HDMI Cable question!

Do HDMI cables such as the monster cables and official Microsoft/sony cables make a difference in picture quality verses the cheap ones you find on ebay and amazon?

What? They make monster HDMI cables? What a scam!

There is no big difference. If you have a fry's or something like that were you live, just look for the generic ones, i got mine for $15 and it wokrs and looks great.

See I bought my hdmi cable for 5 dollars, and I have a ps3. When I hook up my ps3 to my monitor, the resolution is set at 1080p, but when I play COD, it looks a lot worse. It's still 1080 though. When I go over to my friend's house who has an Xbox, it looks a lot better. So could this mean that Xbox has better graphics in COD than ps3, or is it that my hdmi is getting old?

See I bought my hdmi cable for 5 dollars, and I have a ps3. When I hook up my ps3 to my monitor, the resolution is set at 1080p, but when I play COD, it looks a lot worse. It's still 1080 though. When I go over to my friend's house who has an Xbox, it looks a lot better. So could this mean that Xbox has better graphics in COD than ps3, or is it that my hdmi is getting old?

aXidZ

Maybe your friend has a better TV/monitor.

There is a MW2 comparison here.

its amazing how many times this question gets asked on here. ive had nothing but good experience with my cables from monoprice but id also suggest looking at a thift store. my local Goodwill gets opened items from Target all the time so ive gotten Hdmi cables that were $40 at Target for $5 there.

Well, I would consider myself somewhat of an audio snob. I think the prices of top tier hdmi cables are ridiculous. However, the reasoning behind spending a little extra is the construction of the cable, itself. If you spend $2500 on a tv set, you want a quality product going into it. One that is tested with various manufacturers models, etc. There's a rumor that the headphone jack on Ipods is slightly off, or, made specifically for use with "apple" brand headphones. However, everyone knows that apple headphones are of the lowest quality. So what do people do, they go out and buy a pair that are twice as good, at half the cost. But what happens to the ipod? The jack breaks, resulting in more money for apple through further ipod sales, because, you know, people love fads AND apple. It may or may not be true, but it makes sense, especially considering there are statements that claim to only use apple branded products with the device. So some of the extra cost for a decent cable actually comes from the product being tested with said devices.

So perhaps I spend this little extra more out of principle. Why support poor made products?

Well, I would consider myself somewhat of an audio snob. I think the prices of top tier hdmi cables are ridiculous. However, the reasoning behind spending a little extra is the construction of the cable, itself. If you spend $2500 on a tv set, you want a quality product going into it. One that is tested with various manufacturers models, etc. There's a rumor that the headphone jack on Ipods is slightly off, or, made specifically for use with "apple" brand headphones. However, everyone knows that apple headphones are of the lowest quality. So what do people do, they go out and buy a pair that are twice as good, at half the cost. But what happens to the ipod? The jack breaks, resulting in more money for apple through further ipod sales, because, you know, people love fads AND apple. It may or may not be true, but it makes sense, especially considering there are statements that claim to only use apple branded products with the device. So some of the extra cost for a decent cable actually comes from the product being tested with said devices.

So perhaps I spend this little extra more out of principle. Why support poor made products?

Heirren

because you're getting the same signal out of a $5 HDMI cable that you get out of a $100 monster HDMI cable. I don't think any is refuting that all headphones and/or speaker wire are not created equal, or that even all component and any analog cables are created equal, but facts is facts, a digital HDMI signal is either there or its not, your not losing any quality due to any resistance of the cable. Stop wasting you're money on over priced HDMI cables and put it into something else.

[QUOTE="Heirren"]

Well, I would consider myself somewhat of an audio snob. I think the prices of top tier hdmi cables are ridiculous. However, the reasoning behind spending a little extra is the construction of the cable, itself. If you spend $2500 on a tv set, you want a quality product going into it. One that is tested with various manufacturers models, etc. There's a rumor that the headphone jack on Ipods is slightly off, or, made specifically for use with "apple" brand headphones. However, everyone knows that apple headphones are of the lowest quality. So what do people do, they go out and buy a pair that are twice as good, at half the cost. But what happens to the ipod? The jack breaks, resulting in more money for apple through further ipod sales, because, you know, people love fads AND apple. It may or may not be true, but it makes sense, especially considering there are statements that claim to only use apple branded products with the device. So some of the extra cost for a decent cable actually comes from the product being tested with said devices.

So perhaps I spend this little extra more out of principle. Why support poor made products?

snowren24

because you're getting the same signal out of a $5 HDMI cable that you get out of a $100 monster HDMI cable. I don't think any is refuting that all headphones and/or speaker wire are not created equal, or that even all component and any analog cables are created equal, but facts is facts, a digital HDMI signal is either there or its not, your not losing any quality due to any resistance of the cable. Stop wasting you're money on over priced HDMI cables and put it into something else.

