HDMI cable

[Zourous]

Does anyone know why HDMI cables differ in price so much for what seems like essentially the same thing? I'm after a12m one which I can get as cheap as £7 or as much £25+. Is it a build quality thing? It doesn't seem to make any sense.

[jammmie999]

The expensive ones are gold plated (ohh shiny)

 

Why You Should Never Pay More Than $10 For HDMI Cables

[pcstru]

The wonders of marketing and hope over evidence.

[hawc]

Try this for expensiveness: KIMBER HD29 HDMI cable : Kimber's HD29 HDMI cable is the top of...

[elsiegee40]

From what I have read there is no benefit in buying expensive HDMI cables. Personal experience of very cheap ones from eBay has been excellent. Don't waste your money.

[Arthur]

A few more links. The first one is particularly interesting.

 

• Why "Just Buy ANY HDMI Cable" Advice is Wrong… Sort of « Audioholics
  
• Digital Foundry vs. HDMI video « Eurogamer (£1.50 vs £100 cable)
  
• Expensive HDMI cables do not make any difference - the absolute proof « Expert Review
  

[Michael]

As above being gold plated adds to the cost, as well as the length of course. Also there is no such thing as HDMI 1.3 or 1.4 compliant cable. It's the device, such as a TV, games console or an amplifier which determines the version of HDMI supported.

 

At 12m you should be OK, but anything above 15m you'd probably need a powered booster.

[Zourous]

Thanks guys, I brought a cheap one originally but that one is now playing up (after over a year of it working fine) so it made me think twice. Strangly the HDMI from my tv to my HDMI splitter was failing to work properly but feeding the same cable direct to my freeview box or pc worked fine . I thought it must be the splitter, but no. I tried another splitter and the same thing happened. In the end I had to take the tv off my wall to try it with a shorter spare HDMI plus the splitter and that all worked fine. I will now buy a new cheap 12m HDMI to correct this strange issue.

[twin--turbo]

We did a back to back test on one of our LG LED TV's, An expensive BlueRay player and 1 x 1.99 cable and 1 x £60 cable.

 

 

6 of us watched the same sceen out of a film a few times over. I was the one in the know for the cable swap the others had no idea.

 

At the end the consesnus was that there was very little to tell at all and the 5 decided that they prefered the £1.99 cable

 

Perhaps spending £10 just for build may help especialy if beeing unplugged lots. But not convinced about expensive ones at all.

 

Rob

[chazzy2501]

12m is quite near the limit for non amplified cable (15m) I'd go to ebay and buy a "24 awg" cable 24 is the cable thickness. I have a 15m awg24 cable and it works great for my projector (even with a parasitic multiplexer).

[laserblazer]

As I understand it, this holds good for any electrical item that is plugged in or switched on. It's good for so many switches or insert/removals. If you plan to switch on and off a lot, then get a good one. If it's occasional use, save your money.

[Andrew_C]

Snake oil, or no snake oil. That is what governs the price.