HDMI Cables Consumer Alert

Warning: Read this before you

buy

HDMI cables

The evidence is in.  That $60 set of HDMI cables the salesperson casually adds to your purchase when you buy that great discounted flat screen TV is more than making up for the loss they take on the discounted sale.  You are looking at profit in a bag!

Tests have been done, and have shown that good inexpensive HDMI cables give the same observable performance as expensive HDMI cables.  Please note that I said " observable".  And also note that I said "Good". 

Sometimes we can get lured into the world of the techie engineers.  Your salesperson will show you a bunch of numbers and talk about shields and flow through rates and distortion and soon you will just grab the pack of HDMI cables he is waving under your nose and throw it in the shopping cart.  After all, you can't go wrong buying quality......can you?  Well there's quality, and there's quality.

Let me help you:

Don't buy a 6 foot HDMI cable from your video equipment sales store.

Don't buy one from your local dollar store unless you are a trained professional. ( There are great finds at the dollar store, but the gems and duds are hard to figure out)

Buy a short HDMI cable from a respected seller.  I searched around and this is what I found:

 If you click on that picture you will find a great HDMI cable, guaranteed to transfer data up to 1080p, for only $15.00!!!!

Now how can my local guy dare to charge me $60?  Well let me tell you........

The $60 set of HDMI cables are great.  They are shielded like a tank.  They have data delivery rates second to none.  They are beautiful to look at too! 

BUT will I notice a difference when watching TV?  NO.

So unless you are a real AV Geek, just buy a good pair or HDMI cables and save yourself a lot of money.

When should you spend a lot of money on HDMI cables?  When you are going long distances.  Distance matters in the cable world.  The more distance a signal has to travel, the greater chance of something interfering with it.  Then all that shielding and superior metal wire makes a difference.

You can still find deals though.  Don't get fooled by the fancy plastic wrapping.

Here is a 10 foot cable I found at Smarthome:

 ( Click on the picture of these 10 foot HDMI cables for details. They used to be just $29! )

Also, I should bring up the topic of how all that sound is going to get to your surround sound system.

HDMI Cables are great for taking all sorts of data and sending it to your TV.  But most people don't use the TV speakers.  So how do you get the signal from your audio system to all your speakers and still have that amazing sound to match the amazing picture you are seeing?

This is where you have to spend a bit of money.  BUT if you do it right, not a lot.  You need great quality wire for your surround sound speakers. Forget buying that cheap spool you saw at the hardware store...unless you are half deaf!  The difference between good and cheap wire for speakers is like being in a live concert and hearing it on a little transistor radio ( oops..dating myself again)

Measure out your distances in your listening area.  Figure out how much cable you need.  Then look in to the possibility of buying a spool of cable rather than getting a store to sell you a bunch of pre-cut lengths.  You may find that you can get a spool for less than the precut packages.  And if you have any amounts left over, you can always use it to wire other rooms to your system, or with their own systems.

Here is an example of some indoor speaker wire:

 ( Click on the image to see the current pricing )

Summary:

IF you are an AV Geek.  Spend the money and get the best rated product.

If you are normal, buy a good quality HDMI Cable and Good Quality speaker wire and enjoy the savings!

Hope this Helped,

Colin