monoprice.com - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Burninator · 07-26-2007, 09:23 PM

http://www.monoprice.com

So this site has been popping up in a couple different threads lately and this is the first I have heard of it. It seems to good to be true.

For example I could buy a 6ft HDMI cable at monoprice for $15.44. Or I could buy a 6ft Monster HDMI cable from Future Shop for $229.99.

What's going on here? Is one made of gold or something?...Oh right they both are! I see one is a brand name and the other is no-name, but that doesn't explain why the price is so astronomically different.

So is there is some horrible catch? Does the delivery guy kick me in the groin before he gives me my order or something? Or is Future Shop that much of a rip off? What has been your experience with their products?

Red · 07-26-2007, 09:45 PM

We ordered a few boxes of HDMI and DVI cables from them at work. They are great, no catch there.

The cables are solid quality, just not as fancy looking like the Monster 'ripoff' are.

Should add, they are gold plated too so they are actually better than some of the ones that come with DVD players etc.

Hemi-Cuda · 07-26-2007, 09:49 PM

picked up 3 six foot HDMI cables for the grand total of $23.56, including taxes and shipping. i'm not even using them yet, but figured they'd be nice to have around for whenever i expand my entertainment center. every review i've seen says that these things are just as good as the monster ripoff brand

photon · 07-26-2007, 09:55 PM

They're decent cables for sure.. there are situations where they might not work as good as Monster cables (very long runs for example), but it's worth going with them to save lots of $$.. And for digital signals if the cable isn't good enough it's very apparent unlike component cables.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hdmi-cabl...iii-282725.php

If things keep going up with more resolution, colours, or frame rate then the cheaper ones may become less usable, but for now they're fine. And if that happens I'm sure the cheap ones will improve to keep pace with technology.

Top Shelf · 07-26-2007, 10:26 PM

monoprice.com is an amazing place to buy any type of cable. I have purchased hdmi, component, optical and coax from them.

I have not seen anywhere sell them close to what they do, and the quality is of the cables is really good.

I believe the warehouse is in Northern California, only took a few days for delivery.

I've also referred a few friends, one guy needed a fairly long hdmi cable, and he got it for like 15 bucks or something, dirt cheap compared to anywhere else.

If you need more convincing, browse AVS Forum, they are very highly recommended there as well.

jamesteterenko · 07-26-2007, 10:57 PM

I've ordered from there and was very pleased with my order. They came quickly, and were better quality than I expected.

Draug · 07-27-2007, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burninator

http://www.monoprice.com

It seems to good to be true.

So is there is some horrible catch? Does the delivery guy kick me in the groin before he gives me my order or something? Or is Future Shop that much of a rip off? What has been your experience with their products?

I have ordered Monoprice cables a number of times. No catch whatsoever that I have found. Each time I have ordered, Monoprice was nice enough to even label the box as a gift for shipping which means I didnt need to pay any duty or additional charges.

The most impressive product I purchased from Monoprice is my 50 foot SVGA cable. I use it to connect my computer (in my computer rooom) to my plasma (in my TV room). Alberta Computer Cable wanted $400 for their 50' SVGA cable; I paid somewhere around $26 from Monoprice. The cable works awesome. Even the shipping was reasonable, at a cost of about $13 for a whole box of other cables along with it, especially considering the SVGA cable is as thick as my little finger and must wiegh about 15 lbs. There are no signs of signal degradation, and believe me, I am very picky about my audio/video.

Does anyone know how they can price their products so low?

Vulcan · 07-27-2007, 02:05 AM

I believe they make their own cables. I found them a few years ago when I was surfing for an HDMI to DVI cable after choking on what Future Shop wanted. They had this deal on where the first ten people who respond get a free cable. The price was right and it still works.

worth · 07-27-2007, 06:42 AM

I've been ordering from them for a couple years. Amazing prices, great shipping prices also, and fast shipping. No catch. Every one of the cables I have from them still works. Their the real deal.

FS charges $200 for a cable because that's where they make their money along with all the other addons. That and extended warranties.

ken0042 · 07-27-2007, 07:14 AM

Keep in mind the markup each time from Monster. Let's take your $230 cable as an example.

FS sells it for $230, but they buy it for $100.
Some distributor in Vancouver buys it for $50, and sells it to FS for $100.
When Monster sells it to the distributor, they use half of the $50 for marketing. Another $10 of the price goes into changing the design every year.

So they are both selling a $15 cable- and they both bought the cable from a factory in China for $3. Monoprice doesn't worry about advertising, overhead, retail location considerations, etc. It could all be run from 5 guys in a warehouse in an LA suburb.

Top Shelf · 07-27-2007, 07:53 AM

Man, I could bash Monster Cable all day, over priced, over marketed crap.

