carnage6

I want to order an HDMI cable from Monoprice for my PS3 which I use for playing Blu-Rays but I'm confused at which one I should get if I want to be current? I'm also planning to get another Blu-Ray player (when this profile stuff gets worked out) and a new reciever when more support HD audio. My question is, which 6ft HDMI cable should I get if I want the best now and for my future uses?

PG

Spiky

Any. 6' isn't long enough to be an issue for the cheaper cables.

SUPERMANROB

I use this one and works just as well as my $250 Monster one I have.http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Darth Maher

What about 10'?

6' is JUST enough for my system, but if I need to move one of the components, it puts a strain on it. I've already ruined one HDMI cable moving my TV only a couple of inches to hook up our Wii.

gimmepilotwings

Anything under 25' and you will be fine.

daddydaryl

What would you recommend in 40ft for a projector?

Spiky

24AWG or bigger for the 40'. Smaller number is bigger cable.

bhome83

i dont understand. Why are monoprice.com prices a fraction of the stuff you find at bestbuy? I just bought a dynex hdmi cable at best buy for $50 and will of course return it if i can find a hdmi cable for cheaper. Why are some of the cables over $100?

GHackmann

Mostly because people will pay that much.

usckid007

people don't know any better and/or assume bigger price= better performance.

bhome83

so all hdmi cables are alike? if i find one for .50 cents than that is as good as one that is $150?

usckid007

in theory, yes. digital picture and sound are pretty much "all or nothing." so as long as you're not running the cable a great distance, you won't likely see any degradation.

For most people 6ft. is all that's needed, and for that distance "cheap" HDMI cables gets it done.

GHackmann

Audioholics has a really interesting write-up where they took tens of HDMI cables of differing brands and lengths and used digital testing equipment to see if they could reliably pass signals of different bandwidths with no bit errors.

The short version of what they found:

• Nearly all the cables shorter than 3 m passed their lab tests, even when pushing about 1.5x the maximum bandwidth supported by HDMI 1.3.
• Even the cables which "failed" their lab tests worked fine in real-world tests, because of the robust error-correction used in real-world A/V equipment. The only way they were able to actually end up with corrupted video was when they took two long cables that individually failed their lab tests and then coupled them end-to-end into a massive 65 ft cable.
• Monoprice cables were one of the five brands that performed well under long cable runs.

Mr. Salty

In addition to what others have written, I'll add that cables and other accessories have a huge markup because that's where a lot of stores make their money. The markets for computers, TVs and other electronics are very competitive, so there's not as much of a markup.

A friend of mine used to work at Best Buy. His employee price for buying cables was a fraction of retail, because the formula for employees was something like wholesale plus 10 percent. A $50 cable would cost him about $8.