And the HDMI cable manufacturers will cry over wireless HDMI |
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One of the things I dislike about HDMI is the overpriced cables. You’ve seen them right? Some are selling for more than $150 USD. What kind of consumer grade cable can or even should be worth $150? Yeah, yeah, it’s made of diamond or gold or diamond and gold. I don’t care if it’s made by NASA, a consumer grade cable that hooks your TV to another device shouldn’t cost more than $50.
Fortunately, good news might be on the horizon as Tzero Technologies and Analog Devices has created a prototype for wireless HDMI.
The backbone for the technology is ultrawideband, also used as a future replacement for wired USB.
To be fair I have seen a few HDMI cables selling around $50. Is there any significant difference in these cables or is it a case of paying for the brand name? Whatever the case, bring on the wireless and HDMI cable gouging can come to an end someday.
Yes, there are difference in a $50 dollar cable and a $150 dollar cable.
Of course, if you have a cheap HDTV then you won’t see the difference since it sucks to much.
And often the more expensive cables are gold yes, the contacts, it is high quality stuff.
So just buy the cheap ones for your cheap tv and the expensive ones for your expensive tv.
Comment by Forser — September 6, 2006 @ 1:33 pm PST
That’s the pitch, Forser, but I’ve seen the same thing with expensive outlets that claim to clean dirty AC power. Their might be something to these claims, but I remain curious how much is reality and how much is hype.
I wonder if the local Best Buy folks would show me the difference between the two cables on one of their highend LCD TVs. That would be an inexpensive way to take an expensive test. They should put two different cables for sale next to the display. If I owned a retail store that’s exactly what I’d do, letting people use their eyes to make the decision for the extra hundred bones.
Comment by TDavid — September 6, 2006 @ 2:36 pm PST
And if you believe that, then I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
No, there’s no difference between an HDMI cable of one brand or another. That is, not so you’d notice. There may be differences in cable construction (insulation, cladding, the core, etc), but not in the bandwidth they carry. There’s a minimum, which the HDMI protocol specifies, and that’s it.
But you’d be very hard pressed to determine any kind of signal quality difference between a low-priced and a high-priced cable. First, unlike analog signalling, with digital signalling a cruddy cable doesn’t mean a poor picture. It means no picture, or horrible artifacts, or errors in the rendering, audio garbling, etc.
Also, most HDMI cables (cheap and expensive) have gold contacts. Take a look. The quantity of gold doesn’t make a cable expensive, nor does the process involved in plating them. Gold in these quantities is very cheap. You’re certainly not getting $20 or $50 of gold in each cable. It’s a layer a few molecules thick.
And no, “cheap HDTV” does not equate to poor signal quality. I have a “cheap” 37″ LCD monitor that displays an absolutely amazing 1080p picture. You don’t need to spend $5000 to get a beautiful picture, and you definitely don’t need to spend $150 a cable for HDMI, either.
Comment by Salil Maniktahla — September 6, 2006 @ 7:01 pm PST
HDMI cables from Monoprice - 3ft less than $20
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&style=
Monster 300 - 3ft $80
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-300-HDMI-length-HDMI300-1M/dp/B000I2CPAI/sr=8-1/qid=1159989028/ref=sr_1_1/103-7593087-8798204?ie=UTF8&s=electronics
Monster cable 4x better, I don’t think so!
Comment by Mark Shearing — October 4, 2006 @ 2:19 pm PST
I found a 10 foot HDMI to HDMI for $8.99 and $4.95 shipping via USPS Priority Mail at
http://www.mycablemart.com/store/cart.php?m=product_list&c=58&gclid=CMWp7bGmwYwCFR6AWAodih7OaQ. If that sounds too expensive I found it for $6.99 Plus $4.92 S&H at,
http://www.m2cables.com/index.html
I also found a 10 foot for $12.99 and higher and I have only scratched the ads on Ask. I’m going with the $6.99
Comment by Fred T. Coffmqn — June 3, 2007 @ 7:17 pm PST
no viewable difference between cheap and pricy.
watch http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/packing_the_deal/ and then decide.
Comment by j. kanders — September 5, 2008 @ 10:07 am PST