5m HDMI lead - worth spending a little more than the cheapest?

valve90210

valve90210

valve90210

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As per the title really. I'm in the market for a 5m hdmi lead to connect my pc to my TV (via an HDMI switch) is it worth me spending slightly more than the cheapest lead at this length?
 
I personally spend between £5-£10 just to ensure the build quality is okay, there won't be any picture quality difference between a £1 and a £10 lead though.
 
When I have read reviews it is only when you are looking at 15m+ leads it is worth spending a little more money, but as Broken Hope said above, there is no difference in pic quality between a £1 and £10 lead, I am running mine off £1 home bargain specials!
 
I wouldn't go for the absolute cheapest at 5m or more - I've had snow and green sparklies using an ultra-cheap 7.5m HDMI cable, whereas a replacement costing around £12 had no problems at all (it was visibly much thicker and better constructed). The very cheap stuff was fine at lengths of <1m however, even for 1080p.
 
I'm not sure whether it can be solved by the quality of cable, but the length certainly makes a difference. I have the cheap OCUK 10m HDMI cable and the ghosting is markedly worse than over a short run.

Great value though, use it for playing FIFA12 on the PC in the lounge downstairs (with xbox pads). Friends didn't understand why my xbox was looking so good :D
 
Ste said:
I'm not sure whether it can be solved by the quality of cable, but the length certainly makes a difference. I have the cheap OCUK 10m HDMI cable and the ghosting is markedly worse than over a short run.

Great value though, use it for playing FIFA12 on the PC in the lounge downstairs (with xbox pads). Friends didn't understand why my xbox was looking so good :D
Click to expand...

I would be very suprised if the cable was causing the ghosting. As HDMI cables send a digital signal they pretty much work or they don't, with sparkles of light being the only real inbetween.

For anything shorter than 10m I always just go for the cheapest available. Beyond this I spend around £2/m.
 
Is the Ghosting happening on a plasma TV? its nothing to do with the cable. its image retention on the display itself. (plasmas are crap unless the picture is constantly changing) LED and LCD are more suited for PC.) the difference between the cheap and expensive leads is 1 the sheilding. (the better the quality the less interferance) and 2 the colours are richer and deeper on a better quality cable. but if there not going into a high end tv then its an overkill. I have £12 HDMI leads going into most of my equiptment and the picture and sound are amazing, but there is a big difference between a £100 monster cable and £10 cable
 
My Brother in law works in an electrical retailers and the have 3 set ups going.
all same tvs and blu ray players
1 cheap lead
1 mid range lead
1 expensive lead

there all playing the same film at the same time and you can see the difference.

so yeah REALLY!
 
I have brought cables ranging from 60 quid to £1 off a flee market and can honestly say i cant see the difference.

besides if there is the tiniest of differences would it justify spending an extra 59 quid on one? when you wont notice the diffence?
 
JasonKnights said:
My Brother in law works in an electrical retailers and the have 3 set ups going.
all same tvs and blu ray players
1 cheap lead
1 mid range lead
1 expensive lead

there all playing the same film at the same time and you can see the difference.

so yeah REALLY!
Click to expand...

And they haven't fiddled with the settings on the TVs to change the saturation/contrast in order to make otherwise identical images appear different in order to dupe people into buying pointlessly expensive cables resulting in higher profits for the shop...?

Just asking, because last time I checked, HDMI signals were digital, and so the signal reaching the TV will be identical whether it's through a £5 cable or a £100 one, unless you're talking about longer cables.
 
Various home cinema magazines and websites make it clear where they stand. Home Cinema Choice reviewed the Ixos Studio XHT288, which costs £45, in its February 2010 issue There e a few who believe that, as they're digital, all HDMI cables are the same regardless of cost and build. They're wrong. The XHT288 1.0m cord cements this claim by providing a spectacularly foible-free and clean stream of video and audio."

The reviews at What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision's website cover cables from £1 to £300. At the top end is the van den Hul Ultimate, which receives five stars for its "clear, detailed, realistic picture". The Monkey Concept 5m (£77) doesn't fare so well, scoring just two stars. According to the review, "contrasts here are washed out, with the sunny brightness of the Shire in The Fellowship Of The Ring looking distinctly overcast, and skin tones having the caste of a freshly embalmed corpse. Images too, aren't as crisp as we'd like, with fuzziness and noise creeping in throughout.
Quoted from expert reviews.com
 
@JasonKnights

Please read up on HDMI and digital interfaces as your spouting misinformation.

