HDMI Brand Loyalty...

[Warrior]

What i would like to know is HDMI quality based on brand. Now i have been only buying Monster HDMI cable, and the last one i bought was about 40 bucks shipped from ebay. Now i was browsing around Newegg and i see em go for as low as around 20 shipped, but they arnt the "name brands".

Does this matter alot? I havnt been able to find much data on link quality with different brands. Have you had a bad experience with a cheapo cable?

 

[IDversusEGO]

monoprice.com is the only place to start you r cable search. No brand name doesnt make a difference. as long as it is quality components your fine. I am using 3 HDMI cables of varying length from them, a couple hundred feet of speaker cable, a 50ft svideo cable, a 50 ft VGA cable, 3 toslink audio cables, a 5oft subwoofer cable, and numerous DVI cables.

 

[Andrmgic]

A cable from monoprice would do just fine. No sense in paying $20 or more for a cable when a $12 one will do a great job.

 

[Nenu]

HDMI quality is based on specification not manufacturer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

HDMI 1.0

Released December 9, 2002.

* A single cable digital audio/video connector interface with a maximum TMDS bandwidth of 4.9 Gbit/s. Supports up to 3.96 Gbit/s of video bandwidth (1080p60 Hz or UXGA) and 8 channel LPCM/192 kHz/24-bit audio.

HDMI 1.1

Released May 20, 2004.

* Added support for DVD Audio.

HDMI 1.2

Released August 8, 2005.

* Added support for One Bit Audio, used on Super Audio CDs, up to 8 channels.
* Availability of HDMI Type A connector for PC sources.
* Ability for PC sources to use native sRGB color-space while retaining the option to support the YCbCr color space.
* Requirement for HDMI 1.2 and later displays to support low-voltage sources.

HDMI 1.2a

Released December 14, 2005.

* Fully specifies Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) features, command sets, and CEC compliance tests.

HDMI 1.3

Released June 22, 2006.

* Increases single-link bandwidth to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbit/s)
* Optionally supports Deep Color with 30-bit, 36-bit, and 48-bit xvYCC, sRGB, or YCbCr compared to 24-bit sRGB or YCbCr in previous HDMI versions.
* Incorporates automatic audio syncing (Audio video sync) capability.
* Optionally supports output of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio streams for external decoding by AV receivers.[77] TrueHD and DTS-HD are lossless audio codec formats used on Blu-ray Discs and HD DVDs. If the disc player can decode these streams into uncompressed audio, then HDMI 1.3 is not necessary, as all versions of HDMI can transport uncompressed audio.
* Cable Categories 1 and 2 defined. Category 1 cable is tested up to 74.25 MHz while Category 2 cable is tested up to 340 MHz.
* Availability of a new Type C mini-connector for portable devices.[39][78]

HDMI 1.3a

Released November 10, 2006.

* Cable and Sink modifications for Type C
* Source termination recommendation
* Removed undershoot and maximum rise/fall time limits.
* CEC capacitance limits changed
* sRGB video quantization range clarification
* CEC commands for timer control brought back in an altered form, audio control commands added.
* Concurrently released compliance test specification included.

 

[Warrior]

So pretty much brands of HDMI cables is just durability and for looks/bragging rights? i understand the HDMI version difforence, thanks for the refresh, wiki has been my friend

 

[Nenu]

Yes.
There may be differences between cables once you reach the cable length limits of the spec.
However, most pricey isnt necessarily best.
You can get repeaters to extend cables, some are designed to boost the signal emough for very long lengths.
My preferred method for long extensions is to use CAT5 network cable.
Devices like this make it easy:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/...at4d-for-cable-extension-using-cat5-standard/

 

[bfellow]

For HDMI 1.3 cables less than 6 feet you can easily get them for < $10. I bought mine for $1.75 each.

 

[w1retap]

You can get a good quality cable without going "name brand" so to say. Monoprice is my favorite cable store, because they sell different grades of cable at low prices.

Beware though, some cheap HDMI cables you run across on the internet and in stores really are garbage. They have really thin gauge wire with very little shielding. Usually at distances over 15 - 25 feet is where you see them perform poorly, or they might not even work at all.

And yes, it's either a 1 or a 0, on or off, since it's digital.. but, EMI and attenuation still effects your picture. You can get anything from pixel blips on the screen, to recombining/macroblocking errors, to no signal at all being able to be established at the client end. My friend had a garbage cable that Comcast gave him with his cable box, and the thing was causing little white pixels blipping on the screen every few seconds.