable that is twice/3 times the price would not make a blind bit of difference in my eyes!
> 
> So I wouldnt buy the supermarket one, get one on ebay, you will pay about £3 for one, or alternatively I have found one at home in a plain unopened pack, let me have your address and I will send it you, its only about a metre long if its any good.
> 
> Just dont ever go and buy them from Curry's/Comet etc!!!


How could I resist that offer. PM will be sent shortly.

I think I bought too cheap though, the cable is real flimsy too


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## 335dAND110XS (Dec 17, 2010)

I went mid range and paid £35 cos I'm a mug.

I do spend a bit on hifi interconnects and speaker cable because I do think there is a genuine benefit. I even make sure my power supplies are masked and isolated to avoid any interference - oh dear...


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## CraigQQ (Jan 20, 2011)

the only difference in cheap vs expensive is build quality..
and thats not 45 quids worth of build quality..

its the old charge more and they will think its better placebo effect..

at 33p mind it was probably a string wrapped in rubber with two hdmi connectors pritt sticked onto the end of the strings lol


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## silverback (Jun 18, 2008)

I have some reasonably good av equipment an I tried an expensive lead,a 10 quid one and a 3 quid one. an i went with the 10 quid one. Couldn't tell a difference on any,but the build quality wasn't great on the cheap one,and I liked the look of the 10 quid one. for 2mete I couldn't argue.I have spent a fortune in cables from scarts, svideo and component,HDMI clears it all up. Untill the next connector comes out.


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## Ric (Feb 4, 2007)

I always forget that a different cable will have a different outcome of a 0 or 1...

Cheap cables and expensive cables make no difference, perhaps in the good old analogue world, but not in the digital one. 1 is a 1 and 0 is a 0 no in-between or better 1 with an expensive cable.

Anybody who spends 80quid on a HDMI and is seeing a better quality is simply placebo to justify your silly purchase.


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## throwa62start (Aug 1, 2011)

For me this is the perfect website for HDMI cables and any other cables you can think of. The 1 metre cables I've got are braded and gold plated, just like the ones you pay mega bucks for. Perfect for conntecting your Xbox, PS3, Blue Ray Sky HD to your Amp. All for a fiver!

Here is the link: - http://www.thatcable.com/


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## Alzak (Aug 31, 2010)

HDMI signal is digital one so cable do not make any difference I run cheap cables on my onkyo nr808.
This is not analogue signal so as long as there is proper connection signal just go trough.


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## tfonseca (Jul 31, 2008)

It makes difference for sure, better cable=less errors=less error correction.

But remember that your AV/stereo is measured by the weakest link on the system. So, no need to get a 5k cable to a budget system. Buy some QED to get quality at a very decent price or a Mark Grant one.


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

I have the monster scart and HDMI leads.... seem to work well enough...

:thumb:


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

I use Tesco value HDMI Cables.

Who cares what it looks like? It is behind a piece of equipment in a cabinet, in the corner of the room.

Signal errors (dropped bits) will be less with more expensive cables but that tends to manifest itself in long length cables over the typical 0.5M-1M length usually used, it's negligable.


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## DuncanMon (May 25, 2009)

With cables transmitting analogue signals then yes go for the better quality to match the range of your kit. With digital such as HDMI then no, unless you're going above 10-15m there is going to be NO difference anyone can notice via eye at all. The dropped signal issue makes such a little difference until you go long length it's not worth mentioning. 

Still wouldn't recommend very cheap cables like the 33p ones though. Would want something with decent build quality so they won't physically break down the line or become loose at the ends. £2 for a meter long on amazon should get you perfectly good ones.


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## Alzak (Aug 31, 2010)

tfonseca said:


> It makes difference for sure, better cable=less errors=less error correction.
> 
> But remember that your AV/stereo is measured by the weakest link on the system. So, no need to get a 5k cable to a budget system. Buy some QED to get quality at a very decent price or a Mark Grant one.


With digital signal is different story so cable do not make any difference


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## RP Stevie (Jan 24, 2007)

I had cheap cables and changed to slightly dearer versions (around £10 a meter) and found they made a big difference. I reckoned my problem was that I was running a PVR, DVD player, PS3 and a PC into the back of the television and they where messing with each other. Changed the aerial cable to decent stuff as well and had no problems since.

