Whats up with this new brand of cables? We just got a bunch of them at our bestbuy, and the employee cost is DIRT cheap (like $5 for a 4ft HDMI), but tag price is the between the average Monster and Acoustic Research cables. Ive done some Google searches and I can't even find a website for the brand, so my first impression is that they are pretty sketchy, but I have no idea. Does anybody know anything about them?

they're a bestbuy store brand, just like dynex. Coming from the Monster Captain at Futureshop Windsor. :)
and yes, employee purchase price on these cables are nice, waiting for them to hit the shelves in our store :) In our stores up here, Rocketfish is taking the place of AR. If you want any more information i can fax you the info to your store. Let me know :)

Yes they are a best buy brand but does anyone know what the construction
is like.

How durable are they compared to the monster brand. Are they a heavy gauge.

and Are they appealing to the eyes when they are merchandised on the
store shelves.

And if they are on your shelves already Beer-Baron, what is the cost of a 12ft
component cable at the staff price, and the Fibre optic cable that is 6ft long at the staff purchase price.

I work at a FS and we havent gotten our stock yet. I was gonna buy a bunch of
AR stock but if the rocket fish price is lower and the product is better then I will
wait for the rocket fish brand.

Please and thank you to the best buy family If you can help me out.


sharpgill

From what I have seen they are about equal to Acoustic Research, and the Monster Video 800 series. Here is the side by side

Brand Outer construction Shielding Conductor

Rocketfish High end/durable 99%copper 100%foil 99.97%OFC Solid
Acoustic Pro 2 Standard Rubber 95%copperX2, 100%foil 99.97%OFC Solid/silver
Monster 800 High end/Durable 95%copper 100%foil 99.97% OFC fine strand

So each has benefits and drawbacks
Rocketfish has 99% copper shielding and great construction
Acoustic pro 2 has double 95% copper shields and silver coated conductor
Monster has great construction and fine stranded conductor instead of solid core

I gotta give Rocketfish some credit, for the price that is some great ****, but still not the best.

Yes thank you for the breakdown of the products.

But does anyone know the cost of the cables that I posted earlier.

(prev Post)

sharpgill

Both less than $10 a piece. Maybe $7-$10

i work at best buy and bought 3 4' HDMI cables. they were less than 6 bucks a piece, seem pretty much like good AR or monster ultra 600 ( like there's any real difference in quality in any HDMI cable over a 4 foot run anyway).

Rocketfishproducts is the website for anyone interested.

Kinger

Monster is such a joke, once a brainwashed person about Monsters "quality" take this into consideration

1) Monster THX ultra component cables are compared to single yellow composite cables.

2) Monster speaker cable is asked to be setup by Monster in this manner: Cut the monster speaker wire as short as possible, now get a very thin, and as long as possible speaker cable to compare it to.

I will push Rocketfish 110% now and give customers a real value, not Monster garbage. I wouldn't be surprised if they were made in the exact same factory.

You may want to read this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=648848).

Ericglo

part of the reason rocketfish is going in is because bby has seen how profitable the geek squad stuff has become for them, also it gives bby more assortment, and allows for the sales price to stay high as well with a product that costs little to make.

As far as comparing it to Monster and all the talk on here of how Monster is a joke, set up demos and compare for yourself. Do A vs. B demos of any length (audio, video, speaker wire) and I would imagine you will see/hear a difference. My store has numerous demos set up and we sell a ton of it, and I have numerous banners/achievers to show for it.

Not a bad looking product and the specs are decent, but what are we talking for end user cost? Say for example the 6' Component cables (RF-G1114)

Also how is the flexability of the cable? Some solid core just doesn't drape nicely like stranded making cable management an interesting trick.

I personally avoide monster at all costs. Back when I worked for Sound Advice I had to sit through a bunch of Monster rep garbage...bottom line is that their cable is over priced and over rated for the quality you get. The only good thing they have going is thier marketeering (saturate marketing reps with psuedo engineering terms and you have marketeering)

a lot of you seem like bby employees- at your cost, is monster worth it?

so it seems like rocketfish is like the 800 series, monster has a 1000- which I have running from my DVD player to a 60" SXRD.

