Fair Go HDMI Cables

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vexxxboy

4087 posts

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#45694 3-Nov-2009 23:37

theres been a lot of discussion on HDMI cables and this week on Fair Go they are doing a story on the price of cables and are they worth it, looks like they go undercover in a big store (Harvey Normans ?) and they come to the same conclusion most people have. could be interesting

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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#269828 3-Nov-2009 23:52

Definitely not worth it!

Spend as little as you can on HDMI cables. The expensive ones may last longer or give you slightly better sound / picture quality but seriously, it often is not visible to the naked eye.

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bazzer

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#269837 4-Nov-2009 00:56

heavenly_wild: Definitely not worth it!

Spend as little as you can on HDMI cables. The expensive ones may last longer or give you slightly better sound / picture quality but seriously, it often is not visible to the naked eye.

Huh?

Ragnor

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#269844 4-Nov-2009 01:54

HDMI is digital so there is no sound/picture quality difference at all.

You probably wouldn't want a badly made cheap cable where the wiring gets damaged if the cable is bent slightly but that shouldn't be a major concern really.

Kraven

708 posts

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#269856 4-Nov-2009 06:55

Consumer tested HDMI and TOSLINK cables in Jan 2009 and pretty much came to the same conclusion - that cheap cables do much the same job as more expensive ones.

For those that have access, the results are here: http://www.consumer.org.nz/reports/high-definition-cables

Bung

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#269859 4-Nov-2009 07:13

The Consumer test method only managed to get differences in performance by daisy chaining the cables out past 26 metres. Foolishly they ranked the cables with scores between 8.7 - 9.4 for picture. Choice, the Australian magazine used the same results but just said that there was no difference in performance.

xpd

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#269869 4-Nov-2009 08:13

Paid about $11 for my cable. I didnt watch Fair Go, but I assume they got some salesperson doing the "gold connectors, higher frequncies" etc routine ?

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8d52797c436

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#269871 4-Nov-2009 08:28

Funny thing about gold connectors is that most peoples equipment that the cables are plugged into aren't gold, so it doesnt really matter.

ATinyChipmunk

136 posts

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#269874 4-Nov-2009 08:33

8d52797c436: Funny thing about gold connectors is that most peoples equipment that the cables are plugged into aren't gold, so it doesnt really matter.

This :) i got a $13 cable, it goes from DVI-D to HDMI that i run my media center to my 55" lcd looks fantatic :) (its even gold lololol)

vinnieg

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#269876 4-Nov-2009 08:36

ATinyChipmunk:
8d52797c436: Funny thing about gold connectors is that most peoples equipment that the cables are plugged into aren't gold, so it doesnt really matter.

This :) i got a $13 cable, it goes from DVI-D to HDMI that i run my media center to my 55" lcd looks fantatic :) (its even gold lololol)

haha same :) all my high end audio connecting to my TVs/dvr/PS3 are all stock $7 cables :S

Even my subwoofer and component surround cables are:

A a pack of component cables from the warehouse(laser branded) @ $10, stripped them into 3, one for the subwoofer, one for the DVR coax-digital, one for the Xbox coax-digital. seriously no difference between spending on them and a supposed "Monster" cable

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

geekiegeek

2513 posts

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#269878 4-Nov-2009 09:00

vinnieg:
ATinyChipmunk:
8d52797c436: Funny thing about gold connectors is that most peoples equipment that the cables are plugged into aren't gold, so it doesnt really matter.

This :) i got a $13 cable, it goes from DVI-D to HDMI that i run my media center to my 55" lcd looks fantatic :) (its even gold lololol)

haha same :) all my high end audio connecting to my TVs/dvr/PS3 are all stock $7 cables :S

Even my subwoofer and component surround cables are:

A a pack of component cables from the warehouse(laser branded) @ $10, stripped them into 3, one for the subwoofer, one for the DVR coax-digital, one for the Xbox coax-digital. seriously no difference between spending on them and a supposed "Monster" cable

Sorry to burst your bubble but for analogue better cables do make a difference. i.e. stereo interconnects and speaker wire.

vinnieg

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#269883 4-Nov-2009 09:06

It's ok mate, you didn't burst it at all. I don't use any bad quality cables for analogue only digital(luckily I run no analogue at all on any of my TVs. I'm digital all the way :) even digital optical from my freeview TV to my amp, digital optical from my PS3, digital optical from my DVR, digital coax from my xbox. Then HDMI from each one into my receiver, then HDMI into my TV.

I'm only using the component leads with the same quality 75-ohm coax that normal coax leads have to go from the DVR to the receiver to transfer digital audio signals.

I would never use bad quality speaker wire, I agree speaker wire is definitely important. Especially with the long runs I have in my place. I use 12ga(i think it was 12) speaker wire throughout the house for my hifi system.

My speaker wire is good stuff, don't worry.

If i was actually running any RCA cables, then I would make the best ones I could....but I still would never buy anything Monster

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

Jaxson

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#269896 4-Nov-2009 09:24

Thing I've noticed are the connectors at the ends. I saw those cheap ones Jaycar had (4 for $32 or something) and they did look/feel a bit flimsy at the ends.

At the end of the day most people aren't watching TV's in industrial plantrooms with severe levels of noise/interferance being generated. I tend to opt for the start at the cheaper end and work your way up if you experience problems.

I have 10m run to my projector via $30 (second hand off trademe) dick smith cable. It's pretty thick, has nice shiny gold ends, but more importantly it works great. If it didn't work great I'd have to look at an inline amp, or a better cable.

Past a certain point with digital, if the signals well enough protected, it's not going to get any better is it. If you achieve sufficient signal quality/transmission with a $10 cable, a $250 cable is not going to change much.

Analogue video/sub/line level RCA cables I tend to make my own cables out of RG59 as this is better suited for this task than RG6.

Wade

2225 posts

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#269897 4-Nov-2009 09:30

Well it really comes down to how much snake oil is enough!

I have used the manufacturer supplied HDMI leads plus a TM purchased jobbie to connect my HT all with very acceptable results.

Despite the "it's digital so doesn't matter" I still chose the chunkiest best looking cheapie i could find on TM and paid maybe $19 instead of $10 purely as a feel good measure and i suspect quite a few people would do the saem and buy nice cables not for the measurable difference but for the cosmetics, let's be honest having nice thick cables with woven sheathesbles really can make a setup far more cosmetically appealling. This logic still does not justify Monsters pricing!

wreck90

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#269898 4-Nov-2009 09:31

There was some mention that higher priced cables are more likely to support the most recent version of the HDMI spec, which requires higher bandwidth that some older cables may not support.

But, I still think this is an attempt to confuse. Most people would not notice the difference between HDMI versions.

Sounddude

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#269900 4-Nov-2009 09:37

There is some proof that the more expensive cables work better over long distances (10m+)

But since 99% of us don't need 10M+ its pointless.

I tend do avoid the cheap HDMI cables and pay a bit more for the build quality. I move my cables around lots, the cheap ones tend to break and die.

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