HDMI cables : price vs quality

GenlyAi · August 2010

I'm sure a variation of this has been asked a thousand times, but I can't quite find it, so I apologize in advance.

Some TV installer dude wants to charge me $75 x 2 for 2 16ft HDMI cables. I'm sure they're the best of quality. But is the best of quality any better than the worst of quality, for example this?

It's digital ... so is there going to be any significant attenuation over 16ft? Your thoughts are appreciated. Thanks very much!

bowen · August 2010

Nope. People claim to be able to tell the difference. Those people are fucking looney. I sure as hell can't tell the difference other than my bank account having less money in it. To answer your other question, you can typically go 18-20 feet before you start to notice issues, but there are repeaters for that.

Improvolone · August 2010

Don't buy the penny cables on Amazon, buy whatever you want from Monopice.com

There are such thing as shitty shitty cables, but it doesn't cost much to make a good cable to spec.

edit: 16 ft is long, you really need that much? Anyway, here is a 15 ft cable for 5.27
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024009&p_id=2529&seq=1&format=2
5.04 if you buy two!

Synthesis · August 2010

As long as you don't buy a cable that can deliberately not support, say, 1080p (months ago, cables limited to 720p could be found--they're even less common now), probably not. The real problem comes at distances of 30 feet or more (when cable quality does make an actual difference).

Some of the more expensive cables are a bit more resilient, but most people don't subjugate their cables to that much stress.

Improvolone · August 2010

Synthesis wrote: »

As long as you don't buy a cable that can deliberately not support, say, 1080p (months ago, cables limited to 720p could be found--they're even less common now), probably not. The real problem comes at distances of 30 feet or more (when cable quality does make an actual difference).

Some of the more expensive cables are a bit more resilient, but most people don't subjugate their cables to that much stress.

But not a $70 difference.

bowen · August 2010

Sounds like Best Buy pricing for their TV install shit.

GenlyAi · August 2010

It's not BestBuy. It's a private dude. He originally wanted to charge us $900 to mount the TV and speakers to the wall and run the cables (though surface molding!) to our entertainment center, which is off to the side.

The vast majority of that was equipment price, and I've got him down to $600 now, but it still seems like a ripoff. I'm leaning towards doing it myself at this point.

Anyway, there seems to be universal agreement that $70 is too much. So thanks, everyone. Thanks for the link, Improvolone.

GnomeTank · August 2010

600 bucks is a ripoff. There is a guy near me that does TV mounting for 89 bucks, and will run cables for you. That doesn't include speakers, but still.

useless4 · August 2010

600 bucks sounds about right but it's still a rip off.

What you want is Monoprice.
Yes, at 16 feet the difference in cables starts to become apparent. But as long as they meet 1.3 and above HDMI standards you should be good. The problem becomes noticeable on cheap cables and/or non-1.3 cables

What happens is you start getting sync issues where your tv will blink out and give you digital crunchy fuzz.

That's the problem with digital - it either WORKS or DOESNT work.

I have a few long cables from Monoprice and they are all 100% and I don't think the longest one cost over 20 dollars. And it's long.

I also highly recommend their HDMI matrix switches and their HDMI to CAT5 extenders.

You should see what I made for 200ish dollars

chasm · August 2010

GenlyAi wrote: »

It's not BestBuy. It's a private dude. He originally wanted to charge us $900 to mount the TV and speakers to the wall and run the cables (though surface molding!) to our entertainment center, which is off to the side.

The vast majority of that was equipment price, and I've got him down to $600 now, but it still seems like a ripoff. I'm leaning towards doing it myself at this point.

Anyway, there seems to be universal agreement that $70 is too much. So thanks, everyone. Thanks for the link, Improvolone.

I charge $300 for the same thing, including parts. But I more or less refuse to mount speakers to the wall because it sounds like shit unless the dimensions of the room are just right.

Pheezer · August 2010

And you'd be making good money for your time investment at $300.

Seriously, do it yourself. Order everything off of monoprice.com, learn how to use a stud finder (the instructions are usually printed on the back of the device and are dead simple), and DIY.

useless4 · August 2010

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/inffastener/infanchor/infanchor.html

Toggle bolts are your friend for mounting a tv

chasm · August 2010

Pheezer wrote: »

And you'd be making good money for your time investment at $300.

Pretty much. At most, it's three hours of labor. I started out doing it for $150 and people insisted on paying me more than my quote for some odd reason.