I'm really considering buying a couple Rocketfish cables. I really like the braided look of them, and hope their picture and sound quality is good. I bought a small LCD for my kitchen from Future Shop, and the sales guy told me that if I needed cables, he'll give me any Rocketfish cable for 1/2 price. I wanted to get a few HDMI, component and Optical cables.

I really liked the Acoustic Research cables FS and Best Buy used to carry, if these are as good or better, I might buy a few.

So, after a few months on the shelf, what's the verdict so far? Is it worth buying?

http://www.rocketfishproducts.com/images/PRODUCT/large/14.jpg

My uncle bought me an HDMI cable and I think it works the same as a blue jeans HDMI cable. I am having trouble seeing the difference between HDMI and component though it may just be me.

part of the reason rocketfish is going in is because bby has seen how profitable the geek squad stuff has become for them, also it gives bby more assortment, and allows for the sales price to stay high as well with a product that costs little to make.

As far as comparing it to Monster and all the talk on here of how Monster is a joke, set up demos and compare for yourself. Do A vs. B demos of any length (audio, video, speaker wire) and I would imagine you will see/hear a difference. My store has numerous demos set up and we sell a ton of it, and I have numerous banners/achievers to show for it.

The key word in your post is "imagine" because imagining is what you are doing when saying you can see and hear a difference. The fact that you have banners and achievers makes me want to go out and buy Monster Cable right now. :rolleyes:

Why don't you do an honest test and have someone come over with their gear and set up in your store. Let them calibrate their setup while using some Belden or Gepco cable. No way you would do that because then you would look like idiots. It's easy when you are the controller of the demo to make it look like there is a difference between cables. Of course you are going to show Monster cable is better otherwise you would't be selling squat.

part of the reason rocketfish is going in is because bby has seen how profitable the geek squad stuff has become for them, also it gives bby more assortment, and allows for the sales price to stay high as well with a product that costs little to make.

As far as comparing it to Monster and all the talk on here of how Monster is a joke, set up demos and compare for yourself. Do A vs. B demos of any length (audio, video, speaker wire) and I would imagine you will see/hear a difference. My store has numerous demos set up and we sell a ton of it, and I have numerous banners/achievers to show for it.

You ever noticed that there are plenty of HD/SD comparisons, as well as high quality/low quality speaker setups in BB, yet there has never been a comparison of two identical TV's side by side, one with cables out of the box, and the other with $125 Monster Cables. There is a reason for that.

I don't want to get into the middle of a flame war.

But I am looking at HDMI cables for my new set-up. I would prefer to buy locally - in case I have a problem. Went to BB today - and they are selling Rocketfish - AR - and Monster. AR and Rocketfish are about the same price. Any opinions concerning which is better? I'll need the cables for 2 short runs (both under 4 feet).

Also - since there seem to be some BB employees here - what's the story on "open box" cables? They sell for half price (or less). Do most people return cables because they're the wrong length? Or other reasons? Robyn

Either cable should be fine. As far as "open box", 9 out of 10 cables that come back are because of wrong length or because of the wrong cable was bought. As far as cables go, if you are looking for a good deal, an open box cable is great. They also come with a full warranty as if you had bought it brand new...

We've sold a ton of Rocketfish in our HT dept - top 50 in the company 9 months running - and I personally have sold a ton of it, but after the other day, will not further. A 4ft Rocketfish HDMI cable runs a customer $70. It runs an employee about $5. Considerable to Monster 800 series? No way. Did a service call the other day for a customer who simply tilted his LCD and the HDMI end (cheap plastic) snapped. Later that same day, I used an open item Rocketfish cable to hook up a display piece, and was astounded at how light and cheap it felt. I hate Monster's inflated prices as well as anyone, but you can't argue against the construction of their cables. And when someone's spending $2000-$5000 on A/V equipment, $30-$50 more for a better constructed cable is worth it, especially in when it comes to certain installations. If you're connecting a two devices and there will be no stress on the cable, sure, go Rocketfish, especially if you're a BBY employee - the employee purchase freeze has just been lifted. As for me, I'll be sticking to monoprice.com. Sometimes, in the case of the non-home theater guru, when they're spending money, they just want what they perceive as the best. Just like a PSP, it's piece of mind.

