Important question about hdmi

Although I am certainly no expert, the notion that all HDMI cables are created equal is a myth. Cheaper HDMI cables offer limited signal bandwidth which may or may not hinder some types of media. At this point, a cable capable of 10.2 gbps is sufficient, but in the future, this may prove to be insufficient.

It is, however, a myth that because the signal is digital that the cable itself doesn't matter. It's not true.

The only difference between Monster and everything else is a few hundred bucks.RoyTheViking

i would really like to see 2 pictures to compare. If not, i'm staying with my thoughts that once the signal is digital, there is no loss in quality unlike analogfelipealcar

It's not just about visuals. Audio is also trasferred via HDMI. You like sound, don't you?

i would really like to see 2 pictures to compare. If not, i'm staying with my thoughts that once the signal is digital, there is no loss in quality unlike analogfelipealcar

I am not going to say you are wrong, for general use, including for me and majorty of people, cable quality does not matter. Are the cable different? Answer is yes. But for our use there is no need to get higher quality cable the improved quality is not noticable.

Here is a straight quote from HDMI.org (source)

"Q. What are the technical and branding requirements for cables?

"As part of the new Trademark and Logo Usage Guidelines, cables will be labeled as either Standard or High Speed.

1. Standard cables (referred to as Category 1 cables in the HDMI specification) are those tested to perform at speeds of 75Mhz, which is the equivalent of an uncompressed 1080i signal.
2. High Speed cables (referred to as Category 2 cables in the HDMI specification), are those tested to perform at speeds of 340Mhz, which is the highest bandwidth currently available over an HDMI cable and can successfully handle 1080p signals including those at increased color depths (e.g. greater than eight bits per color) and/or increased refresh rates (e.g. 120Hz). High Speed cables are also able to accommodate higher resolution displays, such as those at the latest 1440p and WQXGA resolutions (e.g. cinema monitors with a resolution of 2560 x 1600).

"While many cables that are branded as Standard cables will work at higher speeds (especially at cable lengths of less than five meters), to guarantee performance, consumers should purchase a cable that is tested and rated for the specific speed required by their system."

Here's the knowledge reference material from monoprice

Maybe the info is not good enough for you (and you want screenshots), but I think it's pretty clear that there are different standard between cables. Biggest thing is that when distance gets longer, you will have to go with category 2 as category 1 allows only maximum of 16-20 ft.

If you want more info, wikipedia has a pretty good article regarding to HDMI format

"at lengths less than five meters."

Well there you go. I use the "cheap" $15 HDMI cable that partsexpress.com offers. 1M. Works perfectly, no 1080p problems. Take an electrical engineering course or three and learn how full of crap most expensive cables are.