Stevie


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## happmadison1978 (Jul 27, 2010)

As previously said a fuzzy 1 is a 1 and a fuzzy 0 is a 0. Most digital transmission uses quite a simple system involving block coding which suppresses error rates better 10e9... We use a similar FEC to send true 340Mb/s across a single 56 MHz channel @ 256 QAM for distances up to 15km using air as a medium even cheap copper is a nice medium!

As for Near End, Far End, or Alien cross talk?, see above! A standard Cat5e cable will support Gigabit Ethernet. HDMI isn't anything like that.

I did a frequency sweep on a scope at work and didn't notice a particularly high noise floor. ( to be fair not a mega scientific test but a decent "wet finger in the air"):thumb:

[/GEEK]


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## Flair (Dec 11, 2010)

I have a cheap one from asda, had it a few months and need to replace it as the connection has gone dodgy on it and it keeps going off.


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

HDMI leads are digital - they either work or they dont, thats how digital is. 
Think about CD's and DVD's or your digital tv reception - they're either on or off. Not like a dodgy anologue TV reception that might get snow but still have sound or vice versa. 

I think OFCOM or who ever should get involved with the cable market as, IMO, a lot of people the world over are getting thoroughly mugged off.


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## bigmcclarron (Jun 11, 2011)

Jesus, lots of hate for expensive hdmi cables then!
I am not here to prove people right or wrong, nor am I here to start arguments, but the fact of the matter is it really does depend what you are using, I totally agree that with a tv and a sky box you are not going to see anything! But as soon as you start putting together a system, so amp blu ray tv and some speakers, you can hear the difference. 
Not only do I sell £1000 hdmi cables but I have installed and have owned a fair few as well, put them into my system at home (monitor audio rx package, pioneer screen, denon blu ray and yamaha amp) and the difference is big! For the person who put £5 in a wall, what on earth! You pay for quality! If that cable stops working in a few years, because it can't handle the signal you are putting thru it then you have got to rip it out and chase the wall again? 
Second argument for expensive hdmi is, like someone else said, distance! The drop in quality between an cheap 15 meter hdmi and a mid priced is huge! Firstly I've had cables that can't handle a full hd picture at that distance! Let alone getting onto quality of picture!
Another thing people get lost on with hdmi is what version
V1, 1.2, 1.3a, 1.3b and 1.4. A lot of cheaper cables won't tell you what version they are. V1 1.2 and 1.3a have not been around for a few years now and cant handle a lot of current tech we are throwing at screens and amps. Also 1.4 handles 3d and Ethernet! 
There are big differences guys, like the original post says the picture is a tad better on the more expensive cable! Therefore all this 1 and 0 talk has been defeated already 
If you want to be even more baffled plug a decent power cable in to your tv, cd player, amp or blu ray (£60 worth) and tell me it doesn't make a difference!


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## Grizzle (Jul 12, 2006)

^^ It wont sadly, you have been brain washed mate.


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## bigmcclarron (Jun 11, 2011)

Grizzle said:


> ^^ It wont sadly, you have been brain washed mate.


I sell it and have worked with it all for 7 years? 
I have heard, played and owned cheap and expensive ones and they do make a difference.
How comes the original post says he can see a difference then?


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## gordonpuk (Mar 14, 2010)

Might be of some interest http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2011/1/Russ-Andrews-Accessories-Ltd/TF_ADJ_49597.aspx


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## bigmcclarron (Jun 11, 2011)

gordonpuk said:


> Might be of some interest http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2011/1/Russ-Andrews-Accessories-Ltd/TF_ADJ_49597.aspx


Yeah we got this at work, made us laugh, if you want to talk about some useless cables just go to him! One reason why we don't deal with him!


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

bigmcclarron said:


> Another thing people get lost on with hdmi is what version
> V1, 1.2, 1.3a, 1.3b and 1.4. A lot of cheaper cables won't tell you what version they are. V1 1.2 and 1.3a have not been around for a few years now and cant handle a lot of current tech we are throwing at screens and amps. Also 1.4 handles 3d and Ethernet!





Wikipedia said:


> Cable manufacturers officially are prohibited from marketing the cables by HDMI standard version (for instance "HDMI 1.4 cable") - the cables are distinguished in bitrate support only.


