cheaper hdmi cables in calgary?

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Zellers and RCSS have cheap HDMI cables. $10-$12 for six feet @ Zellers and RCSS. $22 for 12 feet @ Zellers. The Zellers ones are 1.3 certified.

That's not a bad deal ... doesn't beat monoprice but if you're in a hurry that's a pretty sweet alternative.

[RW99]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Zellers and RCSS have cheap HDMI cables. $10-$12 for six feet @ Zellers and RCSS. $22 for 12 feet @ Zellers. The Zellers ones are 1.3 certified.

Not bad, I can't get six feet for less than $50 where I live, The Source and an independent shop.

[blankall]

MONOPRICE.COM

edit: already well covered. Will read thread mroe thoroughly next time.

[Hemi-Cuda]

i'm disappointed in the HDMI cable i got from monoprice. i used it to hook up my PS3, and while the blue ray movies looked amazing on bright sections, when the lighting is a lot darker in a movie there is a lot of film grain and it flashes quickly, very distracting to watch. when i swapped it out with the more expensive cable i got at futureshop for my HD-PVR, the graininess disappeared. thinking it may just be worth it to buy the more expensive cable for the quality factor

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i'm disappointed in the HDMI cable i got from monoprice. i used it to hook up my PS3, and while the blue ray movies looked amazing on bright sections, when the lighting is a lot darker in a movie there is a lot of film grain and it flashes quickly, very distracting to watch. when i swapped it out with the more expensive cable i got at futureshop for my HD-PVR, the graininess disappeared. thinking it may just be worth it to buy the more expensive cable for the quality factor

I am not crazily tech savvy but for the most part a $5 monoprice HDMI cable will be EXACTLY the same as a ######edly overpriced $150 Monster HDMI cable.

More expensive the cable doesn't mean better quality, it just means the price has been jacked up more, probably because of the brand name, ie. Monster. And if the cable is meshed, well add $30 right there because that looks "good"

Why the picture changed when you switched cables I don't know, but buying expensive cables is NOT the answer.

My $6 1.3a monoprice cable is just as good as a $120 Monster cable.

I don't know your cables, but the monoprice may be an old 1.2 HDMI, and the expensive one you have may be 1.3, or 1.3 Cat.2, or w/e, shouldn't make a difference still. But I don't know.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

I am not crazily tech savvy but for the most part a $5 monoprice HDMI cable will be EXACTLY the same as a ######edly overpriced $150 Monster HDMI cable.

More expensive the cable doesn't mean better quality, it just means the price has been jacked up more, probably because of the brand name, ie. Monster. And if the cable is meshed, well add $30 right there because that looks "good"

Why the picture changed when you switched cables I don't know, but buying expensive cables is NOT the answer.

My $6 1.3a monoprice cable is just as good as a $120 Monster cable.

I don't know your cables, but the monoprice may be an old 1.2 HDMI, and the expensive one you have may be 1.3, or 1.3 Cat.2, or w/e, shouldn't make a difference still. But I don't know.

well i bought 3 HDMI cables from monoprice awhile back because they were so cheap, and i tried all 3 with the same result. plug the more expensive Rocketfish cable back in though and the problems go away. there must be some difference in the cables to account for the quality change

[dobbles]

i am not an expert myself, but there have been many more educated people than i that have explained why there is no difference in the cables. i believe it has something to do with the fact that the signal is digital the whole time, so its basically impossible for the cable to loss quality unless there is some problems with the connectors.

[corporatejay]

Gizmodo did some tests on this very subject which are contained in this thread here.

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/s...d.php?t=472597


it's worth a read....don't waste money on those overpriced cables...monster is way way overpriced and monoprice is cheap and quick. I got my stuff in a week.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by dobbles

i am not an expert myself, but there have been many more educated people than i that have explained why there is no difference in the cables. i believe it has something to do with the fact that the signal is digital the whole time, so its basically impossible for the cable to loss quality unless there is some problems with the connectors.

Yep any problems are at the connection points themselves.

Monster cables do not send better quality '0's and '1's to your TV/receiver/whatever.

Monster is the biggest scam out there; IMO even bigger scam than extended warranties.

