HDMI cable purchase help??

[psychotropic]

and even the 1.3 standard......1.2 standards compliant HDMI cables can technically carry all the stuff that 1.3 can (deep colour and so on) over short runs. don't know if there is a 'standards driven' over-ride on this operation though.

There are lots of people trying to make us part with our money

 

[madbullram]

Sorry to go off-topic. Can the same be assumed for SQ on optical cable and digital coaxial too since they are digital?

Yes, I tried a Monoprice optical, Monster Optical, and Chinese brand optical cable couldnt see any difference. Infact, Monoprice had a much better flexible build than Monster!

 

[vishalj]

Thank you all for your valuable guidance. Just 1 more question, do I have to check whether the cable is 1.3a/1.3b compliant. Does it make any difference if its a 1.3a or 1.3b?? And whether I have to check whether the HDMI cable is for both 1080i and 1080p??

But one thing is sure now, I should not be spending more than 1k on HDMI cables and it would be good to ask my friend in US only to get one for me for 10-15 $

 

[psychotropic]

no no, 1.3a and b and all don't make any practical difference. (to quote wikipedia "HDMI 1.3b has no effect on HDMI features, functions, or performance") While I am not aware of HDMI cables incapable of reproducing 1080p, even if such cables did exist, i am fairly sure most supermarket ones in the US would be capable of 1080p now.

Thank you all for your valuable guidance. Just 1 more question, do I have to check whether the cable is 1.3a/1.3b compliant. Does it make any difference if its a 1.3a or 1.3b?? And whether I have to check whether the HDMI cable is for both 1080i and 1080p??

But one thing is sure now, I should not be spending more than 1k on HDMI cables and it would be good to ask my friend in US only to get one for me for 10-15 $

 

[madbullram]

Thank you all for your valuable guidance. Just 1 more question, do I have to check whether the cable is 1.3a/1.3b compliant. Does it make any difference if its a 1.3a or 1.3b?? And whether I have to check whether the HDMI cable is for both 1080i and 1080p??

But one thing is sure now, I should not be spending more than 1k on HDMI cables and it would be good to ask my friend in US only to get one for me for 10-15 $

Get a 1.3a cable, it will be 1080p for sure. I have already given the monoprice link, ask your friend to get it, its the best cable at that price

 

[subhash]

If you are buying WD TV from US, ask u r friend to get HDMI cables from Monoprice.com, they r cheap and best.

As I have said many times, for regular distance, all you need is a good cable. In digital u either get 100% or dont, so there no question of cable quality affecting PQ.

Get this for 8$ (plus shipping 3-4 $) and u r done for future, its 1.3a and supports HD audio and video

For only $6.64 each when QTY 50+ purchased - High Speed HDMI 1.3a Category 2 Certified CL2 Rated (In-Wall Installation) Cable (24AWG) w/ Net Jacket - 6ft (Gold Plated Connectors) | Premium 24AWG HDMI 1.3a Category 2 Certified Male to Male Cables

Dont fall into buying expensive HDMI cables, they are not worth it.

you may be right? but what abt these expensive hdmi cables from VDH (flat) CHORD (silver plus and active ) priced in the range of 6-10k ??
these have been reviewed in What Hi FI mag and also internet reviews have been excellent , 5 star rated cables

are they taking us for a RIDE?? or are they payed for writing good reviews

maybe v shud do a side by side comparision
i will be getting a VDH flat hdmi soon and will definetly chk out if there is any diff from my old taiwan cable

 

[master007]

okay there is absolutely no difference between the picture quality among various HDMI cables, especially at short runs. Any well constructed HDMI cable will do. So go for the cheapest decent one. I use a Chinese one that cost 800 bucks, well contructed, with gold plating and shielding and all.....works well. If you want some more mental peace go for panasonic types that go for 1.5-2k. But under no circumstances more than that!!!

You'd have to be insane to buy VDH HDMI cables. Their claims regarding audio cables apart, any claims of superiority in picture due to different HDMI cables would be utterly and totally bogus (except in the case of very long runs).

I am fairly sure the MX HDMI cables will do a decent job (although I have never tried them). I have never heard of HDMI cables that can't do 1080p. Even DVI cables can do 1080p.....even component cables could have done 1080p if not for the 'standards' guys clamping down and 'piracy' being such a 'concern.'

I guess you may be a little wrong here. Even i thought this before and bought a chinese 5m cable worth Rs500/- and the maximum resolution i can have is 1280x720. Now i'm not going to buy another better one until i get some other cable to test out first

 

[madbullram]

you may be right? but what abt these expensive hdmi cables from VDH (flat) CHORD (silver plus and active ) priced in the range of 6-10k ??
these have been reviewed in What Hi FI mag and also internet reviews have been excellent , 5 star rated cables

are they taking us for a RIDE?? or are they payed for writing good reviews

maybe v shud do a side by side comparision
i will be getting a VDH flat hdmi soon and will definetly chk out if there is any diff from my old taiwan cable

Frankly a 6ft 1.3a VDH / 1.3a MOnster / 1.3a Monoprice / 1.3a BJC should all be same in PQ and SQ. Technically its not possible to be different. We did this in US sometime back and in a blind test we were not able to tell the difference. We also I think use QED HDMI.

For me, its a nice money ripping strategy.

Think about it, a guy spenidng 7k on WD TV and spending 8k on a HDMI is criminal and that too when there is no difference,

Once you get your VDH, I will be glad to send my HDMI cable for you to blind test and let us know (ofcourse u shd return it back to me )

 

[subhash]

will definetly compare the 2 , definetly will return your cable

 

[psychotropic]

yeah, my mistake....just that i hadn't heard of them but the wikipedia article mentions this:

"Category 1-certified cables, which have been tested at 74.5 MHz (720p60 and 1080i60), and Category 2-certified cables, which have been tested at 340 MHz (1080p60 and 2160p30)"

However, this is where I think things are starting to smell like marketing:

"The HDMI website has stated that many HDMI cables under 5 meters of length that were made before the HDMI 1.3 specification can work as Category 2 cables, but cautions that only Category 2-tested cables are guaranteed to work"

The initial HDMI 1.0 standard itself was designed to support 'up to' 1080p, so i guess since this was not a minimum standard (and still isn't in version 1.3), there can be cables below 1080p. But most decent reputed brands should be able to do 1080p and so long as it can do that, no reason to spend on anything fancy.

I guess you may be a little wrong here. Even i thought this before and bought a chinese 5m cable worth Rs500/- and the maximum resolution i can have is 1280x720. Now i'm not going to buy another better one until i get some other cable to test out first