Councelor

As some of us know from getting into this game, the HD DVD Player is only a portion of the price of going into the HD DVD Game. There is also the price of the HD DVDs, but those discussions are ramped here. There is also one other surprise price,........the HDMI cables.

Now you can use other cables, and the units usually come with a cheap small one, but for best quality and over any distance, HDMI cable is the best bet. I can tell you that they get expensive FAST! When I set up my system, I bought a $350 for a 25 foot monster cable from Best Buy (not my only reason to dislike best buy). It seemed to work, but after installing in INTO the wall, I realized I hadn't tested it in 720 or 1080 mode, and in both modes I get snow. Now I am doubly screwed.....I have a cable I can't get out of the wall to return or replace, and I need to buy a new cable . So here are my two warnings/suggestions to avoid my costly mistake:

1) TEST THE CABLE AT 1080 (I or P as appropriate) immediately.
2) Don't buy your cables from Best Buy. I've found monoprice.com has, by far, the absolutely best pricing on most cables, especially HDMI cables (I just replaced my $350 "high quality" 25 foot monster HDMI cable, with a $41 high quality 35 foot monoprice HDMI cable.

I get no kickback from this of any kind. Just trying to help you all from the pain of my mistakes.

Councelor

Hammer99

The A1 came with an HDMI cable that has worked just fine for me.

Councelor

A small basic cable, as noted above. You may want better or longer.

orimental

Second monoprice. I bought an HDMI-DVI cable for like $6.50 after shipping! Make sure to put your order in before 11am Pacific Time in order to get shipped out that same day.

speedyray

I bought cables from monoprice - my switch box and three cables were under $52 shipped.

FantasticVSDoom

I dont think the cord is any better but yeah if you want longer, Monoprice is the best... Also, I know sometimes people dont want to wait for something to be shipped, but if you have an Apple Store where you live, they have HDMI cords for $20, including HDMI-DVI cords. I know its not as cheap as Monoprice, but a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere else I have seen at a B&M store.

cornflakeguy

Since talking about cables let me talk about my experience.

I have a Fry's Electronics here in Dallas so I bought my HDMI cable there. Of course I went to the "video cable" aisle and the smallest HDMI cable started at about $50.00. it was the normal 'high end' stuff, Monster, etc.

Now I KNEW they had cheaper cables before, because I bought them there before, but now the budget cables were not WITH the 'high-end' cables.

I went searching through the store and found an aisle with ALL cables in the computer section. Serial, parallel, etc. There I found more HDMI cables, and DVI-HDMI cables, too. These were the cables that come in a plastic bag with the cardboard sign stapled to the top. Something like 10 ft, $19.99.

I bought that one, and it's been fine. So the bastards moved the cheap stuff away to a whole other department so it wouldn't detract from the Monster 3ft $50.00 stuff.

dharding

Fuck Monster.

'nuff said...

Th0r S1mpson

You should have checked here first. There are numerous threads about getting good, cheap HDMI cables and avoiding buying cables at BB like the plague.

I got an $8 cable at monoprice, as everyone here suggested, and have had zero problems.

Chops

I'm no expert, but I don't believe that you can get snow from an HDMI cable. I'd think it's more likely your TV or much less likely, your player. However, I would agree with others that an expensive HDMI cable is a scam. You either get the signal or you don't. A digital signal can't get snow added to it by a cable.

DVD Josh

Sure it can, from ground level interference or otherwise.

Jamers

I find this post suspect. Councelor, you mean to say you've been a member of DVD Talk since 1999 and you were still dumb enough to spend $350 on a 25 ft HDMI Monster cable. Your post just sounds like a cheap ad for monoprice.com

gimmepilotwings

Jamers does make an excellent point. I have literally seen monoprice listed on hundreds of threads on numerous forums.

Mopower

If I had to spend $350 a fucking cable I'd say screw HDMI. You could make your own freaking cable for $25.

gimmepilotwings

It makes no sense at all. Why spend $300-$500 for the HDDVD player, and another $350 for a cable? Thats like buying a Honda Civic, and spending $10k on gas for it.

Bill Geiger

That better be one huge freaking tank!

Chops

I re-read the original post, and I'm not sure that it's completely clear what's happening. If he's getting ONLY snow, then yes that can happen from the HDMI cable. However, if he's getting a picture with a snow effect on it, then I would say that's not really possible.

Were you saying that you thought ground level interference on an HDMI cable could ADD snow, or just cause the video to not come through at all?

DVD Josh

I was simply responding your comment, not the the OP's. I would tend to think that the interference would cause picture issues that may manifest in "snow" or other defects. Also, although more likely with analog cable runs, a long run of HDMI may also have issues (but more likely a picture / no picture issue rather than snow).

ChrisHicks

ok, I recently bought the Psyclone HDMI switcher and it came with a free HDMI cable(3'). I hooked up my PS3 with the cable(I was waiting for my monoprice cables to show up) and I did in fact get a picture with snow over the whole thing. wondering if the switch may be bad I pulled that cable and used the one that came with my XA1(6') and the snow was gone and the pic was perfectly clear. there was definately something up with that cable.

DVD Josh

Mike, I read your website. I love the homage to FMJ:

"Michael C. Klasfeld is senior counsel in the firm. While we cooperate with other counsel in many matters, the firm attorney is Michael."

"This is my gun. There are many others like it but this one is mine".

Councelor

Let's see....used the HDMI cable that came with the box. Hooked the two directly together (needed a ladder to keep them together for the experiment), no snow, perfect picture . Put it back together with the Monster Cable....SNOW! Checked all the connections...removed and reseated them several times at both sides. What other conclusion can you come up with from that? The only variable was the cable.


What can I say....Homer Simpson moment. Duoh!!

TheKobra

No kidding! What rock have you been under for the past 8 years?

Arpeggi

$350 for a cable

Deftones

Does The Edit King have another account?

DVD Josh

We don't take kindly to your unreasonably high HDMI cable prices in this neighborhood!!!