<![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> @krkeegan:

No, you're not way off. Actually, you pretty much nailed it on the head.

Monster Cable is really just a marketing gimmic that plays on logic. It goes something like this, "wait, you can't use a cheap cable, you just spent thousands of dollars on a home movie theater!"

tikibob

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> Prediction:
the cheap cable is just as good as the monster cable

Reason:
We are dealing with digital signals. Only analog signals would truly benefit from better cables. Digital signals were created to get around signal distortion. This is why ditigal cell phones sound better than analog cell phones. This is also why cds sound better than records....



tikibob

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> Like Mike says, ferrite bead. Radio Shack also sells them as a "toroid core" or "toroid choke core". But I don't think they'll do anything for HDMI.

[www.radioshack.com]

Jordan Lund

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> The collar is a ferrite bead. It suppresses RF from getting picked up by the wire, which can't help acting as an antenna. It allows audio frequencies to pass, similarly to an inductor or coil.

For all those who can't resist giving more detailed info, this explanation is intentionally oversimplified.

MikeHinds

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> @bombastinator - I don't think, but this is really digging back to physics classes from years ago, that the metal collar you are talking about would work here.

The metal color works on induction?? If I remember right it helps prevent sudden changes in current. Think of it as a very very small surge protector. It smooths out the the current to get rid of aberrant spikes in the power curve. But I think this works best in analog signals that have nice curves to them.

HDMI is transferring digital signals that are block shaped. I think adding a metal collar might actually smooth out the beginning and ending of that block turning it more into a curve. I believe this is already what is happening in the long HDMI cables.

Anyone else?? Am I way off here?

krkeegan

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> Monster Cable is a marketing company, not a manufacturer. There is nothing wrong with that, but they do outsource practically all production. For a long time they specified Belden wire in their products. They switched to LTK, based in China. Belden recently purchased a major part of LTK.

Belden is by far the leader in production of high end Audio Video wire and cable. They have huge market share in the broadcast market (TV stations).

You will not find a Belden HDMI cable because they only make the wire, not the connectors or assembled product. They do have some certified cable assemble shops. One is Blue Jeans Cable. They are working on a high quality HDMI cable using some high performance Belden cable that will be able to go longer distances without the signal loss.

wadewood

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> Having spread the gospel about Monoprice to countless hoards (including to Gizmodo back in June of last year), I still continue to be impressed by the quality of almost all of their products.

I've purchased from them numerous times, spent a tremendous amount of money with them for several big projects, and am always watching out for their great specials.

BTW: From an inside source, I've heard that Monster Cables are made at one of the handful of Chinese cable factories. Several months ago this factory was purchased by Belden, somewhat of a competitor of Monster's for certain products. Very interesting.... tough to brag you're better then your competitor, when your competitor is making your cable.....

BeenThere2.1

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> i think real world will show difference between high and low end depending on how large your screen is, and how long the cable is. >1, 5 or 10 Meter. Also what kind of equipment sending and recieving the signal!

jie3dfx

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> Very curious to see how the 50 foot Monoprice cables go... thinking about picking one up soon - so glad the Giz is revisiting this!

Enrique

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> HDMI 1.2 is a standard set by the industry. If both cable claim to meet that standard, there should be no difference.

I have the Monoprice cable on both my Motorola DVR (Comcast) and my Xbox 360 and both signals are flawless to my 50" Plasma.

Volalum

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> I believe in the short end the cables should all do pretty well but with 1080p resolutions I can see the monsters edging out most of the field at long lengths of cable.

devil-illusion

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> HDMI is a floored system - many corners have been cut to deliver this 'technology'. It can still provide great output - but one of its main issues is that the longer the distance, the greater the signal degradation. I understand that this is true of most cables in general, but HDMI suffers to a much greater extent.

A well shielded cable that is properly terminated will provide an excellent signal, regardless of its cost.

Shame there wasn't a little more time allowed for HDMI to be the system it should have been - hence the different versions of HDMI that have subsequently been released (think we're up to 1.3 now?), all of which are still not up to the standard they should be...

Enough waffle - I'm sure many disagree...

poohead

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> I agree - the real world will show that there isn't any noticeable difference between high and low end cables.

Maksimir

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> If I had to guess, I would say the real world results will match the lab results, but the effect will not be as dramatic as the lab results would lead one to believe because of error corrections done on the TV side.

rbf2000

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> After getting my PS3, I went to Best Buy to get an HDMI cable. I know you can get them extremely cheap online for like 15 bucks or something, but I wanted to play my PS3 NOW and couldn't wait. So I was stuck paying the high price.

I bought a monster cable for 100 bucks!! (I really don't know why I did it, but I think I was dreaming about being home and playing my PS3)

After using it for a short time I noticed that when it started a game on the system (whether it be a CD or something on the HD) the screen would flash to black and then come back on. Sometimes it would even do it during gameplay!!

I was highly unsatisfied and then saw that Target was selling the Sony HDMI cable for 50 bucks. I picked it up and right away I could notice a difference between the two cables and the annoying screen flashing had stoppped!

I highly recommend you pick up the Sony HDMI cable that says "made for the PS3" It's been working great for me!

metalhaze

]]> <![CDATA[HDMI Cable Battlemodo Resumes]]> I'm really curious to know if you can improve the signal on the cheaper long lines with one of those ring magnets you see on some power cables.

They may be the absolutely wrong device and make it worse of course, but these days they're almost literally free as almost everyone these days has old proprietary cables from defunct hardware lying around. Quite a few of those shield magnets simply snap on and off.

bombastinator

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