Moral of the story - Rocketfish should be belly up.

We've sold a ton of Rocketfish in our HT dept - top 50 in the company 9 months running - and I personally have sold a ton of it, but after the other day, will not further. A 4ft Rocketfish HDMI cable runs a customer $70. It runs an employee about $5. Considerable to Monster 800 series? No way. Did a service call the other day for a customer who simply tilted his LCD and the HDMI end (cheap plastic) snapped. Later that same day, I used an open item Rocketfish cable to hook up a display piece, and was astounded at how light and cheap it felt. I hate Monster's inflated prices as well as anyone, but you can't argue against the construction of their cables. And when someone's spending $2000-$5000 on A/V equipment, $30-$50 more for a better constructed cable is worth it, especially in when it comes to certain installations. If you're connecting a two devices and there will be no stress on the cable, sure, go Rocketfish, especially if you're a BBY employee - the employee purchase freeze has just been lifted. As for me, I'll be sticking to monoprice.com. Sometimes, in the case of the non-home theater guru, when they're spending money, they just want what they perceive as the best. Just like a PSP, it's piece of mind.

Moral of the story - Rocketfish should be belly up.

Your message makes me sad since I just bought a couple of Rocketfish HDMI cables today. Apart from the "stress" issue - is there is a problem in terms of the quality of the signal (my cables won't be stressed - but I'm concerned about the quality of the signal)? Robyn

Just a follow-up. I hooked everything up with the Rocketfish cables - and have had zero problems. Nice picture - nice audio. Happy customer. Robyn

I just bought myself a new LCD TV for christmas and went with the cogeco high def cable package.
Supplied with the cable box is a cheap 12' component video cable.

I went and bought the 4' rocketfish DVI to HDMI cable for $65 from F.S.
After a half hour side by side comparison of picture quality, I returned the Rocketfish cable.
The supplied comp. video cable was better than the $65 cable.

Sure they look nice but how many people see the back of your set up?

I just bought myself a new LCD TV for christmas and went with the cogeco high def cable package.
Supplied with the cable box is a cheap 12' component video cable.

I went and bought the 4' rocketfish DVI to HDMI cable for $65 from F.S.
After a half hour side by side comparison of picture quality, I returned the Rocketfish cable.
The supplied comp. video cable was better than the $65 cable.

Sure they look nice but how many people see the back of your set up?

I understand what your saying, however I assume your aware that HDMI carries a digital sound signal as opposed to running left and right analog RCA's in combination W/ RGB(component connects)

I prefer a one wire connect over a 5 wire connect plus my HDTV (sharp 32) recognizes the HDMI audio signal and has a specific setting for it.

Robyn I picked up the Rocketfish 8ft. open box for 45.00 today, hows the cable working for you as of today? I know I won't have a stress problem and if I do @ 45 dollars I'll return it or toss it........ :D

Just a follow-up. I hooked everything up with the Rocketfish cables - and have had zero problems. Nice picture - nice audio. Happy customer. Robyn

No surprise - just about all the HDMI cables are made in the same factories in China. There is very little difference (besides maybe retention, and the fancy nylon web on the outside) in a length under 15ft.
The cable and the connectors all come from China and vary mainly in wire gauge.
For any length under 15ft a cable with 28 AWG conductors will perform to 5Gb/s without a problem. If you pay more than $15 for an HDMI cable your paying for the molding and the name, not performance.

I can tell you all about the Rocketfish cables I have, and my experience. Best Buy part # 7831876 four foot braided cable, look beefy and cost $65 each. The end connectors have no support at all if they are pushed at any level (lets say from pushing a receiver or other component into a cabinet) and hit a wall, even gently, the end connectors immediatelt snap off. Want to ruin one for the fun of it, just wiggle it a bit and it will fall off. Only held on by a single solder. Made very badly.

