HDMI cables - expensive = better?

I thought HDMI was digital, therefore the length of cable doesn't really matter and the quality will be same between a £1 and £100 cable?
 
Over long distances the signal might degrade hence a more expensive cable might be needed. However, instead of a £50 10mtr cable you can easily get 2x5mtr cables for £3.99 and an HDMI repeater for £20 and still get off cheaper :)
 
HDMI cables are HDMI cables! There's a digital signal going in, and a digital signal coming out. Either it does this or doesn't!
Dont be fooled by these £50p/m rubbish!!!!

For 7m plus lengths it is recommended to spend a little more (but this doesn't mean a hell of a lot more!)
 
Attu90 said:
But unless youve actually tried expensive cables how can you say there is no difference ?

You read loads of posts on the Internet from people who claim to be able to see the difference in sharpness, colour and contrast in cables
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If you understand how cables, signals & protocols work over HDMI you would understand why this is poppycock.
 
Attu90 said:
But unless youve actually tried expensive cables how can you say there is no difference ?

For every person who says there is no difference you will get another saying there is :)

This is one of those subjects that will go on and on and on.
One thing most people agree on is that if your going for a long distance get a better quality (quality not expensive) cable but for shorter lengths there "should" be no difference.

You read loads of posts on the Internet from people who claim to be able to see the difference in sharpness, colour and contrast in cables but you see as many posts shooting them down.

The only 100% way to be sure for your self is borrow a selection of HDMI cables and see if you can see the difference, alternately buy the best value one you can get and be happy with what you have.

I wouldn't personally go for the cheapest cables out there purely from a quality of materials point of view and I don't want it to fall apart after 6 months but in sure about the £10 mark would be fine.

Now id just like to add, I've got a Denon DVD player, PS3 and SkyHD all connected via HDMI and every cable I have is over the £80 mark (QED, IXOS and Cord) but id also like to add that I've not bought any of them so even though I've got expensive cables I don't class my self as the type of person who would go and buy these cables but I've never tried cheaper cables so I cant say if there would be a difference or not but common opinion would suggest there wouldn't but unless id tried it my self i wouldn't like to really comment.
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Yes I have.
He doesnt need to waste any money, and we (and myself and acouple of others on these forums were the very first to say that there is no difference, and tested it out) dont need to argue about it anymore.
 
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This "debate" will go on for years and years... but as has already been pointed out, buy a cheap cable, if it doesn't work, buy another cheap cable that works.
 
It's a digital interface, just DVI. Cable price/quality makes no difference at all, it will just either work or not.

The world of Hi-Fi has traditionally been concerned with analogue interfaces, where quality matters. With digital interfaces it doesn't matter in the same way.
 
Skyfall said:
If you understand how cables, signals & protocols work over HDMI you would understand why this is poppycock.
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mightynimrod said:
***SITS IN CORNER AND CHUCKLES*** :D
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Hehe, HDMI cables.

Stick with the cheapest you can find, and buya couple just to have a spare one in case. But if you are doing a complete install in the wall or underfloor then plump for something like a Mark Grant cable that is made better, and will work perfectly on a long run. You don't want to have to rip up the florrs or walls again. I would still run 2 cables, as it's always good to have a spare incase.

But then again a cheap cable might work fine over 10m. Just see the tests that audioholics did on a number of cables, short, long, cheap and expensive, it's a great read.
 
-Ad- said:
Hehe, HDMI cables.

Stick with the cheapest you can find, and buya couple just to have a spare one in case. But if you are doing a complete install in the wall or underfloor then plump for something like a Mark Grant cable that is made better, and will work perfectly on a long run. You don't want to have to rip up the florrs or walls again. I would still run 2 cables, as it's always good to have a spare incase.

But then again a cheap cable might work fine over 10m. Just see the tests that audioholics did on a number of cables, short, long, cheap and expensive, it's a great read.
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I've just read the results page of that, and he is saying (and proved by is $205,500 worth of equipment) that you dont need expensive cables for short runs, and for longer cables you only need to spend a modest amount as these are slightly better made, mabye we should just put that article in a sticky.
 
atpbx said:
I've just read the results page of that, and he is saying (and proved by is $205,500 worth of equipment) that you dont need expensive cables for short runs, and for longer cables you only need to spend a modest amount as these are slightly better made, mabye we should just put that article in a sticky.
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Ye, it was great to see a proper test done with such a large variety of cables.

I'm actually thinking of writing a tv and cable sticky article inc 1080p, plasma, lcd etc before I go back to work (if I can be assed) :D
 
atpbx said:
I've just read the results page of that, and he is saying (and proved by is $205,500 worth of equipment) that you dont need expensive cables for short runs, and for longer cables you only need to spend a modest amount as these are slightly better made, mabye we should just put that article in a sticky.
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Whilst i agree with the conclusions i doubt it will ever be the last word in the cable debate, even on this forum. After all, most people buy this stuff on the back of glowing 5* magazine reviews and if they take it home and they think it makes a difference they'll be happy to believe it does.