Pheezer · August 2010

Anyhow, the point with HDMI is that it's digital. So the signal is going to get through or it's not.

Make sure the cable you get meets the spec that suits your requirements. There's a good chart here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

The justifiable reasons for spending more on higher quality cables basically includes when cables will be exposed to weather, if they'll be moved around/connected and disconnected frequently, or if you're running them through conduit with power cables.

Get the cheapest HDMI cable offered via Monoprice.com that meets the spec you need. They're all either 1.3 or 1.4 from what I've seen. The ones that mention 4k video are 1.4, the others are 1.3. Spring for the higher gauge cabling (24 or 22 AWG) if you expect the cables to meet any significant amount of physical duress or you want to run long cabling runs. Otherwise, stick to the 28 AWG cables, they're more than adequate for your average home user.

Dark Shroud · August 2010

If you want higher quality or have very long runs you can get good cables from Blue Jeans Cable. They actually were sued by Monster Cable and sued back.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

If you're going to buy cables from Amazon then use their properly built house brand, Media Bridge.

FuriousJodo · August 2010

Your install guy is probably buying them from a place like Monoprice and then just trying to make a profit on it because of the stupid prices that retail chains charge for HDMI cables.

Scrublet · August 2010

You might as well get the 1.4 HDMI cables so you can use them for 3D later.

GenlyAi · August 2010

Awesome. Bought a mount and a stud finder last night. I'll order the cables today.

Since there seem to be some experts in here, let me switch gears for a sec: My current plan is to run the cables through surface molding, which should look better than 5 wires flappin around my living room. But obviously through the wall would be prettier.

Is that a job I can do myself? The wires would have to go 5 ft down and 6 ft to the right. There are at least two studs they would have to pass through. If I can't do it myself, then:

How much would you pay for someone to do that alone? Or,
Any recommendations or thoughts on how to do this surface molding thing?

bowen · August 2010

The easiest way is to run it behind molding or under the carpet, the prettiest way is through the wall. Honestly? Cut up the wall if you want to go that route and drill a small hole through your studs to get the cable through it, put some plates/jacks on the wall and then patch the drywall and repaint it. If it needs to go through multiple floors or two a different part of the room completely, that's even harder.

If you don't feel like tearing up small portions of the wall for running a wire, go under the carpet/molding. Probably a lot less involved/less room to screw up pulling up the edge of your carpet.

chasm · August 2010

I only do in-wall installations on new houses or houses being rebuilt. It's just too much of a PITA otherwise.

bowen · August 2010

Yeah like I said depends on how nice you want it to look, but it's a definite PITA.

Jakarrd · August 2010

Most of the time functional is what you shoot for. Then you find thing that can cover up ... mistakes. I had a roommate that actually carved a small channel in the drywall, fitted wires into it, then mudded it up and smoothed it down. Acutually didn't look half bad once painted.

me, I'd just run wiring all over the place and be proud. The geek in me says don't cover up, heheeh.

GenlyAi · August 2010

Alright, I'm going to take this advice, at least for now. Maybe I'll have another reason to open the wall at some point, and I can put them through then.

Thanks again!

EliteLamer · August 2010

Cool I can post again..

Anyways, I mounted my own TV.. Was really easy all you need is a stud finder and the mount. You can order a mount off of amazon for cheap. I just got the mount that tilts up and down not side to side for 20 bucks..

So yeah you find the studs and drill wall mount in. Then you take the other part and attach it to the TV.. 4 easy screws. Then that clips on the the wall mount and you tighten a screw up to lock it in and you are done. Only hard part is running wires in the wall if you care about that sort of thing. Still, not worth 600.00.

DigitalSyn · August 2010

Anything over 30 ft, use CAT6 to extend the HDMI.

I am doing this in my new house I am currently building. Home run to the basement for the DVR, using CAT6 to get it to the rooms.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812191127

Pheezer · August 2010

When mount shopping, get one that's rated for a TV somewhat larger than the one you have. That way you won't be buying a second one in a year or two when your current one has started to slip.

useless4 · August 2010

DigitalSyn wrote: »

Anything over 30 ft, use CAT6 to extend the HDMI.

I am doing this in my new house I am currently building. Home run to the basement for the DVR, using CAT6 to get it to the rooms.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812191127

Oh wow they are sold out, glad I have an extra set .

They are amazing... I set up a three television set up in the living room to do gaming movie watching etc and send the fourth output of the matrix switch to my other room so I can play games etc. without having the counsels in my room.

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