Downsides to cheap HDMI cables?

[dlmvii]

I was in Best But today and my friend (who is an employee there) said he could get me some $99 cables for $6. They are really gouging customers with those prices. From now on I won't be spending over $20 on HDMI cables.

Cables in general have among the highest (if not the highest themselves) profit margins of anything in the consumer electronics world (hell, probably the whole retail world period). If someone who doesn't know any better drops $2,000 on a new TV, it won't be that hard to upsell them on a fancy new $50 cable, since the price seems like a drop in the bucket compared to the TV.

[Hobie-wan]

A note on Monoprice, by the way; I know everyone likes to pimp the hell out of them around here, but I had my debit card information ripped off through their site which led to a number of fraudulent charges and (obviously) the canceling of that card. Even looking at it from the perspective of "well, I guess that's bound to happen on occasion", Monoprice apparently had enough stolen information through a certain length of time that they sent physical letters out to everyone who made purchases through their site during that period. I definitely won't use Monoprice again.

I got that letter too, but thankfully I didn't have any issues. Yes it sucks, but I think it's good they owned up to it and let people know instead of covering it up and hoping nobody noticed. Obviously they worked to fix the security problem after it was noticed. If you want avoid every business that's ever made a mistake, you'd better have a farm and be living off the land somewhere.

[crux]

For HDMI 1.3 cables being used for just video and relatively low bandwidth Dolby 5.1 data it's fine to use cheap cables and you won't see a difference. Some cheapos have lots of issues when using Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio because the bandwidth needed on the cable jumps exponentially which can lead to blocky video or rough sounding audio.

Now with HDMI 1.4 on the other hand you now have internet alongside the video data audio data making it an even larger load on the cable. Here's where things get kinda wonky; there aren't really any good shortcuts for making 1.4 cables yet, so I'd avoid any generics for now just to avoid headaches and buy as cheap as you can from a lace you know gets legit cables.

Like others have said, HDMI is a digital signal so it doesn't really matter what manufacturer you use as long as the cable is made well, but if you're planning on using it for an expansive home theater made up of multiple components and receivers get one of the better ones. Otherwise if it's just going to your HDTV or your receiver and then the screen you'll be just fine with a lower end cable.

Ding, ding, ding.

I'm glad to see people scoff at the price gouging that goes on with cables, but this "digital is digital is digital" rhetoric isn't the whole truth. It's true for the average user (the 0's and 1's just need to get to the other side), but cheap cables can be privy to defects, such as intermittent defects - especially at very long cable lengths. The most important thing to note, though, is that these defects are obvious. There will be no difference from HDMI cable to HDMI cable in terms of picture clarity or color depth. Defects show up as sparkly images or missing blocks of color. If there are no such errors, the cheapy cable is fine.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

For HDMI 1.3 cables being used for just video and relatively low bandwidth Dolby 5.1 data it's fine to use cheap cables and you won't see a difference. Some cheapos have lots of issues when using Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio because the bandwidth needed on the cable jumps exponentially which can lead to blocky video or rough sounding audio.

Now with HDMI 1.4 on the other hand you now have internet alongside the video data audio data making it an even larger load on the cable. Here's where things get kinda wonky; there aren't really any good shortcuts for making 1.4 cables yet, so I'd avoid any generics for now just to avoid headaches and buy as cheap as you can from a lace you know gets legit cables.

Like others have said, HDMI is a digital signal so it doesn't really matter what manufacturer you use as long as the cable is made well, but if you're planning on using it for an expansive home theater made up of multiple components and receivers get one of the better ones. Otherwise if it's just going to your HDTV or your receiver and then the screen you'll be just fine with a lower end cable.

Ding, ding, ding.

I'm glad to see people scoff at the price gouging that goes on with cables, but this "digital is digital is digital" rhetoric isn't the whole truth. It's true for the average user (the 0's and 1's just need to get to the other side), but cheap cables can be privy to defects, such as intermittent defects - especially at very long cable lengths. The most important thing to note, though, is that these defects are obvious. There will be no difference from HDMI cable to HDMI cable in terms of picture clarity or color depth. Defects show up as sparkly images or missing blocks of color. If there are no such errors, the cheapy cable is fine.

Thank you.

I'm always one for cheap cables, but there's always gonna be a downside if you get something for sheer pennies.

[Assman]

If you want avoid every business that's ever made a mistake, you'd better have a farm and be living off the land somewhere.

