What HDMI cable is the best out there. Price isn't an issue I just want the best picture quality po

[Stargazer]

Get the cheapest HDMI you can get. It won't make a difference in picture quality. I've bought the el cheapo's for as little as a few bucks on ebay and they work great. Same quality as the expensive ones. If you spend anymore than that then your just throwing money away. If you want, I can sell you one for $35 just like Wal-Mart does after I pay a few bucks for one lol. Just kidding.

 

[Ilya]

One more point to keep in mind is that it's usually not enough to have a single HDMI cable. If you have an AV receiver and multiple HD video sources you need several HDMI cables. That premium price adds up very quickly!

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[KimmiKat]

Mon$ter is just plain garbage. Retailers like Worst Buy push those c a b l e s since there's a major mark-up on them. Strange thing now BB is starting to sell their house brand "Dynex" H D M I c a b l e s for under $20. But Monoprice is still the way to go.

 

[cinnabun93]

One more point to keep in mind is that it's usually not enough to have a single HDMI cable. If you have an AV receiver and multiple HD video sources you need several HDMI cables. That premium price adds up very quickly!

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You made some great points Ilya! I will need an hdmi cable for my desktop pc, mac mini, dish receiver, xbox 360, and ps3! That would cost in excess of 1000 just for cabling! I read all off the gizmodo and cnet articles and they said the same things you did. Like you said components max out at 10.2gps so what would be the point in getting a cable that exceeds that? The Monster cables are more future proof but what is $4 when the time comes.

 

[jayn_j]

The Monster cables are more future proof but what is $4 when the time comes.

Not necessarily. Independent testing labs have repeatedly shown that the bandwidth of many lower priced cables has met or exceeded the Monster offering. Monster is very good at spec writing in their data sheets, and very very good at promoting. They offer very high margins to retailers, which gives an incentive to promote the product as better. However, in most tests, the cable itself is just average (although in pretty packaging with shiny connectors)

 

[KimmiKat]

The pretty packaging that ends up causing injuries while trying to open the bloody things. At least their clam shells have a certain shape which makes it easy to skip when looking for a ca-ble in a store.

However, in most tests, the cable itself is just average (although in pretty packaging with shiny connectors)

 

[Ilya]

You made some great points Ilya! I will need an hdmi cable for my desktop pc, mac mini, dish receiver, xbox 360, and ps3! That would cost in excess of 1000 just for cabling! I read all off the gizmodo and cnet articles and they said the same things you did. Like you said components max out at 10.2gps so what would be the point in getting a cable that exceeds that? The Monster cables are more future proof but what is $4 when the time comes.

I think it's crazy to spend $1000 on cables, especially on the digital ones. I did spend hundreds of dollars on a set of good analog speaker cables - but that's a different story!
For $1000 you can buy a very decent AV receiver with HDMI switching and HD Audio decoding and perhaps even a set of speakers too. That would be a much better investment!

As for being future-proof, in the Digital Age nothing is future-proof! Just a few years ago Monster was selling "future-proof" DVI cables at a monster 3-digit price of course...
Then the HDMI standard came about and quickly killed DVI. I am pretty sure, a few years from now some other interface standard will emerge and will replace HDMI. HDMI is far from perfect: the cables are bulky, do not support long runs, connections are not reliable, etc. I'll give HDMI a few more years, but not much more.

 

[cinnabun93]

Ilya, you especially have been helpful; I am ordering 5 Monoprice cables. What is the difference between these 2 cables?

For only $2.88 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 6ft 28AWG High Speed HDMI Cable w/Ferrite Cores - Black | 28AWG HDMI High Speed Certified Male to Male Cables

For only $6.14 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 6ft 24AWG CL2 High Speed HDMI Cable w/ Net Jacket - Black | Premium 24AWG HDMI High Speed Certified Male to Male Cables

 

[Ilya]

The difference is in the wire thickness: the lower the AWG number the thicker the cable.
At 6ft or less, the 28AWG is adequate I think. For longer runs I would go with 24AWG.
Also, I believe the 24AWG HDMI cables from Monoprice do not have ferrite cores (this is better for in-wall installations) - you will have to buy ferrite cores separately.

 

[cinnabun93]

I'm not using them for in wall installation just on my entertainment center. I went with the 28AWG because they came with ferrite cores and I'm not using them for wall installation. Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[Ilya]

No problem. Good luck!

 

[Stargazer]

You can buy the HDMI to Cat-5e conversion kit to use the existing Cat-5 wires in your walls.

 

[EatMyVolts]

Monster Cables -- Monstrously Expensive
Monster Cables -- Monstrously Profitable
Monster Cables -- Monstrously Heavy - bad for flimsy Dish connectors
Monster Cables -- P T Barnum is smiling

Monster Cables -- Get The Monster!!! Assemble the masses, light the torches, storm the stores, burn down the display!

Monster Cables :dead

 

[markfp-1]

I buy all of mine online for about three bucks each and never had a bad one. I borrowed a hundred dollar cable from a friend once just to see if it made a difference and it didn't.

 

[harshness]

21Gbps? What would you need that bandwidth for??

At this point in time, picture quality is a complete non-issue; even if your equipment supports "Deep Color". What could be an issue is if you use 9.2 channel audio in conjunction with Deep Color.

I have no idea where you might find source material with those kinds of specs.

HDMI cables are not a good place to invest money. A quality video processor would be a much better use of fundage that is burning a hole in one's pocket.

 

[dantheman77]

you guys are all wrong. Monster cables makes my Bose speakers sound great!!

 

[lakebum431]

you guys are all wrong. Monster cables makes my Bose speakers sound great!!

I think you forgot the sarcasm tag

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[riffjim4069]

you guys are all wrong. Monster cables makes my Bose speakers sound great!!

Your Bose speakers make my Klipsch speakers sound ever greater! I gave my all my Bose speakers to my daughter after listening to a pair of Klipsch KLF-30s back in the late '90s. My KLFs and Klipschorns rock!

I highly recommend using quality speaker cable for high-end speakers, but my $5 4ft. Monoprice Premium HDMI cable is just as good as the $100 one from Monster.