V1, 1.3a etc are electronic standards, NOT cable standards. Do you profess cables marketed as 1.2 (or anything <1.4) cables don't work with 3D or ethernet?!


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## bigmcclarron (Jun 11, 2011)

Bero said:


> V1, 1.3a etc are electronic standards, NOT cable standards. Do you profess cables marketed as 1.2 (or anything <1.4) cables don't work with 3D or ethernet?!


It's all about bandwidth, I have tried many cables with 3d players and 3d TVs and some worked and some couldn't handle it!
And I know for certain that the current 1.3b wireworld cable we have in our wall in the demo room can't handle arc but when I put an external 1.4 cable in arc works?


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## DampDog (Apr 16, 2011)

It's all about return for you pennies.

Making a jump from a 50p/m cable to a £10/m cable the step up in quality will be huge. Stepping up from £10 to to £25-40+ ou're only going to see and hear if you have some pretty decent kit. Now a £1000 is really in the realm of "I saw you coming.com" Unless your kits is state of the art costing many thousands you'll never see or hear it.

Remember we're talking about the average user. For £10/m if you hunt around you'll buy a cable thats equal to of better than the overpriced "Monster" cables, the likes of Comet and Curry's will con you in to.

This it's digital it's either '1' or '0' argument is a bit misleading. In cheapo cables because of the losses involved 1 and 0, become closer to the same state over a far shorter distance. (poor connectors, poor insulation, cheaper conductors) So there are merits in spending a few quids or tens of quids on a decent cable. 

IMO anyone who's daft enough to pay £1000 for a cable, probably deserves to pay that sort of money. Then again if you can afford £1000 for a cable you probably don't need to work for a living.


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## bigmcclarron (Jun 11, 2011)

DampDog said:


> It's all about return for you pennies.
> 
> Making a jump from a 50p/m cable to a £10/m cable the step up in quality will be huge. Stepping up from £10 to to £25-40+ ou're only going to see and hear if you have some pretty decent kit. Now a £1000 is really in the realm of "I saw you coming.com" Unless your kits is state of the art costing many thousands you'll never see or hear it.
> 
> ...


I think your last statement is very true, the jobs I have used for them have been £50k plus jobs that to get the best quality from just have to have these cables to get the best out of them!
As someone else put the QED range is very good and not badly priced


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## PWOOD (Apr 30, 2007)

shaqs77 said:


> according to gadget show last week there is no difference. ive got a £80 qed reference hdmi cable and a bog standard hdmi i got free with my xbox. there is no difference but in my mind there is a difference cos if my wife found out that i spent £80 on cable that makes no difference she would castrate me!!!!!!!! luckily she doesnt come on dw!


i have few cables in pretty advanced setup and and on a 50inch TV setup using DVE there is no difference in PQ or Sound either DTS MAster Audio or good old ProLogic. i would however suggest cables which are well made and use reasonably lightweight HDMI plugs as the TV and Amp sockets dont do with being stressed by a daft heavy metal plug which does hehaw. HDMI cables do differ in longer lengths say 5m plus but is usually either drop out or no picture due to sync issues.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

bigmcclarron said:


> And I know for certain that the current 1.3b wireworld cable we have in our wall in the demo room can't handle arc but when I put an external 1.4 cable in arc works?


HDMI cables are still not permitted to be labeled by version number....you can buy a 'high speed' one for under £5 and by definition it will work.



DampDog said:


> Making a jump from a 50p/m cable to a £10/m cable the step up in quality will be huge.


The difference in quality may be huge....but the picture will be exactly the same.


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## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

For short runs i.e. <5m and on a lead that is not going to be unplugged/plugged in a lot its not going to make any difference.

Those who say they can see the difference. Try some blind tests and then see if you can see a difference. Without a blind test then you can't make a real judgement thanks to the placebo effect. Take a look into the HDCP spec and you will start to see why it can't make a difference and make it 'look' better or 'sound' better. 

If a short cable does not work then its duff and not up to spec. 

The longer cables there is cause to spend more money as its easier with crap cables to get bad voltage drop etc such that the signal can't travel the distance but again the same holds true - it works or doesn't.

NB - Analogue speaker cables are a different kettle of fish


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## DampDog (Apr 16, 2011)

Bero said:


> The difference in quality may be huge....but the picture will be exactly the same.