I didn't say that was my intention. I've never had my card information stolen before, so isn't it only natural to at the very least guard myself from letting the same thing happen again on the same site? You can assume that they fixed the problem and that they'll do the guarding for me, but what could I possibly have to gain from giving them the benefit of the doubt here? If I were to continue making purchases from them and a year or so down the road the same damn thing happened to me again, who on earth would empathize with me for letting myself get fucked twice?

So no, I'm not going to condemn every business that's ever made a mistake, but the mistake in question here was a big fucking deal to me. I'm sure you can understand that. My one and only experience with Monoprice was this, and I'm not so incredibly enamored by the selection and prices that I can't simply cross them off my list. I obviously have to learn from my mistakes to move forward, and if all that means now is that I'm going to trust one less retailer and use PayPal to make purchases whenever possible, so be it.

I suppose I didn't really need to bring this up beforehand, but the way Monoprice is name-dropped here as some sort of holy bringer and maintainer of the dreams of retrogamers and electronic enthusiasts in general pushes my buttons a bit, and granted that's my own problem, but I also felt like I should offer my experience as a cautionary tale so that maybe someone reading this will manage to avoid my mistake. That's all.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

If you want avoid every business that's ever made a mistake, you'd better have a farm and be living off the land somewhere.

I didn't say that was my intention. I've never had my card information stolen before, so isn't it only natural to at the very least guard myself from letting the same thing happen again on the same site? You can assume that they fixed the problem and that they'll do the guarding for me, but what could I possibly have to gain from giving them the benefit of the doubt here? If I were to continue making purchases from them and a year or so down the road the same damn thing happened to me again, who on earth would empathize with me for letting myself get fucked twice?

So no, I'm not going to condemn every business that's ever made a mistake, but the mistake in question here was a big fucking deal to me. I'm sure you can understand that. My one and only experience with Monoprice was this, and I'm not so incredibly enamored by the selection and prices that I can't simply cross them off my list. I obviously have to learn from my mistakes to move forward, and if all that means now is that I'm going to trust one less retailer and use PayPal to make purchases whenever possible, so be it.

I suppose I didn't really need to bring this up beforehand, but the way Monoprice is name-dropped here as some sort of holy bringer and maintainer of the dreams of retrogamers and electronic enthusiasts in general pushes my buttons a bit, and granted that's my own problem, but I also felt like I should offer my experience as a cautionary tale so that maybe someone reading this will manage to avoid my mistake. That's all.

Dude, chill.

Every single big online shopping site or payservice (yes even your beloved paypal) has had breaches and loss of information before, all which have been on a much much higher scale than the monoprice fiasco. Also, what told you it was a smart idea to save your credit card number to their site instead of using paypal, or just putting it in every time you had to make a transaction instead of saving it?

The fact is that both you and monopice are at fault here, so while it sucks that it happened to you don't let that keep you in fear off using a retailer which has always provided a safe, reliable, and consistent experience.

[jfrost]

I don't see how can it be someone's fault that they were defrauded.

He wasn't careful, but it hardly makes it his fault that he was screwed over.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

I don't see how can it be someone's fault that they were defrauded.

He wasn't careful, but it hardly makes it his fault that he was screwed over.

To Quote myself:

The fact is that both you and monopice are at fault here, so while it sucks that it happened to you don't let that keep you in fear off using a retailer which has always provided a safe, reliable, and consistent experience.

[jfrost]

No, he isn't at fault at all. Monoprice is, he isn't.

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

I think that part of the problem with the price gouging for HDMI cables is that most people have no idea what they are and they want them now. When someone is out dropping $500-$3000 on a new HDTV and Blu Ray player, the probably the last thing that they want to do is to go home and let them sit in the box while the wait for the cable that they ordered from Amazon to get there. They are willing to jump on the $30-$80 cable that they are offered at the store in order to get it up and running ASAP.

In my case, when I bought my PS3, I was content to use the A/V cables until I ran out to my local Five Below to pick up a 3 foot cable for $5. Then length was a little shorter than I would have liked, but I made do. At least for a couple months until I saw that they had a 6 foot cable in stock for $5. Since I am using the speakers built in to the TV, I don't really need the advanced stuff. I was planning on hooking it up to my A/V system, but there just isn't room in my man cave. So for now, the A/V stuff sits on the shelf.

JY