So I purchased a PS3 for my nephew for Christmas, but I have absolutely no clue as to what would be the best way to hook it up to the television for him. Based on my sister's examination, their television is HDMI compatible, so I assume that the solution is HDMI cables, but after that I'm completely stumped.
For example, Dose the quality of the cable really make that much of a difference? Some sites (including here on PA based on a quickie search) say not really, others sources swear the quality makes a huge difference. Is the price you pay comparable to the quality you get, or do certain brands/makers offer a better bang for your buck? I don't really want to spend the extra $60 on the "official" PS3 cables, but if it will make a difference I will.
Any explanations would be great, but I'm not much of a tech guy, so please use small words. Think of it as if you have to explain HDMI cables to a particularly slow-witted chimpanzee. In the alternative, if you just want to recommend cables, that's cool too.
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If you aren't satisfied with the picture then you can just buy another cable, but by all accounts you'll probably be satisfied.
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I've always just bought the cheapest cables I could find off the shelf and I've never had any problems whatsoever.
I do, however, know from a few years working in the warehouse of Soundtrack that those fancy Monster cables and such, the kind that salesmen will try to upgrade you to, are a complete ripoff. Do not buy Monster unless you like throwing money away.
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However if you get a long older cable in category 1 the HDCP signal that prevents you from copying might not come trough all the time, which prevents you from watching.
So if the cable has been lying in the store for a long time it might be an issue. If the cable is shorter than a few meters (2 or 3) there should be no problem.
The biggest pitfall of HDMI is not the cable, it's the devices themselves. HDMI is a standard, but lots of companies have gone the MS route and follow the standard to their own definition of the term. That's not even counting all the different specs of HDMI out there.
This is an issue if your device (in your case your PS3) and your TV (and/or receiver) do not "speak" the same HDMI. You will wind up having them plugged in but not actually talking (properly or at all), and there may or may not be ways around it.
Anyone who installs a large number of varied HDMI capable equipment knows this pain. Hopefully the PS3 and the TV your sister have play nice. HDMI will also carry the sound to the TV (if the TV is capable of that).
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my Westinghouse has signal drops every few minutes due to the fucking HDCP handshake not working out 100% of the time
http://www.insignia-products.com/pc-298-1-insignia-42-flat-panel-plasma-hdtv.aspx
Is there anything else I should be aware of? I think I'll just order some Monoprice wires for it and be happy.
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This. My girlfriend and I both swear by monoprice.com for her gaming needs and my business needs ($8 DVI cables? 1,000 feet of cat5e for under $70? Yes, please), and the stuff has always been high quality. You should be able to find an HDMI cable there for a fraction of what you'd pay at an electronics store.
It bears mentioning that a few very specific games are not well suited to HDMI, though; there is a very, very slight (we're talking in the dozens of milliseconds) amount of lag introduced by using a digital signal on most TVs, and while 95% of games will be fine, some popular titles (Mirror's Edge Rock Band 1/2 on drums spring to mind) can be a huge pain with HDMI. If you happen to know that either of those titles is a big priority for them, you might suggest that they use component instead.
Also, output lag is the term for what wasted pixels is talking about, and has to do with image processing the tv will do. Some TVs have a game mode to minimize output lag.