December 15, 2008

Expensive HDMI cables vs cheap HDMI cables

Tis the season and this year a lot of people will be purchasing their first HDTV or Blu-ray player. Most people don’t plan ahead and consider what kind of cables they should get. HDMI or component? Do you need 3 metres (10 feet) or 5 metres (16.5 feet)?

Most people walk in to Best Buy, purchase a 40” HDTV and watch as the salesperson rubs their hands together and explains how they need HDMI cables for the best picture quality. You wouldn’t pay $3,000 for an Denon receiver and hook up some crappy $20 speakers would you? Of course not!

So here are some of your options at Best Buy for HDMI cables:

Do not purchase the Monster cable no matter what the sales person tells you!

Purchasing the most expensive HDMI cable on the market will not make a difference to the picture quality on your TV. Take a look at the prices at a discount electronics store like Modcom.ca:

Do yourself a favour and do your homework. Figure out how much cable you need for your home theatre setup before your purchase your HDTV or Blu-ray player. Buy the cheapest HDMI cable you can find and spend the money you saved on some Blu-ray movies instead.

Posted in Home Theatre at 8:09 PM

Comments

Comment # 1

I spent just $20 on a gold-plated, three-footer HDMI cable from Philips, and just $29 for RCA’s top of the line 25-footer. Now I can afford to buy Cable Guy on Blu-ray.

Posted by: Jim Carrey on December 16, 2008 3:53 AM

Comment # 2

Of course HDMI is an engineering based standard, so if you have a cable that meets the standard, you meet the standard. You should only purchase those fancy smancy cables if you intend to display them in plain site, and want everybody to know, you had the $$$ for the expensive name brand cables.

Posted by: Jay B on December 16, 2008 1:39 PM

Comment # 3

All cables under 6 feet are the same, if your going over that it might be good to spend a bit of extra money

Posted by: Kiran on January 28, 2009 11:45 PM

Comment # 4

One note of caution. If you have a 3D TV with an internet connection and other devices connected to the TV via HDMI and you are using HDMI ethernet channel, be sure you buy an HDMI calbe that supports the new 1.4 HDMI ethernet channel. BTW, still buy the least expensive cable that meets your HDMI needs. If you are not using HDMI ethernet channel, any HDMI cable will work with 1.4, regardless of that the sales person tells you. Do your homework first.

Posted by: Mikey on August 19, 2010 12:25 PM

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