[Old Yeller]

Yup, it's gotta be your connections or something Hemi-Cuda... although all the cables I've bought from monoprice have really good connectors on them.

But the actual HDMI cable isn't going to affect the flow of 1's and 0's. Essentially it'll either work or it won't.

That's why it's quite weird you're getting symptoms with some cables and not with others.

[Hack&Lube]

Yep, it's digital. The quality of cable should not be able to add artifacts to the signal unless the connection is physically loose or shorting out.

[corporatejay]

Read that gizmodo article, while I agree that monster is pure bullshart, the idea that they are just 1s and 0s seems to be slightly incorrect.

for the record i buy all my cables from monoprice.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

well i bought 3 HDMI cables from monoprice awhile back because they were so cheap, and i tried all 3 with the same result. plug the more expensive Rocketfish cable back in though and the problems go away. there must be some difference in the cables to account for the quality change

When I switched from DVI/HDMI with star choice to straight HDMI with my shaw PVR I did notice a longer delay (1-2 seconds) on the picture showing up when I turn my TV on. It was at that time I switched to the 2 buck cables from Monoprice ( Like you, I bought 4 of them since they were so cheap).

Is this the issue you are having? I always assumed it was a difference in the DVI and HDMI standard that caused the delay.

[3 Justin 3]

Like I said Hemi-Cude, maybe the Rocketfish is 1.3 and Monoprice cables are 1.2. I don't see this changing anything, but maybe? If you have anything else that accepts HDMI, besides what ever your currently using, try using the different cables, if you haven't already. Totally clueless as to why your having problems other than what I mentioned, which probably isn't even right anyway.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Rathji

When I switched from DVI/HDMI with star choice to straight HDMI with my shaw PVR I did notice a longer delay (1-2 seconds) on the picture showing up when I turn my TV on. It was at that time I switched to the 2 buck cables from Monoprice ( Like you, I bought 4 of them since they were so cheap).

Is this the issue you are having? I always assumed it was a difference in the DVI and HDMI standard that caused the delay.

nope, i don't notice any delay. like i said in my first post, during bright parts of a movie or HDTV show the picture from the monoprice cable looks great, even a bit better than the Rocketfish one. but when the screen is forced to show dark colors (sports host in a dark suit, etc) a very noticeable film grain is present and it has a strobe light effect, flashing quickly. very annoying to watch, and it doesn't happen with the rocketfish cable. this occurs regardless of whether it's my PS3 or HD-PVR hooked up

[Shazam]

Walmart now has 12 feet HDMI cables for $10.

[Jedi Ninja]

I have to say, I've had some real dog products from Monoprice now, and am rethinking my attitude towards them. Their toolless CAT6 keystones all ended in the garbage, as did their RG6U-quad compression fittings, which did not fit RG6U-quad cable. I've also tossed out one component video cable so far.

You can start to see this stuff show up in the product ratings now (there were no ratings at the time I bought)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

[Shazam]

How the hell do they screw up keystones? That's amazing.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Read that gizmodo article, while I agree that monster is pure bullshart, the idea that they are just 1s and 0s seems to be slightly incorrect.

for the record i buy all my cables from monoprice.

There is no error correction in the HDMI spec, which means that in theory, if a cable were of sufficient length, or sufficiently poor quality, you can end up with (simplified explanation) issues where the voltage doesn't rise and fall to the values required to register as accurate data bits, doesn't rise and fall quickly enough, or the edges between the transitions get rounded off. You also get signal reflections (like echos) going back down the cable too, which can interfere. HDMI cables are twisted pair, which is supposed to control reflections and such, but the quality of twisted pair can vary quite a bit.

It works 99% of the time though, because it's a lot easier to distinguish between two states (digital) than accurately transmit and measure something that is infinitely variable (analog).

I'll wait now for an EE to chime in and correct my high-school level understanding of this stuff, but the short story is that it is possible that a cable could be sufficiently bad that the HDMI signal is barely in spec.

I am NOT however, advocating spending Monster Cable levels of cash on your HDMI cables though.

[luloo]

I guess I am a little late sometimes monoprice is good for stuff and sometimes dealextreme.com is better. DX has free shipping worldwide which is awesome!