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HDMI: How much should it cost, how good is it?
The Death Of Hilarity
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My dad recently got a 26" Sharp Aquos HDTV and wants me to look into HDMI cable to connect it to the cable box (currently using component). How much should an HDMI cable cost, and is there anything we should know beforehand about it.
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You should never buy retail-priced cables. That same cable at a store will likely cost you $60+. Cables in a store are horribly overpriced. They pulled the same crap when DVI was first introduced.
Edit: With standard shipping, it'll still be under $10.
Edit again: HDMI can carry full HD video AND audio signals, so it's really the best option, especially if you get the HD channels. It's a lot less clutter, too.
I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
EDIT: The price of a cable from a place that's not trying to rip you off will vary directly with the number of wires in it. HDMI has like twenty-odd wires, so it should be more expensive than, say, component cables, which are three wires (five, if they throw in audio).
The price of a cable from a place that's trying to rip you off (like Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc) will vary directly with the fanciness of the packaging. Bonus points for (functionally pointless) gold-plated connectors to "improve signal transfer". I once saw a fucking TOSLink cable with gold-plated connectors. Their larceny is truly unchecked.
Digital = 1's and 0's = no noise. Buying an expensive HDMI cable is like buying an expensive CAT5 cable to hook your computer up to the internet in order to "improve the quality of the connection." 1's and 0's don't need to be protected against noise, because noise will VERY rarely turn a 1 into a 0 or vice-versa.
Sorry for the rant, but just be careful out there.
I've always been of the school of thought that you get what you pay for. You know, throw a few extra bucks into quality and have it last longer, thus saving money in the long run! It works for tons of products, but looks like I would have got burned on this cable business in the coming future.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
HDMI carries a digital video signal, versus component's analogue. It's a more direct comparison with DVI (and in fact, HDMI encapsulates a subset of the DVI resolutions and data format).
I'll be getting a 360 elite soon, and eventually, even a PS3. I want to start thinking about compatible devices. IE, Entertainment Centers.
I don't really understand a lot of the newest stuff like 780i and 780p, etc... All I know is that I would like to take advantage of what the system can do. I won't have an HDMI TV right away, but I will be getting one in the next year or so.
What are my options, what do I look for?
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
This is the kind of mentality that a lot of companies like to take advantage of. Just because a product costs more to the consumer doesn't mean that it's any better or even that it cost more to manufacture.
If all of your equipment is digital, it's just lame to convert everything to analog and back to digital just for transmission across a cable.
The other issue is that HDMI establishes a dedicated connection, making it more difficult for you to exploit digital technology in order to re-broadcast something. Content providers like that and have been trying to enforce HDMI for displaying certain content.
Anyway, here are some basic details for mudd:
The number is the resolution. It's measured in horizontal lines instead of pixels for whatever reason. i means interlaced, which means that only half the lines are drawn at a time, then the other half (odd then even, for example). Progressive means all lines are drawn each time. You can get a higher resolution more cheaply with interlacing, but it creates an image that appears less fluid, especially during motion.
240p - Low Defiintion, progressive scan. This is what a lot of PS1 games were.
480i - Standard def, interlaced. This is what a normal TV, VCR, etc. will display. Generally speaking, the best 480i image is obtained using S-video cables.
480p - Standard def, progressive. This is what makes regular DVDs look better than regular TV. But you have to have a progressive scane television and component cables (the red, blue, and green cables) to get a true progressive scan image. 480p is sometimes called "Enhanced Definition" as is it's rarer cousin, 576p (a PAL standard). Enhanced Definition TVs were popular very briefly before HDTV caught on.
720i - no such thing.
720p - HDTV, progressive, usually what you'll find in the cheaper Plasma, LCD, and DLP HDTVs. Normally viewed with component or HDMI/DVI cables.
1080i - HDTV, interlaced, usually what you'll find in the cheaper picture-tube (CRT) HDTVs. Normally viewed with component or HDMI/DVI cables.
720p vs. 1080i - They are fairly equivalent. 720p will look better during motion, while 1080i gives you more resolution on still shots. Generally, the best picture for your dollar can be found on a 1080i CRT, but it will be a huge 200lb beast, not something you can wall-mount, and the quality isn't so much better than the 720p. Most HD television broadcasts are in 1080i or 720p.
1080p - the latest standard, now being called "True HD" because you get all the benefits of the higest resolution and progressive scan. Looks best on a digital HDMI or DVI cable. Some people even claim that you can't get true 1080p over component, though I don't know if I agree. Due to bandwidth usage, 1080p is not used in broadcast television for now, but HD-DVD and some video games support it.
If you're buying an HDTV, make damn sure it can output 240p properly. Some don't do it right and some don't do it at all.
240p, in addition to being used by most PS1/N64/Saturn games, is also used by a handful of PS2 games (most notably ICO) and all SNES-era and earlier games (including those emulated by the Wii Virtual Console). Bring something to the goddamn store and be sure to test 240p if you're spending money on an expensive television. Unless you just don't care about old games, that is, in which case you are dead to me.
Lug out an old CRT from the closet whenever I get an ICO craving or want to fire up the Virtual Console? Doesn't sound all that great to me.
There have been blind studies done that show that coat hanger wire does just a good a job as $300 audio cables.
Even if you buy into the idea that analog cables need shielding from interference always remember that HDMI is pure digital. Digital transmission protocols have error checking and correction built in. If a $5 cable can carry gigabit Ethernet with something like a 10^-13 bit error rate (1 in every 10 000 000 000 000 bits is bad), a $5 cable can probably do the same thing for HDMI.
I've heard about similar blind studies using tin foil, though I can't vouch for it 100%.