Deeper colours and image clarity CANNOT differ when using a HDMI interface. It's impossible to receive image adjustments. When the signal is not strong enough you get image sparkles or the tv will say "No Signal". What Hi-Fi magazine are paid to print crap.

Think of it like this, as the tv picks up analogue voltages from the source etc it may distinguish them as follows

bit of binary to be sent.

1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 1 - 1

Cheapo cable
0.8 - 0.3 - 0.3 - 0.7 - 0.7 - 0.8

Monster cable
0.9 - 0.1 - 0.1 - 0.9 - 0.9 - 0.9

Round the numbers off and you get the same result.

1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 1 - 1
 
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Quality of hdmi cables can and do make a difference over 7m in length,I had a cheapo £8 10m hdmi cable for my projector and it wouldnt display 1080p signal,so I bought a £24 one which works fine
 
woppy101 said:
Quality of hdmi cables can and do make a difference over 7m in length,I had a cheapo £8 10m hdmi cable for my projector and it wouldnt display 1080p signal,so I bought a £24 one which works fine
Click to expand...

Your exactly right when you say "it wouldn't display a 1080p signal", thats when you need a better quality cable, only go up by a fiver or so though.
 
JasonKnights said:
Various home cinema magazines and websites make it clear where they stand. Home Cinema Choice reviewed the Ixos Studio XHT288, which costs £45, in its February 2010 issue There e a few who believe that, as they're digital, all HDMI cables are the same regardless of cost and build. They're wrong. The XHT288 1.0m cord cements this claim by providing a spectacularly foible-free and clean stream of video and audio."

The reviews at What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision's website cover cables from £1 to £300. At the top end is the van den Hul Ultimate, which receives five stars for its "clear, detailed, realistic picture". The Monkey Concept 5m (£77) doesn't fare so well, scoring just two stars. According to the review, "contrasts here are washed out, with the sunny brightness of the Shire in The Fellowship Of The Ring looking distinctly overcast, and skin tones having the caste of a freshly embalmed corpse. Images too, aren't as crisp as we'd like, with fuzziness and noise creeping in throughout.
Quoted from expert reviews.com
Click to expand...

So the income received from adverts on these sites/publications has nothing to do with it?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/10056547

Hmm - A Dr and university lecturer claims it makes no difference. Independent broadcaster claims it makes no difference. A Hi-fi magazine publisher and electronics retailer claim you must spend more money. Coincidence?

Power condtioners, optical cables, HDMI cables and even analogue products such as stupidly expensive speaker cable and interconnects etc etc etc are all a load of tosh. As long as the cable is well constructed and isn't subject to interference (ie too thin shielding, too thin cable, poor components or connections etc) then physics doesn't allow there to be any perceivable difference.

Copper is copper is copper. The only difference can be the thickness. Thin or thick strands, fancy braiding, feet, anti vibration devices, twists, different metals or connections all make so little difference it's impossible to distinguish.

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3873107...abels-suggest-needless-upgrades/#.TwNWg9RmJJ0

Things such as these only serve to prove this. If the manufacturer/supplier can't prove it to work you know you're buying junk.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/23/monster-hdmi-difference-scam-still-kickin-in-frys-electronic - does the product not compare to other hdmi cables?

http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2008/3/Russ-Andrews-Accessories-Ltd/TF_ADJ_44177.aspx
http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2011/1/Russ-Andrews-Accessories-Ltd/TF_ADJ_49597.aspx - why can't this be proven?

http://www.russandrews.com/article-Truth-or-Myth-Cable-Directionality-russdirectionality.htm - why are you making things up? Oh yeah, to sell overpriced cables.

http://consumerist.com/2008/02/monster-cables-monster-ripoff-80-markups.html - notice how the more common cables give the greatest markups?

http://www.theguruguys.com/news/the-truth-about-overpriced-cables-again

The markup on cables is unreal, THIS is the real reason they're sold. I'm not saying buy the cheapest, but you can get perfectly well made cables for just a little more than the bottom end.
 
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I have a 10m £8 cable from the bay, my pc is hooked up to my plasma with it, 1080p is fine, movies are fine, sound is fine, games are fine.

I also have a £1.42 2m cable from my Xbox, everything is perfect.

Another £1.33 1.8m for sundry connections like my gf's laptop, again, everything is perfect, 1080p included.
 
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