HDMI cable questions?

[hrsp]

So i needed a HDMI cable for my t.v to my cable box...o bought a monster cable but when i got home i noticed it says 60hz on it...what does that mean? does that mean with these i will only achieve 60hc instead of the 240 that the tv is capable of? if so where and what ones should i get? thanks!!

[VroomPshhTsi]

x2, how can I get my HDTV to put out more than 60 hz?

[88Nightmare]

http://nepis.net/images/NM-Jiggawatts2.jpg

[Neal Steffek]

First of all, if you paid more then $10 for the cable return it and go to http://www.monoprice.com

Second, all HDMI cables are exactly the same no matter what the maker says.

Third, the cable only carrys the info and can not in any way shape or form make or decrease your picture/audio quality.

Forth. I love boobies and drinking

[Jeff]

I love boobies and drinking too!

[Neal Steffek]

I love boobies and drinking too!

werd up

[Silver86]

First of all, if you paid more then $10 for the cable return it and go to http://www.monoprice.com

Second, all HDMI cables are exactly the same no matter what the maker says.

Third, the cable only carrys the info and can not in any way shape or form make or decrease your picture/audio quality.

Forth. I love boobies and drinking


this!

[PureSound15]

First of all, if you paid more then $10 for the cable return it and go to http://www.monoprice.com

Second, all HDMI cables are exactly the same no matter what the maker says.

Third, the cable only carrys the info and can not in any way shape or form make or decrease your picture/audio quality.

Forth. I love boobies and drinking

Werd. I love seeing people buy $45 HDMI cables at Best Buy because "it's better".

Digital is digital.

Same goes for optical cables.

[animal]

Fucking werd. I told you, menards... $7 HDMI cables you don't have to wait for (only 6 foot tho). :)

[Moparjim]

Monoprice comes pretty quick too - I usually get them the next day, maybe the day after even with just standard shipping. So, it's really not that much of a wait.

[Goat Roper]

Hell, I got one sitting at the house you can have! Like someone said, anything over $5-$10 for an HDMI cable is a waste.

[animal]

When i saw the words "monster cable" the only thing running through my mind was "SUCKER" heh.

[Cryptic]

First of all, if you paid more then $10 for the cable return it and go to http://www.monoprice.com

Second, all HDMI cables are exactly the same no matter what the maker says.

Third, the cable only carrys the info and can not in any way shape or form make or decrease your picture/audio quality.

Forth. I love boobies and drinking

:wstupid he pretty much covered it.

Monster is a joke. All digital cables are all or nothing. You either have perfect picture and sound or nothing at all.

[hrsp]

Thanks!!!!

[lilws6]

my xbox came with one :goof i love hdmi

[pOrk]

Monoprice has crazy shipping prices though, best place to get longer hdmi cables is ebay. Just got 2 25 footers for 26 bucks shipped :)

[badass88gt]

Check RiteAV.com, they are just like Monoprice.com but they are just north of Appleton.

[PureSound15]

Monoprice has crazy shipping prices though, best place to get longer hdmi cables is ebay. Just got 2 25 footers for 26 bucks shipped :)

What the hell do you need a 25 ft HDMI cable for :wooo

[BoosTT]

What the hell do you need a 25 ft HDMI cable for :wooo

I have a stock pile of them around my place.... I think be5t buy retail price was $169.99 each for monster cable. Employee discount = 11.90 each. lol

All cables are like that. $89.99 compoent monster cable is not even $12 be5t buy employee price. Actually, a lot of non cables stuff is like that too.... Glad I have a family member who works there. They get free stuff all the time from microsoft, sony, ect all the time too.

[BoosTT]

^^^ Those are all 25 foot btw

[WilliamZ]

Sorry to say but who says "all HDMI cables are the same" is ignorant on the topic...

[WilliamZ]

So i needed a HDMI cable for my t.v to my cable box...o bought a monster cable but when i got home i noticed it says 60hz on it...what does that mean? does that mean with these i will only achieve 60hc instead of the 240 that the tv is capable of? if so where and what ones should i get? thanks!!

Your refresh rate has to do with your TV, not your HDMI cable.

[Neal Steffek]

Sorry to say but who says "all HDMI cables are the same" is ignorant on the topic...

That is true. Some are 6 feet. some are 10 feet. And some are even 25 feet!

[badass88gt]

Sorry to say but who says "all HDMI cables are the same" is ignorant on the topic...

