Expensive HDMI cables, a false economy? Cheap HDMI Cables vs the Expensive.
by admin on Nov.30, 2009, under HDMI Cables, HDMI Connectivity
The first problem we hit here is the term ‘expensive’. The problem is, expense is an individual’s idea of cost and a personally held viewpoint, because it is a subjective term, there is wide varying opinion from one consumer to the next about what classifies a product as being ‘expensive’.
It is true to say that most HDMI cable manufacturers are feeding you a line about the necessity of spending upwards of £50-£100 on relatively short cable lengths. There is definitely too much misinformation and smoke and mirrors being fed to consumers in big name retail stores and in big name advertising. You only have to look on a few forums to find a whole mountain of well-informed people rightly shouting the facts about the true nature of HDMI and condemning the profiteers essentially ripping customers off.
What do I need to look out for in a good HDMI Cable then?
Good design and manufacturing quality are important in every product, whether that be a bin bag or a cable, we all know that super cheap no frills products can often leave us despairing, especially when the bottom of your bag drops out or your cable finally breaks down just as your sitting down to watch your eagerly anticipated blu-ray release on your new (not to mention expensive) HDTV.
In competitive markets there will always be a wide spectrum of varying prices and quality of products. You can buy a HDMI cable for as little as 99p or as expensive as £200. The crazy thing is it is entirely possible that a short length 99p cable will give just as good a picture quality as the £200 HDMI cable. This is down to the nature of HDMI being a lossless digital signal. The bombshell here for the uninformed is that digital HD video images such as those produced by your PS3, Satellite HD box or blu-ray player cannot have varying grades of picture quality between two cables, this is technically impossible.
Of course, a 99p cable is unlikely to have a decent build quality or be made from good quality materials. It may not last you very long but it is good to use it as an example when explaining the nature of HDMI.
We recommend www.hdcable.co.uk’s HDMI cables range starting at £8.99 and believe that their offering promotes great value for money. A quick look around their website will show that they are well-made, durable, use high quality materials, incorporating a high specification, with version 1.3 device support and fully certified by the HDMI authority.
That’s a like-for-like product for under £10 that most well known retailers will be selling for at least 3 times as much! With delivery included and a lifetime replacement warranty, its a deal not worth missing!
So would a short length HDMI cable priced over £50 represent a false economy? In our opinion. Yes.
In our opinion, the key things to look out for when buying a HDMI cable are as follows.