[quote name='mrExtreme']Ok, thanks. That makes sense then. Another question is which HDMI cable is good for a ps3? Is any HDMI cable good? I see descriptions of HDMI cables talking about father and mother connections...and I don't exactly know what that means. I wouldn't want to get an HDMI cable that doesn't work.[/quote]From what I've been reading recently (and anyone can jump in to correct me as I'm still pretty new to HD, cabling, etc), is that most HDMI is the same. In fact, from what I hear, higher end cables can be more troublesome than lower enders, ie Monster, who seems to want to make super thick, heavy-duty looking cables to justify the high price tag, but they tend to have too much weight and the connector has trouble staying in. But I've never owned a Monster cable myself, I'm just restating what I've read (Monster is WAY out of my range - hence my posting at CAG about cheap HDMI
).
An interesting write-up can be found
at pc world. It doesn't mention monoprice, but the idea is about the same. The results are startling to say the least.
As far as father/mother, do you mean male/female connections? Male and female are common terms for cable ends, because one is more "masculine" than the other
The female is a hole, the male the end that fits inside, completing the connection. For most HDMI connections you'll want Male to Male, ie both ends plug into a female. The reason you might want Male-Female would be if you needed to attach another cable to the end of the other cable (although, will this just work with HDMI cables? I've heard many people say they have switches and such to attach cables together. This may be just because Male to Male is more common.)
A few other things that are hard to decipher (for me anyway) at the site:
Many cables say CL2 rated (for in-wall installation). CL2 is a standard that has to be met for cables to be used inside a wall. I ignored this since it seemed to apply mostly to longer cabling, which for a simple player-to-tv you won't need, and because I have no plans of doing any in-wall cabling. If you KNOW you'll be doing that later, you can always plan ahead, but for a player-to-tv setup I suggest just waiting until you need it.
Length is pretty obvious, but I thought I'd point out that the standard seems to be that it's measured end to end, connectors and all. So a 3 ft cable is really like 2.5 (well, more than that but you get my point). It's annoying since I thought 3 ft would be enough for me before, but it was extremely short. 6 ft however should probably suit most. 10ft is maybe a bit much, and 15 is way too much for a simple connection - trust me. I made the mistake of wanting a lot of cable since it was so cheap. I wish I had simply gone with 6ft. Another thing to note is that 15ft is the near-max length for HDMI before it gets harder to handle the signal (AFAIK), so after this point yo get signal degradation and loss (but this may be why some are CL2... to be able to handle longer signal stretches. Anyone know?)
Plating: Doesn't matter much, at least signal wise. Gold plating is to keep the end of the cable from corroding, and doesn't help or hinder the transmission of the digital signal. Most cables are gold plated, so just go with that as it's not a big decision cost wise or quality wise.
AWG: Already covered this, but for the sake of keeping it all in an easy to read post, it's weight or
gauge. It is the heft and weight of the cable, with higher numbers being
skinnier cables. 28awg is usually fine for most, but 24awg is good if you need a bit more thickness. I bought 28awg, and it seems a good thickness and quality, without being
too heavy.
Ferrite Cores: Okay, this one seems even weirder than AWG. I'll let
Wikipedia field this one:
[quote name='wikipedia']A
ferrite bead is a passive electric component used to suppress high frequency
noise in electronic circuits. Ferrite beads employ the mechanism of high dissipation of high frequency currents in a
ferrite to build high frequency noise suppression devices. Ferrite beads may also be called
ferrite cores,
ferrite rings,
ferrite EMI filters, or mistakenly as
ferrous beads. Engineers often jokingly call them FCC goobers, or FCC lumps after their shape when attached to a cable.[/quote]
So, it's a good thing to have, so why not. It seems to be in most cables.
So, now you know all you need to know, namely that it's length, connector type and gauge that matter most, where the standard seems to be 6ft, m-m, and 28AWG (gold plated with ferrite cores).
I hope this helps; I know when I started looking around I had
no idea what all these things meant. Oh, and any mistakes, all feel free to correct me.