That's not true. I bought a Sony Blu-ray that had a "cheapy" cable bundled with it from Amazon. I swapped it for one of my £10 cables and there was a marked improvement at 1080p

I certainly don't subscribe to spending a fortune, but a tenner will get you better quality connectors with gold pins that will perform better over time.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

HDMI Executive (the organization responsible for the standards) said:


> One encouraging thing to come out of the press event however: When directly asked whether HDMI 1.3 will require new cables, the HDMI spokesman let slip a detail that's sure to make the people at Monster Cable weep. He said 98 percent of existing HDMI cables would work fine with HDMI 1.3. So at least something's not obsolete.





CNET (Tech review site who use <$10 cables in there top class system) said:


> those cables are a rip-off. You should never pay more than $10 for a standard six-foot HDMI cable. And despite what salesmen and manufacturers might tell you, there's no meaningful difference between the $10 cable and the $50 cable. Unless you see something obvious, such as dropouts or a flashing screen, the digital information transmitted by both cables is exactly the same--no cable can make the picture any better or any worse.





AVForum (most anal audio/videophile community) said:


> (it's widly accepted it makes zero difference the cable used) don't waste your money on a £5 cable - get a 99p one!


These are all independent sources, no axe to grind and no financial benefit to be had flogging expensive cables or collecting advertising revenue from cable manufacturers/sellers. There's a few online resellers that have come round to a similar ethos (thatcable.com hdcable.co.uk)


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## Dingo2002 (Apr 4, 2007)

There are 4 approved types of HDMI cable

Standard HDMi - approved for 720p and 1080i
High Speed HDMI - approved for 1080p
Standard HDMI with Ethernet - as above for 720p 1080i Ethernet channel devices
High Speed HDMI with Ethernet - as above for 1080p Ethernet channel devices

These are the approved cable types. Most very cheap cables will fit into the standard bracket however they should still be fully capable of running a single 1080p stream. High speed cables would suit multiple streams or 3D TV.

Most people will be fine with a standard cable and will notice little or no difference. For reference systems and very high end setups a high speed cable would be better suited but even then and decent cable can be purchased for around £20.

Very few people need to worry about data loos or degradation over the distance of the cable unless their cables are 10+ mtrs

http://www.HDMI.org is a good resource

At the end of the day if a £100 cable makes you enjoy your TV viewing experience better who are we to argue. A lot of it will be placebo but so what? However it is important to understand that a £3 standard cable may struggle with 1080p 3D TV


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## gordonpuk (Mar 14, 2010)

Think I'll join an AV forum and start a thread on £100 wax -Vs- £10 wax


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## DampDog (Apr 16, 2011)

gordonpuk said:


> Think I'll join an AV forum and start a thread on £100 wax -Vs- £10 wax


Unfortunately there will always be people who make a living "convincing" people they need to pay more money than they have to..

http://www.luxury-insider.com/luxury-news/2010/09/worlds-most-expensive-car-wax-c2a324k

Having slept on it, I think the amount you pay for a cable is up to the user. If you genuinely cannot see a difference, between a 50p cable and a £100 cable (what you see, not what people say you should see.) And it does what you want it to do then why spend the extra money?

If you're happy with it, that all that matters.


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

bigmcclarron said:


> I think your last statement is very true, the jobs I have used for them have been £50k plus jobs that to get the best quality from just have to have these cables to get the best out of them!
> As someone else put the QED range is very good and not badly priced


And then play 128kbps MP3s through it...........



Dingo2002 said:


> There are 4 approved types of HDMI cable
> 
> Standard HDMi - approved for 720p and 1080i
> High Speed HDMI - approved for 1080p
> ...


Why would you use HDMI for that kind of distance anyway? 10Mtrs is the length of some houses. If you are transporting signals around the house at that sort of length, then you would surely use data cables and sort it out at the terminal machine?


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## bigmcclarron (Jun 11, 2011)

Gruffs said:


> And then play 128kbps MP3s through it...........
> 
> Why would you use HDMI for that kind of distance anyway? 10Mtrs is the length of some houses. If you are transporting signals around the house at that sort of length, then you would surely use data cables and sort it out at the terminal machine?


Well that's down to the customer, depends how they store their music? 
As for the length of cable well how longs a piece of string? I've had a single room where I had to run a single 15m hdmi? Could of used 2x cat 5/6 with a balan at each end but worked out the same price?


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