Looked for the web site. No email comments area. Called a customer service number and finally hung up atfter spending several minutes attempting english.
.

If you haen't bought them, dont.

Also check with your cable/satelite provider before going HDMI. I can't get a connection and had to go back to component. Cable co blocked my signal as the signal was "too strong" they are still having huge problems with HDMI. My new Sony receiver has HDMI inputs, but guess what, the 7.1 receiver can only use TV speakers when using HDMI inputs. Don't get the levels o stupidity that still surround these cables.

If you want a local source for cables, check out the Philips brand cables at WalMart and Menard's (a home-improvement store here in the Midwest). I'm using the Philips 6' HDMI and optical cables on my home theater setup. I'm happy with the quality of both. The HDMI cable was about 50% of the cost of the AR from Best Buy, while the optical cable was less than half the cost of a comparable Monster Cable (the Monster was slightly longer at 6.5') from Menard's. The Philips is also Chinese made.

You ever noticed that there are plenty of HD/SD comparisons, as well as high quality/low quality speaker setups in BB, yet there has never been a comparison of two identical TV's side by side, one with cables out of the box, and the other with $125 Monster Cables. There is a reason for that.

The reason is, many stores aren't proactive in their demoing skills. So I'll call your bluff here.

I ran two different shops using SAME length of Monster Z and Monster CL, and there was a difference clearly.

Two separate TVs also had a comparo: One plugged into your average powerstrip, and the other through an HTS3600. Differences--not subtle--all day long to the average Joe.

Did Monster give you the powerstrip?

quit being babies. learn to sell you nerds. if you need revenue for the day sell monster. if you need margin sell rocketfish. if the customer is die hard for the best, sell monster and if they refuse to spend money (probably because you cant sell) get them rocketfish. think ya can handle that?

I can tell you with 100% confidence that Rocketfish HDMI cables of 12ft or less are Category 2 High-Speed certified by SimplayHD, and will perform as good as any other cable available. They will fully support all HDMI spec 1.3 features, including 1080p resolution, 120Hz screen refresh rates, x.v.Color, lip sync, etc., etc. Regarding the durability of the tips, Rocketfish changed the tooling of the connector about a year ago to more than double the strength of the tips. The new, improved version can be identified by a dark gray color band around the tip of the connector mold (the original version that had durability issues had a purple ring). Also, BBY employees who disclose their employee discount cost on forums like this should be immediately terminated. I would strongly discourage any of you from continuing this practice. In the meantime, sell Rocketfish cables with confidence - they are great cables!

I can tell you with 100% confidence that Rocketfish HDMI cables of 12ft or less are Category 2 High-Speed certified by SimplayHD, and will perform as good as any other cable available. They will fully support all HDMI spec 1.3 features, including 1080p resolution, 120Hz screen refresh rates, x.v.Color, lip sync, etc., etc. Regarding the durability of the tips, Rocketfish changed the tooling of the connector about a year ago to more than double the strength of the tips. The new, improved version can be identified by a dark gray color band around the tip of the connector mold (the original version that had durability issues had a purple ring). Also, BBY employees who disclose their employee discount cost on forums like this should be immediately terminated. I would strongly discourage any of you from continuing this practice. In the meantime, sell Rocketfish cables with confidence - they are great cables!


The Magnolia Guys were telling me that these cables weren't rated for 120HZ, x.v.Color, etc. Are you positive they will. (I am thinking they are, but can't find any other confirmation on my own other than this post.)

