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HDMI cables?

anamznazn

anamznazn

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 10, 2005
211
0
Philadelphia, PA
I noticed there are different HDMI cables to choose from and the cost can vary. It's pretty damn expensive at the stores so I'm going to shoot for eBay instead. I was just wondering if there are any speed differences and if there was a recommeneded one for the Apple TV? ...Or any I should stay away from? Thanks in advance.
 
I buy mine on eBay and go for the Acoustic Research Pro series. There is normally a company that sells them out of packaging and have the option to make an offer. Offer half and they normally accept.
 
It's all digital in the end. The quality of the cable isn't going to make a great difference like it did for analog transmission methods but don't go too cheap.
 
anamznazn said:
I noticed there are different HDMI cables to choose from and the cost can vary. It's pretty damn expensive at the stores so I'm going to shoot for eBay instead. I was just wondering if there are any speed differences and if there was a recommeneded one for the Apple TV? ...Or any I should stay away from? Thanks in advance.
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Digital transmission is digital transmission. At the lengths of cable you'd be involving in a home system there is no concern of signal degradation regardless of how cheap or how expensive an HDMI cable you use. Just about any HDMI cable will do.

Eidorian said:
It's all digital in the end. The quality of the cable isn't going to make a great difference like it did for analog transmission methods but don't go too cheap.
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Correct on the first part. Slightly incorrect on the second part. There's a lot of cable BS involved in the analog world. Basic interconnect and speaker cabling performs just fine under most conditions... nothing fancy required, despite what the idiots at Stereophile magazine have to say about it.
 
Avatar74 said:
Correct on the first part. Slightly incorrect on the second part. There's a lot of cable BS involved in the analog world. Basic interconnect and speaker cabling performs just fine under most conditions... nothing fancy required, despite what the idiots at Stereophile magazine have to say about it.
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I wouldn't go as far as paying $80 for a 3-6' cable. It's going to be difficult for the average consumer to find a good budget cable when reading idiot Stereophile magazine's reviews for advice.

I like bacaramac's suggestion.

Note: I did buy some Monster Gold Series component and S-video cables when Radio Shack had them on sale. $13 for 6' cables. Why not?
 
Eidorian said:
Note: I did buy some Monster Gold Series component and S-video cables when Radio Shack had them on sale. $13 for 6' cables. Why not?
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Sure. The cable is at least functional, the wire is actually Belden and the interconnects are some or another vendor you'll run into anyway from any other manufacturer. If you get it cheap, no argument there.

I'm just doing my part to dispel the myths about speaker and interconnect cable.

:D
 
Go for a well insulated, rubbery-feeling cable which doesn't look like something from Toys 'R Us.

Digital signals are far less prone to degradation than analogue signals, and even the world's best musicians/producers or the world's 'best audiophiles' would NOT be able to tell the difference between a pair of £20 speaker cables, and a pair of £20,000 speaker cables (which do exist).


Also, don't fall for any 'gold cabling' hype. Just get something which isn't super cheap, but not 'expensive'.
 
I have always, also, told people to go to monoprice.com for cables. Very inexpensive, and they work great.

Even with the extra shipping and (a few years ago) conversion from US to Canadian dollar, I was still getting cables way cheaper than anything locally.

I bought a 25-foot HDMI cable from them, which cost something like $22. Future Shop and Best Buy only had a 25-foot Monster Cable version... for $200!
 
MikeL said:
I can't imagine paying what some people do for a cable. My father once paid $20 for a USB cable.
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No doubt. Twenty bucks for a cable that probably cost two bucks to make. Some stores make good money that way. *cough* Best Buy *cough*. Offer good prices on the electronics, but jab 'em on the interconnects.


live4ever said:
I really like Blue Jeans Cable - there Belden HDMI cables are great quality.
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Amen to that! I buy all my interconnects through them. Decent prices and great customer service, too.

Another vote for Blue Jeans Cable.
 
Another recommendation for monoprice.com. They are great - and if you want to split your HDMI to two HD TV's they have the best and most reasonable splitters available (just did this to connect our satellite box in the bedroom to a new TV in the kitchen - works well and now the tv is synced no matter what room your in:)
 
I bought my HDMI cable for my :apple:TV at the Apple Store, and it wasn't outrageously expensive (naturally I had to have it right away), but in the past I've bought cables from cablesforless.com and I've always been happy with their products.
 
On monoprice.com, there's the regular HDMI cables and the HDMI ver. 1.3. Should I go for the 1.3 instead considering it's newer? Will it work with the Apple TV?
 
I would think a 1.3 cable would be backwards compatible, but it shouldn't matter as ATV does not use 1.3 technology, but if you want to future proof your cables then go for it.
 
bacaramac said:
I would think a 1.3 cable would be backwards compatible, but it shouldn't matter as ATV does not use 1.3 technology, but if you want to future proof your cables then go for it.
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the 1.3 is backwards compatible so you're good to go. (i just bought the same one for $7 at monoprice.com....great prices).

The big box stores have such a wicked markup on the cables b/c that is how they make their money. Margins are slimmer on computers and electronics so money is made on the cables and the extra warranties.

monoprice.com is the place to go :)
 
Keebler said:
The big box stores have such a wicked markup on the cables b/c that is how they make their money. Margins are slimmer on computers and electronics so money is made on the cables and the extra warranties.
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Sometimes I overhear people at work talking about the new HD or home theatre system they just installed, and that often includes the usual grumbling about how %$@# expensive the cables are. If they haven't yet bought the cable, I'll jump in and tell them about Monoprice, but if they've already bought the $200 cable (and often praising how spectacular a difference it makes), I'm keeping my mouth shut. I think it would be a definite CLM (Career Limiting Move) to make a manager look foolish and be upset at me.
 
Buy the cheapest HDMI cable you can find. They are all the same. Dirty secret is that they can't call themselves HDMI unless they follow the specification. $10 or $200 cable, they are electrically the same.

HDMI 1.3 is just a higher bandwidth version of the previous HDMI standards. It supports 340MHz / 10.2Gbps vs 165MHz / 4.95Gbps (1.0/1.1/1.2). I suspect that in reasonable distances (couple feet), nearly all past cables will probably work fine with HDMI 1.3 (although very, very feel devices actually use 1.3 right now).

165MHz or even 340MHz are not that difficult electrically over twisted pair. Cat 5e/Cat6 are designed to work at these frequencies without difficulty. Even plain old Cat 5 will have no problem with a 165MHz signal in reasonable distances. These cables are designed to carry digital signals at these frequencies up to 100 meters.

Here's some good amo if you run into a gold nut: Gold is a poor conductor. If it wasnt for the anticorrosion properties, it wouldnt even be used.

If this were a debate about component, i would probably say to be careful what $10-$20 cables you bought, but its not.
 
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