Are all HDMI cables the same?

I was in a desperate spot to get an 8' HDMI in time for today's games and so ran to my local BB to pick one up. I got the cable but left the building holding my jaw in my hand.

When I look at online pricing there seems to be a real disconnect.

The cable I purchased today was expensive but for this consumer it met an immediate need; long term if apples are apples and HDMI is HDMI then maybe online is the most economic choice.

Are all HDMI cables the same?

I was in a desperate spot to get an 8' HDMI in time for today's games and so ran to my local BB to pick one up. I got the cable but left the building holding my jaw in my hand.

When I look at online pricing there seems to be a real disconnect.

The cable I purchased today was expensive but for this consumer it met an immediate need; long term if apples are apples and HDMI is HDMI then maybe online is the most economic choice.
order what you need from monoprice.com at top of page. on receipt of said items return original cable to bb for refund. or keep.

Not really sure about if they are all created the same, but in my opinion digital high speed/bandwidth signals over decent lengths need some kind of decent construction. That is not to say that a monster cable HDMI 1000HD (or whatever the hell they call it) is any better than a cable from Monoprice though. I wouldn't however just go buy some wire and some HDMI connectors and make your own cable.

I was in best buy's magnolia section just today where the sales guy was saying the 1000HD Monster Cables are the best you can buy. He was talking about how they handle up to 1000HZ signal and can create the best picture quality out of any cable. I just rolled my eyes and laughed but my wife stopped me from interrupting the crimin....sales clerk. I was going to pass the guy a piece of paper with www.monoprice.com written on it.


EDIT

Oh yeah the guy paid $150 a pop for three cables......ugh!

Not really sure about if they are all created the same, but in my opinion digital high speed/bandwidth signals over decent lengths need some kind of decent construction. That is not to say that a monster cable HDMI 1000HD (or whatever the hell they call it) is any better than a cable from Monoprice though. I wouldn't however just go buy some wire and some HDMI connectors and make your own cable.

I was in best buy's magnolia section just today where the sales guy was saying the 1000HD Monster Cables are the best you can buy. He was talking about how they handle up to 1000HZ signal and can create the best picture quality out of any cable. I just rolled my eyes and laughed but my wife stopped me from interrupting the crimin....sales clerk. I was going to pass the guy a piece of paper with www.monoprice.com written on it.


EDIT

Oh yeah the guy paid $150 a pop for three cables......ugh!

I think from now on unless in a same situation of need as in today, I'll instead go online for my HDMI cables. The back of my setup looks like a spaghetti farm, most of which is excess line. Going to go shopping for some ultra short to help clean things up.

With Digital signals it either works or it doesn't. Analog cables this is not true.
My $5 Monoprice HDMI cables work just as well as something 1000 times the cost. Once you know how Digital works it makes a lot of sense.

There should be a sticky topic on every forum here titled "Are my HDMI cables overpriced? Yup, they are."

Premium HDMI cables are one of the biggest hoodwinks out there, and that's saying a lot considering the amount of overpriced A/V crap there is.

I had put a link in a thread before that had a video of a comparison of high end monster cables vs no name brand cables. They proved with a fancy piece of machinery that no data was lost on the cheap cable nor the high end cable. If anyone has that link can you please repost it. I can't seem to dig it up. It was lost on the forums when the forums crashed a bit back.

Certainly many HDMI cables are overpriced. Just a reasonably priced cable is fine. I have found that sometimes real cheap HDMI cables have bad connectors or poor connections on them. Not always but once in a while. I have seen several that come with receivers that have been faulty.

i will give a comment... i was searching for apple laptops with hdmi or when they will come out with one(i want to connect my stuff to a hi-def flat panel through my receiver and that's the best) when this search entry caught my eye...

i work at a best buy magnolia store in indiana...won't say which one. and i'm also a student at purdue university in the mechanical engineering program. i won't say that i know everything but i try to absorb whatever information comes my way....

concerning HDMI... not all cables are created equal(and you should know that)... but i won't go into saying how MONSTER CABLE is the best either. but they do put their products through a considerable amount of testing... i have also seen my fair share of bad cables(off brands we sell and some that customers have ordered online and purchased through wal mart or something?)...
at best buy,we actually carry a few knock-off brands that are just as good as the monster cables if not better. and it's disappointing to see the mark up on these things!! it's unbelievable what the industry wants to charge!

so. to close. their are a lot of brands of decent to great quality cables to buy out there, and if u need one in a pinch and have a best buy locally, you will see one of our best ones in a black package or with "geek squad" branded on it. they actually carry out 120Hz(which is pointless at this time since no device puts out a 120Hz signal for video anyway) but primarily you will see 12-bit vs 8-bit color... and then transfer rates....

i guess the all out point is to watch what you are buying because it sucks to purchase cables only to see connections break. but you also don't have to pay anything more than like $60 for a 4' cable(and that's still expensive personally but worth it when you think about all that the cable can do with various audio/video components)

Retailers fill a need and have a right to charge a premium. Believe it or not, they don't have much of a mark up on most tv and dvd sales. We could always wait and buy for a fraction of retail online. But knowing this, and buying from monoprice ridiculously cheaper, I still go retail when I "need it now."

Retailers fill a need and have a right to charge a premium.

And . . . ?

You are aware that rampant capitalism is an enabling mechanism for stoopid, not a justification of stoopid, right?

Believe it or not, they don't have much of a mark up on most tv and dvd sales.

And . . . ?

I as a consumer have the right, in collusion with other consumers, to drive down prices by making sure we don't overpay. Retailers will fill that need, too.

Surely there isn't a legion of pro-premium HDMI cable supporters out there. I mean, sure, there are still actual flat earth theorists and moon landing hoax believers and . . .

Not to belabor a point, but, um . . .

And . . . ?

If I "need it now" I'll go to Sam's Club and pay $20 for an 8' HDMI cable or to Wal-Mart and pay $30. I will not consider CC or BB.

No post with the words "overpriced" and "cable" in the same sentence is complete without the word "Monster" in there somewhere.

I got my 15' HDMI from monoprice for about $22 including shipping. I overpaid for my last 6' HDMI from TigerDirect until I was recommended monoprice.

And . . . ?

You are aware that rampant capitalism is an enabling mechanism for stoopid, not a justification of stoopid, right?



And . . . ?

I as a consumer have the right, in collusion with other consumers, to drive down prices by making sure we don't overpay. Retailers will fill that need, too.

Surely there isn't a legion of pro-premium HDMI cable supporters out there. I mean, sure, there are still actual flat earth theorists and moon landing hoax believers and . . .

Not to belabor a point, but, um . . .

And . . . ?

And your point? Besides silly verbage. Are you running for office?