HDMI Cables

[binarymelon]

Yes. I have been using those cables for the last 4 months and was using another HDMI cable from Monoprice before that. You can trust them with your credit card, although they do have the option for Paypal if you like that better.

[mjbethancourt]

I can't figure out what you are moaning about. Yes, you can most definitely get by with cheaper cables, I don't think anybody would argue with that. There's no false advertising with monster cables, they openly disclose that current formats are far behind the capabilities of their cables... they advertise on the basis of future-proofing your cables, which I fully support. If I'm gonna drop $100+ on some cables, I want them to be compatible with my next upgrade, I don't want to flush them down the toilet next time I buy a new goodie. Cables aren't what they used to be, with their cost on blu-ray formats, they're no longer disposable. Why is Monster evil for offering future-proof cables?

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

I can't figure out what you are moaning about. Yes, you can most definitely get by with cheaper cables, I don't think anybody would argue with that. There's no false advertising with monster cables, they openly disclose that current formats are far behind the capabilities of their cables... they advertise on the basis of future-proofing your cables, which I fully support. If I'm gonna drop $100+ on some cables, I want them to be compatible with my next upgrade, I don't want to flush them down the toilet next time I buy a new goodie. Cables aren't what they used to be, with their cost on blu-ray formats, they're no longer disposable. Why is Monster evil for offering future-proof cables?

Because those same "future proof" cables you're talking about are available for $3.50/each from Monoprice, certified to 10.2 Gbps.

If some new format comes out with speeds over 10.2 Gbps, you let me know m'kay? Then we'll see how much per year those $3.50 cables worked out to be.

[binarymelon]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

I can't figure out what you are moaning about. Yes, you can most definitely get by with cheaper cables, I don't think anybody would argue with that. There's no false advertising with monster cables, they openly disclose that current formats are far behind the capabilities of their cables... they advertise on the basis of future-proofing your cables, which I fully support. If I'm gonna drop $100+ on some cables, I want them to be compatible with my next upgrade, I don't want to flush them down the toilet next time I buy a new goodie. Cables aren't what they used to be, with their cost on blu-ray formats, they're no longer disposable. Why is Monster evil for offering future-proof cables?

Because I'm real sure someone who is buying a new home theater is really concerned about whether or not their cables are still going to be good when they're buying a new $2000 TV.

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by binarymelon

Because I'm real sure someone who is buying a new home theater is really concerned about whether or not their cables are still going to be good when they're buying a new $2000 TV.

I would be, if I dropped $100 on 'em. I just don't see the harm in the market offering maximum bandwidth cables.

Because those same "future proof" cables you're talking about are available for $3.50/each from Monoprice, certified to 10.2 Gbps.

If some new format comes out with speeds over 10.2 Gbps, you let me know m'kay? Then we'll see how much per year those $3.50 cables worked out to be.

Are those individually tested and certified? I see a lot of people here posing with monoprice cables, but I've seen just as many people outraged at them when they switched to something else.

[Ricshoe]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

I can't figure out what you are moaning about. Yes, you can most definitely get by with cheaper cables, I don't think anybody would argue with that. There's no false advertising with monster cables, they openly disclose that current formats are far behind the capabilities of their cables... they advertise on the basis of future-proofing your cables, which I fully support. If I'm gonna drop $100+ on some cables, I want them to be compatible with my next upgrade, I don't want to flush them down the toilet next time I buy a new goodie. Cables aren't what they used to be, with their cost on blu-ray formats, they're no longer disposable. Why is Monster evil for offering future-proof cables?

Monster cables are no more future-proof or better quality than those from Monoprice. That's the argument we all have with them. Monster's marketing hype plays into the general public's lack of understanding when it deals with electronics and AV. For those that want to (needlessly) spend $100's on the SAME cables you can get for a fraction of the price, go right ahead. Just don't try to justify your decisions or try to influence to the rest of us based on FUD. Even if the whole "future-proof" argument was valid, I'd much rather spend $7/cable now and have to buy another $7 cable in a couple years than spend $100+ now just so I wouldn't have to purchase another cable later. The economics of that make no sense whatsoever.

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Monster cables are no more future-proof or better quality than those from Monoprice. That's the argument we all have with them. Monster's marketing hype plays into the general public's lack of understanding when it deals with electronics and AV. For those that want to (needlessly) spend $100's on the SAME cables you can get for a fraction of the price, go right ahead. Just don't try to justify your decisions or try to influence to the rest of us based on FUD. Even if the whole "future-proof" argument was valid, I'd much rather spend $7/cable now and have to buy another $7 cable in a couple years than spend $100+ now just so I wouldn't have to purchase another cable later. The economics of that make no sense whatsoever.

