So sorry
You assume that all copper is the same. Some of those cheaper cables use weaker grades of copper that has other particles such as other metals, oxygen, etc. that change the signal properties of the conductor. An air bubble only a few atoms wide can impact signal characteristics. So can a small piece of slag somewhere in the copper.
Consider two gold ingots. Both appear to be the same size and weight and therefore one might assume they are equal. However, a .999 fine ingot would be worth more than a .99 fine ingot. The difference is the amount of other undesirable elements and copper is subject to the same characteristics.
The other thing that makes a huge difference is the termination of the conductors. A cheaply made cable could have poor terminations that damage the signal. Once a signal is put off the correct wavelength it can reflect all over the place and collide with other signals and in the worst cases, degrade the signal so much that the picture and sound is rendered useless.
As far as HDMI cable goes, 1080i really doesn't pose much load in terms of actual throughput on the cable. However, once you start running more data-intense applications like 1080P, higher refresh rates like 120hz, 12bit color instead of 8bit color, the volume of data pushed through that cable goes up and the error counts go up with it. Errors have a more catastrophic effect as data rates increase. Imagine a crash on a fast-moving busy freeway versus a crash on a side street. Which one ends up taking out the most cars?
The volume of lost data on a cheap HDMI on a typical 1080i application probably isn't enough for most people to notice. That doesn't mean the lost data isn't occurring. Dish and Direct both do plenty to reduce the quality of the HD picture, no need to let cabling help them with that.
I'm so sorry I disagreed with you since you must have a degree in SALES. I guess my degree in broadcast engineering doesn't count. Your statement above is sales pitch. Different quality of copper makes little difference since the signal travels on the skin of the cable so that is why AWG makes the difference. The only thing that can degrade the signal is corrosion on the outside of the copper which causes capacitance problems. An air void inside the copper makes no difference the signal never sees it. When you are saying termination of the cable I'm going to have to guess you mean connection quality of the wire to the connector. Termination is a different thing entirely than the build of the cable. Termination is the load that two devices are connected too. The build of the connection can only make a difference if they use low quality attachment points from cable to connector. Such as really cheap solder, lead solder that has very low amount of tin in it. Of course now we get into gold on the connectors. I borrowed the following from Wikipedia.
Electronics
Gold plating is often used in electronics, to provide a corrosion-resistant electrically conductive layer on copper, typically in electrical connectors and printed circuit boards.
With direct gold-on-copper plating, the copper atoms tend to diffuse through the gold layer, causing tarnishing of its surface and formation of an oxide and/or sulfide layer.
A layer of a suitable barrier metal, usually nickel, is usually deposited on the copper substrate before the gold plating. The layer of nickel provides mechanical backing for the gold layer, improving its wear resistance. It also reduces the impact of pores present in the gold layer.
Both the nickel and gold layers are usually deposited by electroplating. Electroless plating is used as well, however the deposited layer is unsuitable for long-term corrosion protection nor for wire bonding, as the resulting layer is typically only 97% pure and thin (0.5-0.75 µm). As the deposit is based on displacement of some of the copper, electroless nickel plating may be unsuitable for boards with very fine traces.
At higher frequencies, the skin effect may cause higher losses due to higher electrical resistance of nickel; a nickel-plated trace can have its useful length shortened three times in the 1 GHz band in comparison with the non-plated one. Selective plating is used, depositing the nickel and gold layers only on areas where it is required and does not cause the detrimental side effects.
Gold plating may lead to formation of gold whiskers.
Soldering issues
Soldering gold-plated parts can be tricky.
Gold is soluble in solder. Solder which contains more than 5% gold can become brittle. The joint surface is dull-looking.
Gold reacts with both tin and lead in their liquid state, forming brittle intermetallics. When eutectic 63% Sn - 37% Pb solder is used, no lead-gold compounds are formed, because gold preferentially reacts with tin, forming the AuSn4 compound. Particles of AuSn4 disperse in the solder matrix, forming preferential cleavage planes, significantly lowering the mechanical strength and therefore reliability of the resulting solder joints.
If the gold layer does not completely dissolve into the solder, then slow intermetallic reactions can proceed in the solid state as the tin and gold atoms cross-migrate. Intermetallics have poor electrical conductivity and low strength. The ongoing intermetallic reactions also cause Kirkendall voiding, leading to mechanical failure of the joint, similar to the degradation of gold-aluminum bonds known as purple plague.
A 2-3 µm layer of gold dissolves completely within one second during typical wave soldering conditions. Layers of gold thinner than 0.5 µm (20 microinches) also dissolve completely into the solder, exposing the underlying metal (usually nickel) to the solder. Impurities in the nickel layer can prevent the solder from bonding to it. Electroless nickel plating contains phosphorus. Nickel with more than 8% phosphorus is not solderable. Electrodeposited nickel may contain nickel hydroxide. An acid bath is required to remove the passivation layer before applying the gold layer; improper cleaning leads to a nickel surface difficult to solder. A stronger flux can help, as it aids dissolving the oxide deposits. Carbon is another nickel contaminant that hinders solderability
I hope this helps to enlighten the subject of cabling. If you can afford Monster and think it is worth 300% more then buy it , use it & be happy. If you are like most people go with work is working well at the lower price.