While the specs may not be the same, I had a Monster HDMI and an ACME HDMI hooked up and compared, my untrained eye could not tell the difference. neither could Popular Mechanics when they did an article on it. Certainly not worth paying an extra $75 for a 6 foot cable to get a name on it.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4235717.html

[pOrk]

What the hell do you need a 25 ft HDMI cable for :wooo

My TV is 24 ft across, duh. I mounted my TV to the stone above my fireplace, running the HDMI up into the attic and across the room to a cabinet in the corner of my living room to house my PC / DVD / Blue-ray stuff


^^^ Those are all 25 foot btw

I need 2 more 25 footers, wanna sell to me?

[WilliamZ]

That is true. Some are 6 feet. some are 10 feet. And some are even 25 feet!

Explain this one for me then. A customer of ours insisted on using generic cheap Shitwalker HDMI cables (like Monoprice) for their install. They were brand new in the package. The TV was a brand new Samsung LED and the install required the use of 90 degree adapters coming from the back of the TV. The adapters were Phoenix Gold. Hooked everything up and I would get either snow, nothing, or no signal. I brought the 90's home to see if they would work with my HDMI cables, and they worked just fine. So if they are all the same how come the 90's didn't work with the cheap junk cables but worked with my cables? I mean they are all constructed the same correct? :confused
We lost money on that job from having to get different cables and having to come back another day.
How come some HDMI cables have higher bandwidth than others?

[Neal Steffek]

Explain this one for me then. A customer of ours insisted on using generic cheap Shitwalker HDMI cables (like Monoprice) for their install. They were brand new in the package. The TV was a brand new Samsung LED and the install required the use of 90 degree adapters coming from the back of the TV. The adapters were Phoenix Gold. Hooked everything up and I would get either snow, nothing, or no signal. I brought the 90's home to see if they would work with my HDMI cables, and they worked just fine. So if they are all the same how come the 90's didn't work with the cheap junk cables but worked with my cables? I mean they are all constructed the same correct? :confused
We lost money on that job from having to get different cables and having to come back another day.
How come some HDMI cables have higher bandwidth than others?

They are all the same. Plain and simple. Odds are you hooked it up wrong. I have a box of broken monster cables that broke on me over the years. You are free to see them if you like.

HDMI cables carry a full digital single from point A to point B. That is all it does. Nothing analog in there so need to be fancy.

[British_Ben]

Explain this one for me then. A customer of ours insisted on using generic cheap Shitwalker HDMI cables (like Monoprice) for their install. They were brand new in the package. The TV was a brand new Samsung LED and the install required the use of 90 degree adapters coming from the back of the TV. The adapters were Phoenix Gold. Hooked everything up and I would get either snow, nothing, or no signal. I brought the 90's home to see if they would work with my HDMI cables, and they worked just fine. So if they are all the same how come the 90's didn't work with the cheap junk cables but worked with my cables? I mean they are all constructed the same correct? :confused
We lost money on that job from having to get different cables and having to come back another day.
How come some HDMI cables have higher bandwidth than others?

You said it yourself... snow, nothing, or no signal. It's all or nothing with digital signals. It is literally data flowing over the cable, there is no attenuation or interference, the data either gets to the other end or it doesn't. You had a bad cable if the 90 degree bends were tested good with your known good cable.

The only difference is the construction, so, yeah that cheap cable wasn't made as well and obviously wasn't fully connecting the two devices. But, if it had worked, it would have worked as well as the $170.00 Monster cable.

Not trying to dig on you, just explaining what I think everyone else is getting at. :)

[BlueOvalBolt]

HDMI is an evolving technology. The important thing is make sure you are using a cable that is capable of handling the features your equipment has to offer. For example, using anything less than a version 1.3 cable will not take full advantage of the latest HDTV or BluRay features like Deep Color, x.v. Color, 340 MHz single-link bandwidth, Dolby TrueHD, etc. The brand or price is not relavent as long it is a certified cable. Not all cables sold are version 1.3.

If a cable does not state a version designation, I would be wary of it. It may work but it may not perform as well. Granted, the differences may not be vastly different but it's just a matter of what is important to you.

Version 1.4 HDMI cables will be coming out soon to support 3-D techology among other coming TV technologies which would be overkill for today's equipment but necessary to take advantage of next generation capabilites.

The following is from HDMI.org (worth a visit for more info).

The following provides an overview of major functionality added to each version of HDMI:

HDMI 1.1:

Support for DVD Audio.

