Low-End Vs. High-End HDMI Throwdown
In the world of home theater and stereo enthusiasts there are two camps: Those who pay top dollar for fat, gold-plated cables claiming vastly improved picture or sound quality, and a second group that laughs at the first while using cheapo wires they claim deliver the same results. Which group is right? For the answer, you might want to check out Gizmodo, which is addressing this very issue in an upcoming HDMI cable comparison. The site has ordered in a $220 HDMI home theater cable from high-end cable maker Monster Cable, as well as budget $20 version from discount cable shop MonoPrice.com. We'll bring you the results when they're in.
We were at the Monster demo the other day in which the cable company demonstrated the difference between cheap HDMI cables and Monster HDMI cables. In the live Monster demo, the cheap cables gave out, resulting in no picture or lots of video noise, particularly with longer 10-foot cables transmitting 1080p video. We've never experienced that kind of drop-out with our non-Monster HDMI cables, but we haven't done extensive testing with 1080p signals, either. (We also haven't found any particularly cheap HDMI cables-- with the exception of XTreme Mac's $20 HDMI cables, they're all pretty pricey.)
Though in the past these comparisons have been done again and again, always with similar results -- that you don't get what you pay for or that it doesn't make a difference-- we look forward to seeing what side of the fence Gizmodo parks itself on.
From Gizmodo
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Papo @ Nov 16th 2007 3:24PM
I am one that uses mono price all the time but the only problem I have with them is that you don't know the manufacturer of the product you are ordering. There has to be a time where quality has to mater at least a tad. I have been using Cables to Go for my cables. They always have been great. You can get them for really cheap also.
http://www.techsourcepro.com/sections/items/?cat=73&sort=p