Here are a few links:

A good technical comparison

Monster Cable strong arm tactics

My favorite Monster bashing page, lots to read, but good

Anyways, sorry to get a bit off topic, I just hope no one ever buys a Monster cable.

photon · 07-27-2007, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draug

Does anyone know how they can price their products so low?

I think it's probably because the cables are likely manufactured in China and they sell them direct with no other people in between, so their markup is already probably 500% or something but from $4 to $20 still is cheap for us.

CRXguy · 07-27-2007, 08:31 AM

+1 for monoprice! Quality stuff at an affordable price.

Burninator · 07-27-2007, 08:36 AM

Thanks for the help guys. I am glad this site and their stuff is the real deal. I am going to put in an order today for a 6ft HDMI cable and a 6ft S Video.

Bench Warmer · 07-27-2007, 10:00 AM

I bought an HDMI to DVI 6ft cable from monoprice and it didn't work. That said, I wasn't too worked up - I bought it off ebay for like $10 and turned around an sold for about the same. The price is right - I say go for it.

llama64 · 07-27-2007, 10:34 AM

From what I've heard, buying a Monster cable is a waste of money.

For Analog, cable quality does have an effect, but not enough to justify the extra 100$. For digital, both cables will do the same thing. If the cable is faulty, the signal just won't work or will be garbled. If it works, it will be the same quality either way.

At least thats how I understand these things. The guys in Future Shop/Best Buy who try to push these things are talking out of their ass.

photon · 07-27-2007, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bench Warmer

I bought an HDMI to DVI 6ft cable from monoprice and it didn't work. That said, I wasn't too worked up - I bought it off ebay for like $10 and turned around an sold for about the same. The price is right - I say go for it.

Weird, I got one as well for my TV and it worked fine from my starchoice box.

ken0042 · 07-27-2007, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llama64

For Analog, cable quality does have an effect, but not enough to justify the extra 100$. For digital, both cables will do the same thing. If the cable is faulty, the signal just won't work or will be garbled. If it works, it will be the same quality either way.

You are generally correct; and that is also how I describe it to my non-geeky friends. (Or at least the ones less geeky than me.)

The one thing you can find with a vastly inferior digital cable is packet loss. Basically when digital info is sent, a bunch of data is put together and sent off in one packet; think of it like putting it into a small box. Then each box is sent off. If a packet doesn't make it or gets damaged along the way; for things like live media there is no re-sending of the packets. (Unlike downloading a file off the internet; if a packet gets lost it can be re-sent and re-assembled into the original file.) Now; one packet getting lost usually isn't noticable by us humans in the end product. But if there are a bunch you may notice video or audio distortions.

This used to be an issue in the 90's with Optical Audio cables. Poor quality glass would result in the cable being good when new, but over time glass like any crystal begins to get cloudy, and the poorer quality cables would need to be replaced every year or two.

Just thought I'd clarify in case anybody told you that you were wrong; technically you are, but in the real world you analogy is pretty good. And good salespeople (ie- ones who make a lot of money) love to be able to throw facts at you to help justify buying that Monster cable.

llama64 · 07-27-2007, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken0042

You are generally correct; and that is also how I describe it to my non-geeky friends. (Or at least the ones less geeky than me.)

The one thing you can find with a vastly inferior digital cable is packet loss. Basically when digital info is sent, a bunch of data is put together and sent off in one packet; think of it like putting it into a small box. Then each box is sent off. If a packet doesn't make it or gets damaged along the way; for things like live media there is no re-sending of the packets. (Unlike downloading a file off the internet; if a packet gets lost it can be re-sent and re-assembled into the original file.) Now; one packet getting lost usually isn't noticable by us humans in the end product. But if there are a bunch you may notice video or audio distortions.

This used to be an issue in the 90's with Optical Audio cables. Poor quality glass would result in the cable being good when new, but over time glass like any crystal begins to get cloudy, and the poorer quality cables would need to be replaced every year or two.

Just thought I'd clarify in case anybody told you that you were wrong; technically you are, but in the real world you analogy is pretty good. And good salespeople (ie- ones who make a lot of money) love to be able to throw facts at you to help justify buying that Monster cable.

I love this board! So many knowledgeable people around here.

One question, slightly off topic.

Do you think it's possible they will include error correction into newer cable standards? Seems to me like it's possible, just not with the current method of doing things.

photon · 07-27-2007, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llama64

I love this board! So many knowledgeable people around here.

One question, slightly off topic.

Do you think it's possible they will include error correction into newer cable standards? Seems to me like it's possible, just not with the current method of doing things.

DVI (and by extention HDMI, since HDMI is just DVI in a different cable format) doesn't have any error correction.. mostly because it is a realtime thing and any error correction and such would add delays into the processing, delaying what was on the screen vs. what you hear.

Plus any error correction would require additional data to be sent along at all times, increasing the bandwidth required for the same video stream.

Not saying it can't be done, but they didn't do it with HDMI.