HDMI 1.2:

Adds features and capabilities that increase HDMI's appeal for use in both the CE and PC industries. Specifically, the features and modifications for HDMI 1.2 include: Support for One Bit Audio format, such as SuperAudio CD's DSD (Direct Stream Digital), changes to offer better support for current and future PCs with HDMI outputs, including: availability of the widely-used HDMI Type A connector for PC sources and displays with full support for PC video formats, ability for PC sources to use their native RGB color space while retaining the option to support the YCbCr CE color space, requirement for HDMI 1.2 and later displays to support future low-voltage (i.e., AC-coupled) sources, such as those based on PCI Express I/O technology.

HDMI 1.2a:

Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) features and command sets and CEC compliance tests are now fully specified.
Creation of version 1.2a of the HDMI Compliance Test Specification (CTS), which includes a CEC Supplement. HDMI CTS 1.2a has been updated for technical consistency with HDMI Specification 1.2a as well as to the recently released HDMI Specification 1.2.
Significantly, CTS 1.2a contains additional cable and connector testing and Authorized Testing Center (ATC) submission requirements. Specifically, under CTS 1.2a, the Adopter shall submit for testing to the ATC any new HDMI cable whose length exceeds previously tested cables.
Additionally, HDMI Licensing, LLC will maintain a list of approved connectors. For a device to pass CTS 1.2a testing at an ATC, all connectors on such device must appear on the approved connector list. To add a connector to this list, the vendor must submit to the ATC or HDMI Licensing, LLC full and passing testing results.

HDMI 1.3:

Higher speed: HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps) to support the demands of future HD display devices, such as higher resolutions, Deep Color and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.

Deep Color: HDMI 1.3 supports 10-bit, 12-bit and 16-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 8-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification, for stunning rendering of over one billion colors in unprecedented detail.

Broader color space: HDMI 1.3 adds support for “x.v.Color™” (which is the consumer name describing the IEC 61966-2-4 xvYCC color standard), which removes current color space limitations and enables the display of any color viewable by the human eye.

New mini connector: With small portable devices such as HD camcorders and still cameras demanding seamless connectivity to HDTVs, HDMI 1.3 offers a new, smaller form factor connector option.

Lip Sync: Because consumer electronics devices are using increasingly complex digital signal processing to enhance the clarity and detail of the content, synchronization of video and audio in user devices has become a greater challenge and could potentially require complex end-user adjustments. HDMI 1.3 incorporates automatic audio synching capabilities that allows devices to perform this synchronization automatically with total accuracy.

New HD lossless audio formats: In addition to HDMI’s current ability to support high-bandwidth uncompressed digital audio and all currently-available compressed formats (such as Dolby® Digital and DTS®), HDMI 1.3 adds additional support for new lossless compressed digital audio formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™.

[WilliamZ]

They are all the same. Plain and simple. Odds are you hooked it up wrong. I have a box of broken monster cables that broke on me over the years. You are free to see them if you like.

HDMI cables carry a full digital single from point A to point B. That is all it does. Nothing analog in there so need to be fancy.

Hahaha yea, I hooked it up wrong :rolf
I'm not a fan of Monster Cables and have never used them.

[WilliamZ]

You said it yourself... snow, nothing, or no signal. It's all or nothing with digital signals. It is literally data flowing over the cable, there is no attenuation or interference, the data either gets to the other end or it doesn't. You had a bad cable if the 90 degree bends were tested good with your known good cable.

The only difference is the construction, so, yeah that cheap cable wasn't made as well and obviously wasn't fully connecting the two devices. But, if it had worked, it would have worked as well as the $170.00 Monster cable.

Not trying to dig on you, just explaining what I think everyone else is getting at. :)

The cable worked without the 90. It wasn't just one cable, I had 4 to choose from, same brand. My cables worked with the 90 as they should. I was out in the field. We lost money on that job because of cheap cables. I use cables that do not give me these issues. If all HDMI cables are the same which Neal said it should have worked 90, or not...

[T-Bag]

Not all HDMI cables are the same...similar to how not all network cables aren't the same. CAT6 has the capabilities of running a signal faster than CAT5. There's different bandwidth rates, etc. Will you notice a difference? Probably not.

Never had a problem with monoprice cables, and you're an idiot if you spend a lot of money on HDMI cables because you fell for all the gimmicks.

[Myles]

so uh, cat6 can do what over cat5?