Look, I've kept up with all things HDMI, and let me tell you that there is no REAL "rating" for HDMI cables in terms of refresh rate or speed for that matter. The cables ALL have the same number of internal wires, the pins are located in the same position. And this holds true from HDMI 1.1 thru 1.3a. The ONLY thing in HDMI that has changed since 1.1 is the technology that the cables plug into, not the cables itself. They operate on the same voltage levels, and carry signals just like any other cable does. I laugh when I read that Monster "rated" a certain price range of cable for 4.5Gbps or whatever. If that was true, then you could buy their cheaper cable and it would show serious performance drops because it couldn't "handle the speed/throughput." It is ALL marketing, my friend. As to the difference between the quality of cable that comes out of the box compared to name brands like Rocketfish or Monster, it's an age-old debate. Personally I use both brands that I mentioned, simply because I *know* they are shielded well. Not to say the freebies in the box aren't, but this way I can be assured. 120Hz refresh rates, deep black, super-white, etc etc etc are ALL good things, but they are the technology INSIDE the machine, and the bull---- about a cable not being "rated or certified" for "that type of performance" is a buncha crap. :D

Awesome. That's what I figured. I told the guy that the holdup of bandwith seems very unlikely on a 4' run. I've never been one to succumb to the Monster "monster". I'll use my Rocketfish cables with confidence.

good choice!

Look, I've kept up with all things HDMI, and let me tell you that there is no REAL "rating" for HDMI cables in terms of refresh rate or speed for that matter.

Really? News to me. Maybe you should inform yourself first, before spewing BS.

Try directly from HDMI:
Q. What is the difference between a “Standard” HDMI cable and a “High-Speed” HDMI cable?

Recently, HDMI Licensing, LLC announced that cables would be tested as Standard or High-Speed cables.

Standard (or “category 1”) cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 75Mhz, which is the equivalent of a 1080i signal.

High Speed (or “category 2”) cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 340Mhz, which is the highest bandwidth currently available over an HDMI cable and can successfully handle 1080p signals including those at increased color depths and/or increased refresh rates. High-Speed cables are also able to accommodate higher resolution displays, such as WQXGA cinema monitors (resolution of 2560 x 1600).

The cables ALL have the same number of internal wires, the pins are located in the same position. And this holds true from HDMI 1.1 thru 1.3a. The ONLY thing in HDMI that has changed since 1.1 is the technology that the cables plug into, not the cables itself.

Not true. Cables can be made in a variety of different ways with different tolerances, and this can impact the bandwidth of the cable. Cat5 and Cat6 cables all have the same number of wires, but they aren't the same and aren't tested to the same levels of performance.

They operate on the same voltage levels, and carry signals just like any other cable does. I laugh when I read that Monster "rated" a certain price range of cable for 4.5Gbps or whatever. If that was true, then you could buy their cheaper cable and it would show serious performance drops because it couldn't "handle the speed/throughput." It is ALL marketing, my friend.

Except when you have no idea what you're talking about, and it actually isn't JUST marketing. I'm not saying that marketing isn't involved, but there are, in fact, two different rating categories for HDMI cabling.

As to the difference between the quality of cable that comes out of the box compared to name brands like Rocketfish or Monster, it's an age-old debate. Personally I use both brands that I mentioned, simply because I *know* they are shielded well. Not to say the freebies in the box aren't, but this way I can be assured. 120Hz refresh rates, deep black, super-white, etc etc etc are ALL good things, but they are the technology INSIDE the machine, and the bull---- about a cable not being "rated or certified" for "that type of performance" is a buncha crap. :D

No, actually it is not.

Perpetually Confused is definitely correct in your case. You can rant all you want about category 1-6, mhz "ratings", and all the other bull sh*t you were "spewing" (that's the word you use, right?).. But in the end, copper is copper, and shielding (although available at different levels) is shielding. I know from EXPERIENCE, something you obviously lack (reading online forums does not qualify as experience btw) that you can indeed use HDMI 1.1 cables over a 1.3a connection, because all needed pins are present. Your "BS" about WXQGA means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to anyone in this forum, or on Earth for that matter, because we are nowhere near realizing that level of resolution in the consumer market yet (oh wait, maybe you know someone in Fiji in a hole somewhere who is a mega ultra hacker with a 12800x19000 display using only the best million -dollar monster cables), so ranting on about that resolution is BS for now. And your stupid little comment about quality of cables not being an ongoing debate REALLY makes you look like king of the morons, because if you were to take five minutes to look around this forum, you'd see all the Q&A about cables, hell, look at the advertising at the top of the page for God's sake. Maybe you feel self-important, maybe you're just misinformed, or maybe you're an a$$**le. I really don't care. But you're not going to get very far being a prick to everyone who posts an opinion. And God forbid someone like you ever speak to me in that manner, 'cause I'd punch your as$ right in the face. Thanks for all your disrespect, but no-thanks.