If you say so. I sure noticed a difference when I bought real cables.

[binarymelon]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

I would be, if I dropped $100 on 'em. I just don't see the harm in the market offering maximum bandwidth cables.

I think the only point your going to make with that argument is that at best...AT BEST you may come even with buying cheaper cables from someone like monoprice.

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

Are those individually tested and certified? I see a lot of people here posing with monoprice cables, but I've seen just as many people outraged at them when they switched to something else.

I'm not saying you're a liar, but I find this very hard to believe. I don't think I have ever seen someone upset with their purchase. I may have seen some with a problem or two, but is spending another $10 really all that bad compared to the alternative. And here's the kicker. If you're willing to spend $100-$200 on A cable would it not be stupid to not spend a few bucks up front to see if you could save yourself some money in the long run.

Between myself and my friends, we've probably purchased a dozen HDMI cables (among others) and have never had a single problem with them.

[binarymelon]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

If you say so. I sure noticed a difference when I bought real cables.

Care to detail any of those differences?

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by binarymelon

...Between myself and my friends, we've probably purchased a dozen HDMI cables (among others) and have never had a single problem with them.

The only cables I've ever had a problem with were monoprice. I guess I'm a snob for going with brands that don't give me headaches.

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by binarymelon

Care to detail any of those differences?

Improved audio feed, no more dropped signal.

I'm not saying you're a liar, but I find this very hard to believe. I don't think I have ever seen someone upset with their purchase. I may have seen some with a problem or two, but is spending another $10 really all that bad compared to the alternative. And here's the kicker. If you're willing to spend $100-$200 on A cable would it not be stupid to not spend a few bucks up front to see if you could save yourself some money in the long run.

It's a matter of principle... why should I give more money to someone who has failed me? Yeah, monoprice: I'll keep buying 'em until it works... don't see much logic in that.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

If you say so. I sure noticed a difference when I bought real cables.

It's imaginary. It's a digital signal with HDMI - it either works or it does not. Red is not redder with a different cable and 20Hz tones aren't more 20Hz'ier.

Analog cables, you may have a point, but digital it's either ON or OFF.

Yes, the HDMI 1.3 cables are certified.

However, uncompressed 1080p24 with 24/192 5.1 PCM reaches around 2.25 Gbps, so why you need a cable capable of 10.2 Gbps is beyond me - nor would anyone mind replacing a $3.50 cable when Hollywood does decide to change everything to 60fps and we use a 10-layer Blu-ray Disc for 12-bit 1080p.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

Yes, that's right, it's all an illusion. My cable that works is a figment of my imagination. It's scientifically proven. That money I spent on cables that didn't work wasn't wasted at all, because they were priced so reasonably. I shoulda stuck with the "buy five, hope one works" monoprice.

How about "buy 8 and have all 8 work"

I've NEVER ordered anything from Monoprice that didn't work. Banana plugs, speaker wire, HDMI 1.3 cables, component cable, firewire IEEE cable, etc., etc.

Your HDMI cable doesn't work better than a Monoprice cable unless the other cable doesn't work at all. That's the nature of digital. If you think differently, you don't understand 0's and 1's providing your not talking about cable lengths of over 30ft.

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

If you say so. I sure noticed a difference when I bought real cables.

That's called placebo.

Monoprice = Blue Jeans = Monster = anything else. The only difference is build quality/cosmetics.

[dobyblue]

http://www.audioholics.com/education...esting-results

You can see from this extensive testing that ALL companies HDMI cables passed all the speed tests at 20ft or less cable distance.

ALL companies failed 1080p tests at longer cable distances for theoretical bandwidth, but when hooked up to displays Clint and the gang had to run 65 feet lines before they got ANY distortion on a Blu-ray picture.

We took two of the worst performing cables of the bunch, a RAM Electronics 50' HDMI cable ($130) and an equally challenged Tributaries (Series 9) 15 meter cable ($899). Both understandably fail eye pattern tests at even 720p resolutions. Both, unfortunately, also claim HDMI 1.3 support at up to 10.2 Gbps bandwidth and with Deep Color support. It was fairly obvious that both of these cables would fail real-world tests when connected to a 1080p source.


Except that they didn't.


