Cheap HDMI cables: Yes or No?

S

SpacemanHardy

CAG Veteran
I am soon upgrading to an HDTV, and I am wanting to get a pair of HDMI cables for my PS3 and 360.

I've found some SUPER good deals on Amazon, where I can basically buy a brand new HDMI cable for $2.75 with free shipping. To me, that sounds like something that I simply CANNOT pass up.

The only think is, though, I am constantly reminded of the phrase "you get what you paid for". So I'm wondering: Have any of you purchased value-priced cables and had a good or bad experience with them? The ratings on Amazon are pretty much mostly positive, but there are a few 1 star reviews that have me concerned.

Also, forgive me if I'm wrong, but HDMI cables are universal, right?
 
HDMI is digital, so either it works or it doesnt work. That means a $5 cable is the as a $50 cable
 
I bought a $2 cable from amazon and it works perfectly fine. Glad I didn't buy that monster cable.
 
Get cheap ones off Amazon or from Monoprice. Can't go wrong.

And yes, they are indeed universal. As others have said, it's digital, meaning it either sends the data or it doesn't. There's no real room for degradation.

As for the one star reviews, there usually will be people who get DOA cables, or they simply don't know what they are doing. In other words, if the majority are positive, you should be good to go.

For the record, Monster cables are a massive ripoff every time. People have done numerous tests to prove this, including showing that coat hangers carry audio signals just as well.

Go with the cheap ones, OP. You'll be fine.
 
yes, though gold tipped can make a difference, what your really lookin for is solid gold....so since thast out, get the $5 3 footer, or even better, tell the cable company ur hdmi cable was never given or u needed an extra for the other box in the house cuz i u got hd....make somethin up....but $5 is jsut as good
 
Definitely go with Monoprice if you're ordering more than one cable at a time. I've ordered dozens of cables from there and have never been disappointed. You can find any length, color, spec and type of cable you'll ever need there.

And like others have said, don't let anyone tell you an expensive HDMI cable is any different than a cheap one. There's no such thing as a PS3 or 360 specific HDMI cable. Digital is digital, and HDMI is a non-proprietary (universal) standard.
 
The only difference between which cable to buy is the compliance. The amazon essential ones are HDMI 1.3 I believe. On top of that they are like 5 bucks a piece.
 
i'll never order hdmi cables off the net again unless if it's from a really good place like new egg

problem ive had with teh last 2 places i got em cheap from is it never showed up. :)
 
Just echoing the statements already made, digital output is either on or off, they are 1s and 0s. $2, $200 it is all the same. Buy cheap and enjoy!
 
[quote name='SpacemanHardy']I am soon upgrading to an HDTV, and I am wanting to get a pair of HDMI cables for my PS3 and 360.

I've found some SUPER good deals on Amazon, where I can basically buy a brand new HDMI cable for $2.75 with free shipping. To me, that sounds like something that I simply CANNOT pass up.

The only think is, though, I am constantly reminded of the phrase "you get what you paid for". So I'm wondering: Have any of you purchased value-priced cables and had a good or bad experience with them? The ratings on Amazon are pretty much mostly positive, but there are a few 1 star reviews that have me concerned.

Also, forgive me if I'm wrong, but HDMI cables are universal, right?[/QUOTE]

I bought the cheapest cables I could find. They're just as good as any other. I've been using my $3 HDMI cables from Amazon for a couple of years now no problem whatsoever. There really isn't even an argument FOR getting the expensive ones. They look prettier I guess? They're only around because people dont know and so pay the ridiculous prices for them.
 
The only reason I can see buying an expensive one from say walmart is if you just got like a bluray player or ps3 and you are too impatient to wait on an internet order. I paid 30 for my first one only because I wanted to crack open my ps3 and the standard rgb cords looked like shit on my hdtv.
 
Using 3 HDMI cords I purchased from Amazon for a few bucks shipped each off Amazon, and they have all been fantastic. Don't waste your money, get the cheap ones :)
 
The real shocker? My Digital over the air antenna via COAX looks just as good as Cable via HDMI. Thus further proving the coat hanger theory. Only the 3d TVs and players need a better cable- (profile 1.4) and when you read the fine print- THAT's only because of other provisions/protocol and has nothing to do with sound or picture quality! Buy cheap w/ confidence.
 
[quote name='whippingboy']The real shocker? My Digital over the air antenna via COAX looks just as good as Cable via HDMI. Thus further proving the coat hanger theory. Only the 3d TVs and players need a better cable- (profile 1.4) and when you read the fine print- THAT's only because of other provisions/protocol and has nothing to do with sound or picture quality! Buy cheap w/ confidence.[/QUOTE]

1.4 does Ethernet over HDMI I believe
 
I got a 10' HDMI cable :)ps3: brand) from Target on clearance for $12.xx. It just proves that you don't have to pay excess amounts of money for something if you first look around.
 
Get the cheap cable, but go with a reliable vendor. I second the recommendation of monoprice.com. I'd also recommend meritline, which is where I got my HDMI cables. A 3-pack cost me $7.50 with free shipping.
 
IMHO, this is the best deal going (Meritline.com):

http://www.meritline.com/hdmi-v1-3-hdcp-3-ports-mini-switch-with-3-pcs-of-hdmi-cable---p-33053.aspx

3x 6-foot HDMI cables and a 3-port HDMI switch. I grabbed it while it was on sale for $15.99 (a post here at CAG pointed me to it), but it's still a great value at $21.99. The switch itself can be used with a 5-volt adapter (not included), but that really only matters if all three HDMI input devices are on at the same time. If only one is on, that signal is automatically routed to the TV. I have more HD sources (PS3, Blu-Ray player, HD DVD player, XBox 360, HD satellite) than I have inputs on my HDTV, so this thing works great. At minimum, It helps future-proof if adding more HD sources in the future.

As one poster noted, you might want to think about an HDMI 1.4 cable if your new set is compatible with 3D viewing. Also, I've heard of isolated instances of non-magnetically shielded HDMI cables interfering with surround sound wireless rear speaker signal transmission if too close to the receiver's transmitter. No issues myself, but something to consider.
 
[quote name='leeloo1977']I got the cheap one from Amazon and it works great. Can't imagine paying $50.00 for a cord.[/QUOTE]

Same here. I have gotten all of my cables from Amazon for cheap and haven't had any issues with them. Some say you cant tell the difference between the cheap Amazon cables and the expen$ive Monster cables. I can't speak to that cause I would never pay that much for a cable.
 
Of course, a coat hanger doesn't have a Monster Cable lifetime warranty, so if your coat hanger breaks, you'll have to go out and buy another coat hanger.
Click to expand...

lol at this.

[quote name='chrislisting']yes, though gold tipped can make a difference, what your really lookin for is solid gold....so since thast out, get the $5 3 footer, or even better, tell the cable company ur hdmi cable was never given or u needed an extra for the other box in the house cuz i u got hd....make somethin up....but $5 is jsut as good[/QUOTE]

This isn't true either, especially with HDMI cables. I don't know where the rumors about gold being better conductors come from, but it's simply not the case. Silver and copper both are better conductors than gold. You can easily look this up on any conductivity table.

The ONLY reason gold is used is because it's not corrosive. But in order to corrode your copper/silver connections is... let's just say you'll be dead from the breathing the air before you'll need to replace your cables.
 
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