Although I don't care much for his attitude, ChrisWiggles is correct about the two (and only two) speed distinctions for HDMI - "Standard Speed" & "High Speed" - as defined by HDMI Licensing, LLC. All other "Speed Ratings" in the market are pure vapor marketing and do not hold any merit. Rocketfish HDMI cables (up to 12ft in length) are verified by SimplayHD as high speed cables (tested to carry up to a 340MHz signal). Check out Simplay's website (simplayhd.com) for a complete list of verified cables.

It is also true that with today's technology, in both hardware and content, you won't notice much, if any, performance difference with cheaper cables than you will with expensive cables (at relatively short lengths, say up to 12ft or so). However, as technology advances, as it always does rapidly in consumer electronics, higher quality cables (like Rocketfish) will absolutely make a difference. When 120Hz refresh rate panels and 12-bit color Blu-ray DVDs become the standard (which they soon will), you will most definitely want a "High Speed" HDMI cable connecting that hardware. If you sell HDMI cables for a living, you should make sure your customers know this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDw2ZSDzlMw

So which HDMi cable would be good for a Tevision with 120 mHz that won't beak the bank?

That's a relative question - "break the bank" means different things to different people. If the cable has been verified by SimplayHD as a "High Speed" category 2 HDMI cable, it will work just fine for a 120Hz refresh rate TV. You can see a list of verifed cables at simplayhd.com. Best Buy's Dynex and Rocketfish brand cables are good quality cables at decent prices. Be aware though, when you go to Best Buy the salesperson will most likely tell you that anything else besides Monster is no good. They may even go so far as to call it "crap" like the guy in the video out of Canada did. They are heavily trained (brainwashed) by Monster to say this kind of stuff. If you ask him/her to give you detailed specs as to why Monster is better, I guarantee there will be no logical answer.

120 mHz? As in 120 millihertz?

If your looking for the best cables at the est prices go to monoprice dot com. I have a sharp 46" 94 special edition series, and went for a test drive. My $25.96 category 2 35ft cable produces the same image as the Monster 800 series 45ft one I returned, and cost more than 4x as much.

With the money you save, you could outfit your whole HT with cables from someone. If your really vain about it and want all your cables to match, then go for Monster or RocketFish, but don't expect any difference over something you might find in a Dollar Store. Digital In = Digital Out.:rolleyes:

Perpetually Confused is definitely correct in your case. You can rant all you want about category 1-6, mhz "ratings", and all the other bull sh*t you were "spewing" (that's the word you use, right?).. But in the end, copper is copper, and shielding (although available at different levels) is shielding.

It's not when you're in a high-bandwidth application, such as HDMI, where you can push 10gbps. That's 10x gigabit LAN.

Have you ever tried to do that on HDMI over distance? Nope.

And since copper is copper, then I guess there is no reason why someone would ever want to use coaxial cables, since regular copper conductors in a different configuration would be exactly the same.

Or heck, since copper is copper, why on earth am I connected to the internet using twisted pair wiring? All those twists do is make the cable more expensive. I think I'll just rip all that crap out and run my internet on Romex. It'll be just as fast!

Thanks so much for enlightening me on this. The rest of the world must all be stupid because they spend all this money and time dealing with ethernet cables when a whole bunch of romex would do just as good!

And that also must mean that DSL should be equally as fast as every other internet service, because again, according to you, wire is just wire. Copper is copper. All those "category 1-6" "mhz ratings" are just '********' I was spewing before I was so wonderfully informed by you that all wire is exactly the same!


