HDMI cables and if price is an impact on overall PQ and SQ?

I measure the difference with my eyes and ears between the cheap cables and the pricey cables. I can see and hear no difference so it makes no sense to
me to spend the extra money. Maybe some people have super eyesight and hearing compared to mine.

Bill,

I've never experienced any difference in my system or seen measurements that identify any audible/visible performance improvements in more expensive cables vs. a basic, decently constructed HDMI cable.

Stereodude can correct if I'm misinterpreting, but I think he was being facetious, i.e. people claiming that cables have properties that change sound in a way that would mimic what DSP actually does.

If someone can demonstrate that expensive HDMI (or other cables) demonstrably improve performance, I'll be first in line to purchase. Until then, I'm sticking with BJC for cables.

Ben

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57540275-221/still-more-reasons-why-all-hdmi-cable-are-the-same/

This article confirms my belief that it isn't a matter of having golden ears when evaluating an HDMI picture/sound, its a matter of how the cable works.

It is digital signaling. There is no difference in audio or video quality if your devices are receiveing the 1s and 0s fine. If it is not receiving the signal than you won't have a watchable picture or anything close to decent sound. But, if you are receiving the signal fine then there is no difference in sound or video quality with better cables.

Better cables can produce a picture and sound where lesser cables won't. Usually this somes into play with longer lengths but there are some very poorly made shorter cables. Price is not always indicative of quality.

+1

Bill-get your cables from Monoprice or Blue Jeans and use the money you saved for SACDs

You got it. HDMI cables transmit digital data. 1's and 0's. If we assume for a minute that cheap / low quality cables randomly caused 1's to become 0's and 0's to become 1's they would not manifest themselves in an organized fashion. However, the people who claim to hear or see differences caused by HDMI cables tend to describe an organized phenomenon like sharper picture, more vibrant colors, better bass, etc, etc, etc... These outcomes are statistically impossible without a DSP that performs deliberate non-random operations on the data. Problems caused by cheap low quality cables would show up likely show up as static in the image (flickering pixels), a loss of sync (connection dropout), or similar not the organized deliberate behaviors described by people who "see" the difference.

Don't believe me? Grab a box of random loose Legos, shake it up for a while, stir it with your hands, whatever you want, and then dump it on the floor. Let us know when a complete, put together, organized item falls out of the box at the end.

Thank you Bill Mac for starting this thread. I had the same questions as you on the post from Stereodude. Cleared up now!

It`s a digital connection, so either it works or it does not. Nothing in between.

It's great that Oppo includes the HDMI cable--do they still give you the Spears and Munsil disc?

The AudioQuest Diamond DBS is the "best sounding HDMI cable", according to someone from Widescreen Review.

Once caveat I'll add is "sparklies".  So yes you will get a picture, but if the cable is not up to standard or has issues you may get sparkles that are easy to spot on dark scenes.  So the cable does not affect PQ in the sense of color and sharpness, but you can see signs of a cable not up to par.  I've had this happen with two cables.  This tends to show itself on long cable runs or longer cables.

I've seen many issues with cheap not well built HDMI cables. They also fail. I suggest buying cables that meet spec and are well terminated. Good quality is good quality. I'd rather spend a few extra bucks for a good quality HDMI cable then to have a cheap one work , then fail or waste my time installing it only to have it not work. I've seen that time to time.
You don't have to spend a fortune on HDMI cables , once the job is done correctly without adding Jitter or poor signal transfer , your done. A higher priced cable can't do anything better then a cheaper one that is properly built and up to spec.
I also suggest only using High speed design cables that meet 1.4 spec like audio return , ethernet , 4k etc. This way when you upgrade your gear , you can reuse all your HDMI cables , if the connection is still around in a few years.

Click on the link of the above quote and follow subsequent conversation. I don't 'buy' any of that just to make it clear. Just to throw it in in case people aren't aware of this kind of 'claim'.

I would say there is a difference in HDMI cables, but not necessarily by price, but by quality. I don't advocate buying cables at the box store, I've only ordered them from websites. My first Nippon Labs cables were great, but the recent ones I ordered were junk and had to be returned. Then I ordered from Monoprice and got cables that were overkill (24 AWG was too stiff for my setup and it's my fault for ordering them, but the didn't connect well to my devices), but the 28 AWG cables are working perfectly. I can say that consistency is something some brands may have that others don't and digital signals via HDMI as I learned are completely an all or nothing signal. Those Nippon Labs cables allowed snowy interference that I've never seen before from a digital source.

The bottom line, to me, is cables don't need to be expensive. I think it was about $1/ft. that I paid for high speed HDMI to meet HDMI v. 1.4 demands. And remember, cables are not 1.3 or 1.4 spec, that is the software format for the actual devices. The cables don't know what "version" they are.

If you look beyond the fancy labeling and packaging of most HDMI cable you will find some interesting details printed onto the cable itself.
Most of these use the same product/manufacturer no matter what's been said, they are pretty much identical.
Additionally its a cable for digital signals which makes it a lot less prone to analog phenomenons, like noise etc.
This holds true even for those "gold plated" connectors, which make it look expensive.
Have you ever seen a "gold-plated" network cable connector even for a high quality and mission critical gigabit topology ? I don't.

Man but those fancy expensive cable look so cool when admiring your systems back side,( Picture if you will Black, Red snake like with golden tongue sticking out your amps, to you source ) It's part of the reason I got into this hobby

Djoel

My expirience:

i hve a 70 ft HDMI run to my projector. i am using a low gauge (large size) conductor cable. from my computer video card i can only get 720 to work with no signal drop out or color problems. on 1080 some whites turn green and i have problems with the signal cutting out. a lesser gauge cable got no signal to the projector at all. my blu ray player (Panasonic) signal on 1080 has no problems. i guess it has a stronger signal. my installation does ask HDMI to do things it is not spec'ed to do though.

no amount of sending current though an insulator will help clean up digital signal. cables still send electricity though copper wires. this is basic physics people. stop trying to find god in audio cables.

In post 12 above, in the quote box, on the top line next to 'Originally Posted by Doug Blackburn' there is a little icon



to click to get you to the original post:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1428692/avs-owners-thread-for-the-pioneer-elite-bdp-62fd#post_22512243

Monoprice cable work as good as any of the expesive cables.

Most network connectors I have, at least, are gold plated, but only because the gold eliminates corrosion thus ensuring a better electrical connection.

That said, anyone who pays more than a buck a foot for HDMI cables has too much money, and should buy their cables from me.

I've never experienced any difference in my system or seen measurements that identify any audible/visible performance improvements in more expensive cables vs. a basic

The only difference to be considered is the length of the cable, because signal quality will be affected by the impedance of the cable even if digital.
Up to 9 feet this usually makes no difference, beyond that better screening and lower cable impedance will keep those digital signals better in "shape".
But this will cause only a very moderate price increase due to cable length. Usually using a HDMI repeater for signal refresh in those cases is a technically much better alternative.

capacitance is a big issue with longer cables as well as imnpedance. Capacitance will alter the shape of a wave as it affects more of the rise/fall time. Impedance has more of an affect on amplitude of the wave. Both are important.

Today the majority of current HDMI processors have an input buffer that helps to compensate for cable length..
However...
If the run is > 25' then the challenge to main signal integrity becomes more complex..

Just my $0.02...