There are a huge number of papers about such topics using similar methods on the Audio Engineering Society - the problem is you have to pay for them :(.

Edit - this isn't relevant to this thread, but this article is rather an interesting take on hi-fi design. It's a summary of 2 papers from AES on the subject of consumer and design prejudices in high end audio:
http://www.biline.ca/critic4.htm
 
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It's like using an expensive USB cable, an expensive ethernet cable or an expensive SATA cable.
 
-Ad- said:
But if you are doing a complete install in the wall or underfloor then plump for something like a Mark Grant cable that is made better, and will work perfectly on a long run. You don't want to have to rip up the floors or walls again.
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And of course to ensure that they'll be future proofed to carry higher resolutions, higher bit rate audio and 12 and 16-bit Deep Colour content.

I wouldn't want that upgrade bug spoiled by the thought of more redecorating!! :p
 
I am under instructions to sell said '£90' cables...as far as i was told from up top, the difference is down to the gold plating and the insulation...so other long distances = Best to go for the better quality. I'm far too polite/nice to be a salesman really. :(

Oh and a sales trick that is used as an example...£100 camera = £10 memory card so £1000 TV = £100 HDMI cable etc. /shrugs.
 
HDMI it is not a digital cable as you all seem to think it is, but rather a digital "interface". It is still a copper cable and the information sent down it is still electrical just like any other cable. It is not just on's and off's. The signal can still degrade just like in any other cable, you can still get errors in the picture, it is not simply a case of "it will work or it will not" you can still get artefacts and similar with a poor or long cable.

There are also two kinds of HDMI (1.3) cables. Category 1 ones and "high speed" Category 2 ones. Only category 2 cables officially support 1080p (actually they support 1600p) but all under 5M in length are theoretically as good as Category 2 cables. Most cables sold now are Category 2, even the really cheap ones, but it is still something worth pointing out - many older ones are not.

See here - http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/kb.aspx

Although a Standard HDMI cable may not have been tested to support the higher bandwidth requirements of cables rated to support high speeds, existing cables, especially ones of shorter lengths (i.e., less than 2 meters), will generally perform adequately in higher speed situations. The quality of the HDMI receiver chip (in the TV, for example) has a large effect on the ability to cleanly recover and display the HDMI signal. A significant majority, perhaps all, of the HDMI TVs and projectors that support 1080p on the HDMI inputs are designed with quality receiver chips that may cleanly recover the 1080p HDMI signal using a Standard-rated HDMI cable. These receiver chips use technology called “cable equalization” in order to counter the signal reduction (attenuation) caused by a cable. We have seen successful demonstrations of 1080p signal runs on a >50 ft. cable, and a 720p signal run on a >75 ft. cable. However, the only way to guarantee that your cable will perform at higher speeds is to purchase a cable that has been tested at the higher speeds and labeled as “High-Speed.”
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Spending over £5 on a <5M cable IS silly though :p

But there IS less chance of an expensive cable being crap! Anyone who spends £90 on one is a complete and total idiot though. Mine was £4.99 and its gold plated too!
 
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Johnnytoxic said:
Best way of explaining it, is to ask people if they spend lots of money on USB cables. Similar scenario really.
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Not really, USB data cables have data integrity checks (well not the cable obviously the computers themselves though), and the computer can ask for retransmission if the data is errored. With Audio and Video the streams are real time, errors are "guestimated" on the fly and error correction kicks in to try and fill in any blanks with best guess data.

Jitter in the clock signals can change the sound coming from a DAC as well, no doubt it affects video signals as well, although it may not be as noticable as with sound.

That said, I wouldnt spend mega bucks on an HDMI cable, unless the cable was > 10 meters. But for a purest, errors generated in the transport, and cables certainly have the effect that your potentially your listening/viewing pleasure relys on the quality of the error correction algorithms.
 
So is £25 for a 10m Category 2 HDMI cable too much?

10M HDMI ATC certified High Speed V1.3b (Latest HDMI Spec) Cable

This cable is proffesional quality cable, supplied by an HDMI adopter and HDMI ATC certified as V1.3 high speed / Category 2, which means it has been rigorously tested, on approved testing equipment, at speeds up to 340 Mhz (See Eye Pattern Test).

This is the prefect cable for connecting your PS3, Blu-Ray Player, HD DVD Player, Home Theater PC, SKY HD Box to an HD Ready / Full HD Ready 1080P TV.

The cable has been tested with all of the above equipment, connected directly to the equipment, and through the range of splitters we sell.

All of the cables we sell are future proofed as they are capable of transmitting data at 340Mhz which is the required speed for Full HD 1080P Deep Colour.

Features

* Double screened
* Gold plated plugs
* Supports high-bandwidth, uncompressed digital video, multi-channel digital audio and control functions
* HDMI V1.3b (Latest HDMI Specification)
* Rigorously tested at speeds above 165 Mhz to ensure they meet the exacting requirements of the HDMI adopter authority for V1.3b High Speed Full HD 1080P cable Eye Pattern Test.
* Tested with SKY HD @ 720P/1080i
* Tested with PS3/Blu-Ray @ 1080P
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