I know from EXPERIENCE, something you obviously lack (reading online forums does not qualify as experience btw) that you can indeed use HDMI 1.1 cables over a 1.3a connection, because all needed pins are present.

Therefore, Cat3 is the same as Cat6. Hilarious.


Your "BS" about WXQGA means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to anyone in this forum, or on Earth for that matter, because we are nowhere near realizing that level of resolution in the consumer market yet (oh wait, maybe you know someone in Fiji in a hole somewhere who is a mega ultra hacker with a 12800x19000 display using only the best million -dollar monster cables), so ranting on about that resolution is BS for now. And your stupid little comment about quality of cables not being an ongoing debate REALLY makes you look like king of the morons, because if you were to take five minutes to look around this forum, you'd see all the Q&A about cables, hell, look at the advertising at the top of the page for God's sake. Maybe you feel self-important, maybe you're just misinformed, or maybe you're an a$$**le. I really don't care. But you're not going to get very far being a prick to everyone who posts an opinion. And God forbid someone like you ever speak to me in that manner, 'cause I'd punch your as$ right in the face. Thanks for all your disrespect, but no-thanks.


Nice. But at least I know what I'm talking about.

The bandwidth pushed down HDMI is huge, and the cable very much matters especially at distance. And if you're doing HDMI over Cat,then that also matters a great deal. I've seen many cables fail in this application, the tolerances are fairly extreme.

Next time you need a long ethernet cord, just run 8 wires and see what happens. Because as you said, as long as you have all the pins there, it should be exactly the same! :rolleyes:

OK. Here's a basic networking course to clear this up.

For longer connections (12'+) all that really matters is the shielding on the cable, so that the digital packets that are being sent, are not dropped. This allows the "industry" to rate the cable at a higher "bandwidth".

In networking terminology, dropped packets are normally caused by one of two major issues: packet collisions or an alteration of the bits in that packet by some external interference, and requires a resend of the digital packet.

I am not sure what the "network" protocol is for HDMI, but I would suspect given that we are watching/listening TV in real-time, the digital packets are most likely not being re-sent as they would be useless to the person watching TV, as the image/sound has already occurred. Instead the viewer sees a glitch or pixelation on their screen.

More expensive cables have better shielding, which includes how the wires are wound together internally and external (aluminum) sheathing. Consequently, they can carry a signal (digital packets) for a longer distance without degradation. In networking, that's really the only difference between Cat5 and the new CAT6 network cables.

Bottom line: for all practical purposes, a cheap 12' or shorter HMDI cable that is not near a strong electrical disturbance (including leaning up against an electrical outlet), will perform as well as a $$$ cable of the same length.

If you avoid electrical fields and magnets then you can by any grade of cable and have the identical digital signal transfer, since it is digital to begin with and gets encoded/decoded by the hardware at either end. All this fancy talk about x.y.color and other new HDMI supported features, are being encoded into the digital packets and as long as they get to the TV they will show up properly.

PS - and yes...cat3 is the same as cat6 over a short distance (like less than 6'). It's the long distances that are the issue.

forget to add...

in general, more expensive cables pay more attention to the way the ends of the cable are "crimped" or attached to the wires.

You get what you pay for...

You don't necessarily get what you pay for (for example, jacking a price from $5 to $500 doesn't make the item better).

But you pay for what you get.

OK. Here's a basic networking course to clear this up.

For longer connections (12'+) all that really matters is the shielding on the cable, so that the digital packets that are being sent, are not dropped. This allows the "industry" to rate the cable at a higher "bandwidth".

What? Not to say that shielding doesn't matter, but this is completely wrong. For networking, many things matter including the conductor (solid/stranded), conductor gauge, whether the pairs are bonded (only Belden bodned-pair), pair twist, pair spacing, crush-resiliance, cable handling, termination, etc. Keep in mind that the vast majority of networking cabling is UTP, or Unshielded Twisted-Pair, which means that shielding is actually completely irrelevant since the cabling is not shielded at all.