I think you misread. I'm saying that the construction and quality of the product is important. You can drink clean water or dirty water, and both will hydrate you. However, drinking the dirty water may kill you in the long run. What I'm saying is that, from my experience, cheap hdmi cables feel flimsy and never flush with the device it's going into. Would you rather live in a house with a very clean electrical set up, or a hastily put together pile of junk?

Let's say the Xbox 360, after the initial rrod fiasco, was fixed but, hypothetically speaking, Microsoft had to charge an extra $20-30 dollars for the console. Would you spend the extra money on the one tested to last, or pick up the other one to save money?

[QUOTE="snowren24"]

[QUOTE="Heirren"]

Well, I would consider myself somewhat of an audio snob. I think the prices of top tier hdmi cables are ridiculous. However, the reasoning behind spending a little extra is the construction of the cable, itself. If you spend $2500 on a tv set, you want a quality product going into it. One that is tested with various manufacturers models, etc. There's a rumor that the headphone jack on Ipods is slightly off, or, made specifically for use with "apple" brand headphones. However, everyone knows that apple headphones are of the lowest quality. So what do people do, they go out and buy a pair that are twice as good, at half the cost. But what happens to the ipod? The jack breaks, resulting in more money for apple through further ipod sales, because, you know, people love fads AND apple. It may or may not be true, but it makes sense, especially considering there are statements that claim to only use apple branded products with the device. So some of the extra cost for a decent cable actually comes from the product being tested with said devices.

So perhaps I spend this little extra more out of principle. Why support poor made products?

Heirren

because you're getting the same signal out of a $5 HDMI cable that you get out of a $100 monster HDMI cable. I don't think any is refuting that all headphones and/or speaker wire are not created equal, or that even all component and any analog cables are created equal, but facts is facts, a digital HDMI signal is either there or its not, your not losing any quality due to any resistance of the cable. Stop wasting you're money on over priced HDMI cables and put it into something else.

I think you misread. I'm saying that the construction and quality of the product is important. You can drink clean water or dirty water, and both will hydrate you. However, drinking the dirty water may kill you in the long run. What I'm saying is that, from my experience, cheap hdmi cables feel flimsy and never flush with the device it's going into. Would you rather live in a house with a very clean electrical set up, or a hastily put together pile of junk?

hmm, well i guess I haven't had that experience, I have a cable i paid $70 for and 5 that I paid $5-10 for, and while the $70 one looks cooler, and has a braided cable, the connections on all of them appear identical and the cords seem well constructed. no broken seems or anything where they meet the ends. I got mine from mycablemart.com

I think that as long as you aren't removing and replacing your cable all the time, then even a poorly constructed cable shouldn't damage your equipment. I would think a head phone jack would take a lot more abuse than a receiver or a TV input. But i guess its all relative, if you're spending $20,000 on AV equipment, spending a few extra hundred bucks on HDMI cables isn't a big investment for your piece of mind.

[QUOTE="Heirren"]

[QUOTE="snowren24"]

because you're getting the same signal out of a $5 HDMI cable that you get out of a $100 monster HDMI cable. I don't think any is refuting that all headphones and/or speaker wire are not created equal, or that even all component and any analog cables are created equal, but facts is facts, a digital HDMI signal is either there or its not, your not losing any quality due to any resistance of the cable. Stop wasting you're money on over priced HDMI cables and put it into something else.

snowren24

I think you misread. I'm saying that the construction and quality of the product is important. You can drink clean water or dirty water, and both will hydrate you. However, drinking the dirty water may kill you in the long run. What I'm saying is that, from my experience, cheap hdmi cables feel flimsy and never flush with the device it's going into. Would you rather live in a house with a very clean electrical set up, or a hastily put together pile of junk?

hmm, well i guess I haven't had that experience, I have a cable i paid $70 for and 5 that I paid $5-10 for, and while the $70 one looks cooler, and has a braided cable, the connections on all of them appear identical and the cords seem well constructed. no broken seems or anything where they meet the ends. I got mine from mycablemart.com

I think that as long as you aren't removing and replacing your cable all the time, then even a poorly constructed cable shouldn't damage your equipment. I would think a head phone jack would take a lot more abuse than a receiver or a TV input. But i guess its all relative, if you're spending $20,000 on AV equipment, spending a few extra hundred bucks on HDMI cables isn't a big investment for your piece of mind.

I agree Monsters are ridiculously overpriced, but there's definitely a quality difference going from a $10 cable, to a $40 one.

Unless you want to use the monster HDMI cable to jump rope I don't see why they're necessary.

I agree Monsters are ridiculously overpriced, but there's definitely a quality difference going from a $10 cable, to a $40 one.

Heirren

The only difference between cables like that are what the jacket looks like/is made out of maybe.