I got a new TV the other month its a 42" LCD full HD TV, When i bought this i hooked up my 360 with the standard HDMI cable you get with the 360, The picture was perfect and i couldn't complain. I then went into an electronic store were the shop assistant started telling me that the standard HDMI cable doesn't put out full HD but it really only puts out 1080i max.

Have i been ripped off!

I got a new TV the other month its a 42" LCD full HD TV, When i bought this i hooked up my 360 with the standard HDMI cable you get with the 360, The picture was perfect and i couldn't complain. I then went into an electronic store were the shop assistant started telling me that the standard HDMI cable doesn't put out full HD but it really only puts out 1080i max.

So I looked into it and read that a new HDMI cable is better so i went out and bought a really good one it was a 1m Monster cable, This set me back £79 which is about $150 (if your a US user.) I hooked it up and i can honestly say i cont notice that much difference...

Have i been ripped off!

corb77

You're been ripped off. You fell for the dirty salesman trick. A $10 hdmi is equivalent to a $100 one. Take it back, and keep the hdmi you already had, use that one. For a good place to shop HDMI cable for really cheap, www.monoprice.com. Cheers.

I have to ask though, if the standerd one is fine why d they have loads of features on the new HDMI cable like that 12 bit colour instead of 8 bit and true 1080p and other stuff like that...

...though i do think i've been ripped opp lol

I have to ask though, if the standerd one is fine why d they have loads of features on the new HDMI cable like that 12 bit colour instead of 8 bit and true 1080p and other stuff like that...

...though i do think i've been ripped opp lol

corb77

I wont go into detail. But all I can tell you is that they're all gimmicks to make you think it's better. When it comes to HDMI, it's a gimmick. This isnt an HDTV or Car where the features matter. An HDMI emits a digital signal. That's it. The rest all depends in your devices, ie HDTV, dvd player, bluray player, etc. Trust me on this. You'll thank me later. :P

Those cables are to trap unsuspecting people into parting with huge sums of money for something they don't need and can get much cheaper.

What is much more important is the quality of the signal being sent by one machine (in this case your 360), and the quality of the receiving unit (your TV) to convert the signal and display it. The regular cheap HDMI cable will do just fine

I have to ask though, if the standerd one is fine why d they have loads of features on the new HDMI cable like that 12 bit colour instead of 8 bit and true 1080p and other stuff like that...

...though i do think i've been ripped opp lol

corb77

I'm starting to read up on 8-bit, 10-bit and all the other ranges so don't take what I am about to say as gospel. Most people's displays are only 8-bit, while some higher end models support 10-bit, 14-bit and 16-bit and I believe (could be wrong) that most media doesn't yet support 10-bit color and that has to do with the codecs being used.

This technology will eventually be practical, but to buy a cable for something you aren't even using, or even capable of is silly.

The only reason I ever bought an expensive Monster cable was because I was at Best Buy buying my TV, it was late and they were the only option I had and since I had spent $2000 another $100 didn't seem so bad. Since then I have purchased 3 additional cables of varying prices and I don't see any difference.

I got a new TV the other month its a 42" LCD full HD TV, When i bought this i hooked up my 360 with the standard HDMI cable you get with the 360, The picture was perfect and i couldn't complain. I then went into an electronic store were the shop assistant started telling me that the standard HDMI cable doesn't put out full HD but it really only puts out 1080i max.

So I looked into it and read that a new HDMI cable is better so i went out and bought a really good one it was a 1m Monster cable, This set me back £79 which is about $150 (if your a US user.) I hooked it up and i can honestly say i cont notice that much difference...

Have i been ripped off!

corb77

Yes you have been ripped off.....badly. I mean $150 for an HDMI cable? Jesus! Get a refund on that cable! Like another user here mentioned just buy a $5-10 cable (forgot the exact price) HDMI cable off of monoprice.

When it comes to the digital era spending more will not give you any better quality picture, sound, or data transfers. If you're going to spend more on a cable it's for durability not quality. For the most part a $5 cable can do every thing your $150 cable can do. There is a small chance the salesman sold you a better cable since hdmi has had some changes over the years, but still even the newest cables are still only $5.

Actually, the people on here are both correct and incorrect. HDMI, like USB, comes in different versions. Unlike with USB, HDMI doesn't clearly denote which version is being used.

The new Monster cable that the guy sold you IS better than the standard cable supplied by Microsoft. It's better because it utilizes a newer version of the HDMI spec. However, you were indeed ripped off because even if your TV uses the newer spec for HDMI, the 360 doesn't. You won't be able to get a better picture from the 360 using any cable other than the one it shipped with.

That's not to say you need to use the one you got with your system, only that no other cable will provide a better picture. I myself use a Monster cable, not for the better picture, but for the fact that I don't have to worry about my cat trying to chew through it (I'll say this, Monster makes one tough cable).

If you were to use your 360 cable on a PS3, you'd notice a degredation in picture quality because the PS3 uses a later revision of the HDMI spec. The PS3 isn't necessarily capable of producing a better picture than a 360 on any given game, but the version of HDMI it uses does make for a better, more efficient, way to send that picture to your TV.

Another strange thing I noticed: The version of HDMI that the 360 uses, doesn't allow for transmission of Dolby Digital Surround. When the manual states to use the toslink cable, in addition to the HDMI cable, for external surround systems, it really means that you need the toslink cable to get surround sound in any way from your 360. I don't know if this is still true, but it is verified on my Elite (purchased about 3 weeks after they were released).

yes

Another strange thing I noticed: The version of HDMI that the 360 uses, doesn't allow for transmission of Dolby Digital Surround. When the manual states to use the toslink cable, in addition to the HDMI cable, for external surround systems, it really means that you need the toslink cable to get surround sound in any way from your 360. I don't know if this is still true, but it is verified on my Elite (purchased about 3 weeks after they were released).

lesotheron

I can confirm from my own experience that you can indeed get Dolby Digital from HDMI on the 360.

HDMI is a digital Signal, so just like all other Digital Signals, there are *NO* differences between cheap and expensive cables in terms of quality. Also see: http://www.theps3faq.com/?q=node/10 Buying an expensive HDMI Cable is like buying the Denon AKDL1 Network Cable: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I1X6PM Yes, the cable may open a pathway to heaven and cause Jesus Christ to appear in your living room, blessing your Xbox, but the Picture quality will not be different.Sedoras

Digital signal is 0's and 1's, but some of those bits can be lost along the way. Look up "hdmi sparklies" that immediately disprove your theory. The good news is that cheap cables at short lengths have a good chance to work well. So yes, go for that cheap cable for sure. But do not perpetuate the myth that cheap cables equal expensive cables. This is not true. Go to avsforum the definitive forums for a/v topics, and look up DPL ratings. Yes, ratings for HDMI cables. If there are no differences between digital cables then there need not be any ratings or awards given, right?

Would you mind explaining how you did it? I've tried everything I can think of: hooking the HDMI directly to the reciever, hooking the HDMI to the TV and the toslink from the TV output to the reciever, different cables and settings on the reciever, 360 and TV. I've never been able to get Dolby Digital Surround from the 360 without using the toslink adapter combined with the HDMI. I can get Dolby Digital Stereo with no problems, but for Surround, I have to use the toslink adapter and cable.lesotheron

Well I have the "Pro" version, not the Elite so I never got the Toslink adapter, but regardless all I did was connect the HDMI cable from my 360 and go to my receiver. That's it. It automatically selected Dolby Digital and didn't do anything out of the ordinary.