In networking terminology, dropped packets are normally caused by one of two major issues: packet collisions or an alteration of the bits in that packet by some external interference, and requires a resend of the digital packet.

I am not sure what the "network" protocol is for HDMI, but I would suspect given that we are watching/listening TV in real-time, the digital packets are most likely not being re-sent as they would be useless to the person watching TV, as the image/sound has already occurred. Instead the viewer sees a glitch or pixelation on their screen.

HDMI, being real-time, has no capability to re-send packets like network traffic, unfortunately.

More expensive cables have better shielding, which includes how the wires are wound together internally and external (aluminum) sheathing. Consequently, they can carry a signal (digital packets) for a longer distance without degradation. In networking, that's really the only difference between Cat5 and the new CAT6 network cables.

Again, this is completely incorrect. Many of these cables(basically every common application) are not shielded, so shielding is irrelevant. Cat6 is specified to much higher bandwidth, and while not specified many common changes in cat6 wiring are larger gauge, spline to improve pair spacing in the cable, twist rates, etc. Shielded category cable is not that commonly used, but in cases where it is used, obviously then you are correct that shielding also enters the equation, but stating that it is the difference between categories is not at all correct.

Bottom line: for all practical purposes, a cheap 12' or shorter HMDI cable that is not near a strong electrical disturbance (including leaning up against an electrical outlet), will perform as well as a $$$ cable of the same length.

Yup. It's at distance where cabling becomes more important, and with higher bandiwdth signals.

If you avoid electrical fields and magnets then you can by any grade of cable and have the identical digital signal transfer, since it is digital to begin with and gets encoded/decoded by the hardware at either end. All this fancy talk about x.y.color and other new HDMI supported features, are being encoded into the digital packets and as long as they get to the TV they will show up properly.

Interference is not your only concern. Even in a perfectly quiet electrical environment, the cable still has significant SNR obstacles to overcome and other issues that occur at distance and at high bandwidths. The challenge is getting the data to the TV properly, and this is harder to do than many people realize or appreciate.

Really? News to me. Maybe you should inform yourself first, before spewing BS.

Try directly from HDMI:
Q. What is the difference between a “Standard” HDMI cable and a “High-Speed” HDMI cable?

Recently, HDMI Licensing, LLC announced that cables would be tested as Standard or High-Speed cables.

Standard (or “category 1”) cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 75Mhz, which is the equivalent of a 1080i signal.

High Speed (or “category 2”) cables have been tested to perform at speeds of 340Mhz, which is the highest bandwidth currently available over an HDMI cable and can successfully handle 1080p signals including those at increased color depths and/or increased refresh rates. High-Speed cables are also able to accommodate higher resolution displays, such as WQXGA cinema monitors (resolution of 2560 x 1600).



Not true. Cables can be made in a variety of different ways with different tolerances, and this can impact the bandwidth of the cable. Cat5 and Cat6 cables all have the same number of wires, but they aren't the same and aren't tested to the same levels of performance.



Except when you have no idea what you're talking about, and it actually isn't JUST marketing. I'm not saying that marketing isn't involved, but there are, in fact, two different rating categories for HDMI cabling.



No, actually it is not.

"Except when you have no idea what you're talking about, and it actually isn't JUST marketing. I'm not saying that marketing isn't involved, but there are, in fact, two different rating categories for HDMI cabling."
Please explain yourself,you have not said why he is wrong!

Please explain yourself,you have not said why he is wrong!

Did you read what I wrote...? I explained in detail.

Does anyone know what AWG the Rocketfish cable Model: RF-GPS3003 is? I can't find anything anywhere, even on the companies own site.
thanks

Don't bother, just buy from Monoprice.com (http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp) or Bluejeanscable.com/ (http://www.bluejeanscable.com/), plus they are both Forum sponsors.

Another +1 for monoprice. Check out their 22AWG HDMI cables. Those are beasts! (They also sell thinner gauges) Hard to argue with their prices considering the quality you get from their cables.


Check the link at the top of AVS.