Is it still a rip off to pay $32 for a Monster HDMI 1000HD Ultra High Speed Cable?

Question

Recently, I have been trying to built a perfect Home Theater System. I have included the Monster HDMI in it. Now, Monster HDMI 1000HD retails for $100+, but I have been reading reviews on it lately and there is not even any difference of the HD viewing at all. Now, I am wondering if it is still even worth it.

Also, if you guys have any info or tips on other HDMI's or Home theater System, It will be surely appreciated.

Answer 1

I use no name HDMI cables on my system and have had no troubles or degradation in picture quality. The cables I use are actually around 5 bucks off of Ebay and work perfectly, even on Blu-ray. Monster charges a ridiculous amount of money for HDMI cables and the average person will not notice any difference between the cheap cables or Monster cables.



The one tip I do have for you is to add a line conditioner to your system. It will keep your power clean, your signal interference free and help you get the best picture quality possible.

Answer 2

Like most things in life there are extremes in HDMI cables.

An HDMI cable is a pretty technically advanced piece of equipment.



The process of cable manufacture can have a dramatic effect on how the transmitted information looks from one side of the cable to the other. This means that a cable with better shielding and a more precise distance between the "intelligence" and "ground" wires, will yield a better connection with less interference. Many things can effect your signal. The electrons will create a standing wave in the cable, this will create a small magnetic field around the cable. Any imperfection or splice in the cable will disrupt these waves and will reflect/refract the waves. Magnetic information can also leak from one cable to another. This is the reason these are highly refined shielding techniques and the precise distances came to be.



What you do need to work out is whether your setup could be affected by any of this stuff. If you are running short distances the answer is probably no. Still I would not buy the cheapest cable or the dearest.



There is a difference between expensive and budget HDMI cables. It revolves around the quality of the cable build and the materials used. The question is whether this will affect my set up. First you should determine the length between your source and your display. If this is less than 15 feet a "standard" cable will be ok. If it is more than 15 feet you are best to consider a "high speed" cable. Make sure that you buy from a reputable source and that the cable is marked with the HDMI logo and says that it is a version 1.3 (don't worry about a, b or c as these are only testing protocols) If you live in a coastal or high humidity area it is worth considering getting a cable with gold connectors. While this will not improve your signal it will stop corrosion degrading the signal over time.



Some people assume that as the signals are digital either the cable works or not. Sometimes however the 1s and 0s aren't all there because of signal degradation due to inferior cable construction. That can be especially true with audio and video sources such as CDs and DVDs. The signal will degrade gracefully, to a point and then it will break up. Music and video is not like data. Digital signal processors can work with a degraded signal and deliver less than perfect sound and pictures.

You can never improve a digital signal by using an expensive cable but you can certainly degrade a signal using an inferior cable.



If you want to know more about the HDMI interface and HDMI cables you can download the free 21 page ebook "HDMI Demystified" at the following link.

http://www.hdmisystems.com/

Answer 3

Personally, I recently replaced some over-priced 6' Belkin cables (which also work just fine) with some 3' HDMI cables from Monoprice in an effort to reduce clutter. But I also replaced my Monster subwoofer cable with one from Blue Jeans Cable not just because it's a better cable that can be custom cut to size, but also because Monster purposely engages in misleading marketing and milks customers for as much as they can. They have also sued other companies that use the word "Monster" in their titles, even if they're not in the electronics business.



Monster HDMI cables are fine cables, so it's not like they do don't their job. They just don't do their job any better than cables that cost a lot less. So while $32 isn't that big a rip-off for a brick and mortar price, because Monster bullies and make misleading claims I refuse to use anything made by them.

Answer 4

The Kuro is a large television and that i understand your difficulty approximately proscribing that large television with a sub-universal cable. right it relatively is an concept: what do the television and production studios use? Do they purchase $$$ cables to understand DVD's or carry the HDTV programing? often - expert cables are offered on spools and custom shrink to in advantageous condition their desires. The manufacturers are "Mogami", "Belden", "Canare" and a few others. A custom cable with this cable inventory could be offered from web pages like BlueJeans. He has the two a greater high priced Belden Cable ($forty) and a miles less-high priced China made cable ($24). i take advantage of a Belden based HDMI cable for my equipment (and Canare element cables with the aid of the way). The Belden cable is ... gruesome. it relatively is not the attractive, extreme-tech lizard epidermis cables that look stable (yet do not something for sign pass yet justify the extreme value). The Belden cables have a thick, heavy black outer sheath. yet you are able to drag this with the aid of partitions and conduit and it fights tight bends to guard the connectors on the two end. At $forty - this is properly actually worth the acquisition to attempt it and a powerful compromise between the $$$ cables and the extremely-cheep cables. provide it a shot, yet BlueJeans is used with the aid of loads of persons who learn kit and cables for committed HT rooms. stable success and revel in that television.

Answer 5

I ended up having to replace all of my AV cables a few months ago and, strapped for cash, opted for a no-name option over the gold-plated Monster Cable option that I was using previously. I got my new cables from http://TriangleCables.com and was very happy with the prices and shipping, but best of all, I didn't notice a difference between these cables and the expensive ones I was using before.

Answer 6

Its a rip off you can get Dayton Cables from Parts Express that have excellent quality and Amazon has some even better deals on good cables for like 5 to 7 bucks

Answer 7

I bought my HDMI cables from tekCABLE.com. They had great prices and they shipped the same day.



http://www.tekcable.com/hdmicables.aspx

Answer 8

Check out the HDMI cable prices at: www.monoprice.com



You can't go wrong when this place is endorsed by www.CNET.com, who outfitted their audio/video test studio with products from them, as well as Don Lindich, who references them often in his advice column and also in his web-site, www.soundadviceblog.com. Both essentially suggest saving your hard, earned cash and spend it to up-grade components, rather than to waste them to support Monster's "marketing budget"!!!



Check out Cnet's review: http://reviews.cnet.com/hdmi-cable/?tag=nav



Don's advice on HDMI: http://www.soundadviceblog.com/?page_id=1095



I have not regreted taking their advice and have been extremely happy with the performance I've gotten from Monoprice products. My home theater is built around an Onkyo 705 AV receiver, Toshiba 52" Cinema Series wide-screen and their HD-DVD player, with Mirage Nanosat 5.1 speakers.

Answer 9

HDMI only needs to be able to transmit 1s and 0s to get perfect picture so as long as its a decent cable it will work great.



I get mine from http://www.cabletrain.com for about 5 dollars with shipping and they produce the same results as monster cables did.