I saw clean video on two separate displays. I even used two different sources - one HDMI 1.3 and the other sporting an older HDMI 1.2 chipset. Then I got real desperate and nabbed an old HDMI 1.0 source (A Helios NeuNeo player) and slapped it up to triple check the signal.


What?!? Scratching my head I searched in vain for a way to get them to fail. I couldn't. Not at 1080p or any other resolution. Finally I actually resorted to connecting the two huge cables end-to-end. That netted me sparkles at 720p/1080i and absolutely no picture at 1080p with our HDMI 1.0 player. OK, so there are some limits after all. That's good to know.

When I finally got a result, sparkles abounded on the screen, even shooting horizontal lines across parts of the picture in frequent intervals. But this was only after traversing over 65 feet of HDMI cable. So far, my theory on longer-run HDMI cables was a near-bust.

For most people without in-wall wiring, exceeding runs of 20ft are not commonplace, so why you'd want to pay anything more than the cheapest price for cables that all test the same at 10 meters or less unless you're ridiculously well off is beyond me. I mean, sure I'd spend $7,000 on Nordost Blue Heaven speaker wires if I had 20 mill in the bank, you know?

[arrow61095]

Originally Posted by I Bleed Blu

Thats because your entire premise is false. It's all in your mind, monster is no better than monoprice it's been scientifically proven over and over. Your mind allows you to think it's better to justify all the money you wasted.

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

Yes, that's right, it's all an illusion. My cable that works is a figment of my imagination. It's scientifically proven. That money I spent on cables that didn't work wasn't wasted at all, because they were priced so reasonably. I shoulda stuck with the "buy five, hope one works" monoprice.

I Bleed Blu is correct. Scientifically, it has been proven that there is no difference between a Category 2 HDMI 1.3 cable from Monoprice and one made by Monster except the price and brand name. Quality is the same. HDMI is digital. You really should read up on the properties of digital transmission of data. Either you get a signal or don't.

"My cable that works is a figment of my imagination." -No, but your cable that didn't might have been. Monoprice gives free replacement on any cable that does not work as intended, and their customer service actually isn't bad for an internet company. I have ordered 24 different cables from them and all have worked. (I had to exchange 1 optical audio cable with them because I couldn't get the plastic sheathing that they put over the connectors to protect them off. It was really a painless process, and the reason that I know about their return policies.) So, if you had really tried a monoprice cable, and it didn't work, why would you not exchange it for free?

While there is the possibility with any cable construction that something happened to cause 1 random cable to be defective, the odds are just as good for monster cables to have a randomly defective cable, and since HDMI is digital -you would either get a signal or no signal.

[RUR]

Like a couple of other audio companies I could name, Monster's performance claims vary from non-sequiturs to complete BS. Their quality is no better than other, far more reasonably priced products and their litigious attempts to squash competition are despicable. I switched from Monoprice to BlueJeans after the owner of BJ's wonderful letter in reply to Monster's most recent attempt at legal bullying.

[Themoth]

I have to say I too used a cable from a friend who sells them for 12$ a pop. The cable he sold me look and worked ok. However i noticed that there was an issue with the TV displaying fast movement @120h, i would see motion blur and smearing. So I went against my belief and bought the Monster HD1000 cable off ebay for 25$, not bad. Once i hooked it up, i could honestly see the improvement. No more Blur or smearing on the screen. Now maybe i had a bad cable to begin with, but i made the switch and say a visual difference. Just my .02. First time I ever bought a Monster cable in the last 20 years.

[Themoth]

Originally Posted by RUR

Like a couple of other audio companies I could name, Monster's performance claims vary from non-sequiturs to complete BS. Their quality is no better than other, far more reasonably priced products and their litigious attempts to squash competition are despicable. I switched from Monoprice to BlueJeans after the owner of BJ's wonderful letter in reply to Monster's most recent attempt at legal bullying.

Didn't BJ use the Monster technology to create their cables?

[RUR]

Originally Posted by Themoth

Didn't BJ use the Monster technology to create their cables?

See here.

Design patents represent nothing more that that: design. There is no technological content within design patents. The net effect is that Monster cable suing Blue Jeans is like you suing someone who copied the custom paint job on your car.

etc.

and for some entertainment, here.

Dear Monster Lawyers,

Let me begin by stating, without equivocation, that I have no interest whatsoever in infringing upon any intellectual property belonging to Monster Cable. Indeed, the less my customers think my products resemble Monster's, in form or in function, the better.

etc. BJ's owner is a lawyer of some repute, and it would appear Monster has picked on the wrong guy. I certainly hope so.