[Neal Steffek]

I think we can put this to rest now.

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=828972&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

In short, they ARE all the same.

[Myles]

I think we can put this to rest now.

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=828972&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

In short, they ARE all the same.

Win.

[davidrab]

Not all HDMI cables are the same...similar to how not all network cables aren't the same. CAT6 has the capabilities of running a signal faster than CAT5. There's different bandwidth rates, etc. Will you notice a difference? Probably not.

Never had a problem with monoprice cables, and you're an idiot if you spend a lot of money on HDMI cables because you fell for all the gimmicks.

That's actually a pretty good example. Try running gigabit over 50m Cat3.
Will it work? It could if it was good cable, but if it was just to the Cat3 spec,
probably not.

I love Monoprice cables and wouldn't get anything else more expensive, but
that's because they are good cables. In theory any HDMI should be as good
as another HDMI cable, but there are differences because of the quality
of the wire, assembly, etc. It shouldn't make a difference over short
runs, but can make a difference over longer runs.

Like BlueOvalBolt said, the spec'd bandwidth v1.3 did go up and that *could*
effect a poorly made cable.

[hrsp]

how bout this weather?lol

[badass88gt]

how bout this weather?lol

I love lamp.

[British_Ben]

The cable worked without the 90. It wasn't just one cable, I had 4 to choose from, same brand. My cables worked with the 90 as they should. I was out in the field. We lost money on that job because of cheap cables. I use cables that do not give me these issues. If all HDMI cables are the same which Neal said it should have worked 90, or not...

So, all this means is that the combination you were using did not work, there was disconnect, as in snow or no signal. But had it worked, it would have had as good of a picture as any other HDMI cable.

HDMI cables are not all the the same constructions wise, there is higher and lower BUILD quality. But if you have a $10 cable and a $100 cable, both of which known to be good and working, there is no difference in PICTURE quality. That's what we're getting at.

You're basically agreeing with us, but your just saying that you prefer higher build quality cables because you have less disconnect issues with them, which I completely understand. :thumbsup

[British_Ben]

so uh, cat6 can do what over cat5?

:rolf:rolf:rolf

I'll tell you what CAT6 can do over CAT5, you can bend and stretch the shit out of CAT6 compared to CAT5 and it doesn't care. Although, it's not a great idea. As far as bandwidth there is absolutely no difference. GigE is GigE.

[T-Bag]

Cat6 has the capabilities of running higher bandwidth than Cat5...not that it actually does at this point.

[British_Ben]

Cat6 has the capabilities of running higher bandwidth than Cat5...not that it actually does at this point.

You're right, it doesn't matter, however, cat6 doesn't have higher bandwidth capabilities than cat5, not in today's standards anyway. 10Gbe is the fastest ethernet based connection available these days and there are a few out there running it successfully on Cat5e. Cat6 just makes more sense because it is the newest standard, the twist is tighter, and the physical cable is easier to work with/more durable, but not because it has higher bandwidth capabilities.

Sorry, lets get back to the HDMI thing and what not.

[Myles]

To end the network cable thing, if you are using copper for anything higher than 1gige, go shoot yourself in the face or get fiber. And bringing up cat3? Seriously? Go die.

This HDMI thing has been beat to death it seems. Picture quality does not change with build quality, but the fact that it will work or last forever does change with build quality.

[Moparjim]

I agree with Myles simple assessment.

Also, for what it is worth, the monoprice cables are actually of very decent build quality in my opinion, and more than adequate for most home user's needs. Most home users are going to plug it in and run it 3 feet over from their Xbox360 over to their TV and be done with it and never move the stuff or have it exposed to any sort of abuse. The monoprice cables meet all the same specs as any other cable, and are of very decent quality, and I would not be surprised if like any other consumer product the same damn factories in Thailand or wherever are making them and the higher priced cables in the same sweatshops with the same materials and equipment.

For guys like Williams doing pro installs for high end setups, permanent through walls and stuff it certainly makes sense to spring for the highest quality one can find at a reasonable price.

However, I think the basic point of this whole thread/debate stands - for the average home user, the monoprice or whatever $7 cables are every bit as good as the $50 rip-off cables like Monster or whatever sold at local chain stores. Those cables are not necessarily any higher quality anyways, and simply have a super gouge markup price. Even actual higher quality cables most likely will not have any measurable benefit for 99% of home users simply hooking up a blue ray player or PS3 or Xbox or whatever.