What difference to the gold plated HDMI cables bring?

aLSO 7.1 HD audio uses HDMI

I work in retail and can tell you any component or HDMI cable regardless of brand has a ridiculous mark up from cost of production. For instance I can buy the platinum tipped component cables that are 89.99 for 18.99 with my employee discount(at cost + 5 percent).

HDMI was just brought in so the big movie companies could better protect their movies with more robust copyright protection schemes, that's it. Everything about it having better picture is a case by case thing, it all depends on everything: your source, you tv, etc... etc... Some TVs can display a better picture via component, some via VGA, and others via HDMI/DVI-D. And some sources (cable box, DVD player, satellite box, game console etc...) might output a better overall picture from one or the other. That's what I didn't get why people wanted HDMI so badly on the 360. Sure, it's a nice feature to have, but not necessary. If microsoft were allowed to upconvert DVDs via component and display 1080p from HD-DVDs via component, nobody would notice the difference. I just bought a VGA cable for my TV so I could get those features on my 360, beautiful picture and I won't upgrade my Xbox just for HDMI. People have to learn what everything really is all about. There's my two cents and change, lol.

And people, please don't get suckered in to buy those 200 dollars cables at best buy, those things are completely useless (and I have been told by people who work there that they charge many times what best buy gets them for). A cheap HDMI cable from anywhere else will work just as well. Analog cables, okay maybe quality does matter there, but in the digital realm it doesn't really matter. The signal is just a bunch of 1's and 0's, as long as it all get's through, a cable won't improve the picture quality at all: ie 0% improvement. Don't be naive, do some research and go pick up a cable online for like 20 bucks after shipping, you will be happy.

this guy (who wrote the article) really needs to learn about video/audio output. Theres a HUGE difference in quality. HDMI is capable of delivering FULLY uncompressed audio and resolution at incredible bitrates, while component can only deliver the most basic bitrate and sometimes cannot fully transfer 1080p signals. and PLEASE PLEASE everyone look at the video comparison that VaNdAl posted at comment 1.1

This isn't that much about quality image. At least not directly.

The big reason to go from analog to digital is because digital signal doesn't suffer any kind of interference. That's why there is some kind of trend to "everything" turn from analog to digital...

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to each. Personally, I prefer a direct, virtually lossless digital picture (HDMI/DVI) to a signal that is susceptible to loss (analogue/component). Yes, you can buy analogue cables with great insulation and protection against oustide noise, but there is still an element of loss that is possible. It's personal preference at this point, but I think it's time we all adopt a new standard that is virtually lossless, ie. purely digital. It just makes it easier on all of us. HDMI isn't really that expensive, it's just a great idea. I know there's lots of conspiracies surrounding the technology about evil rights management and movie companies (Image Constraint Token), but at the end of the day, it's just an improvement over existing tech, and people need to get used to it. I'm glad my PS3 has it natively, and any X360 fanboy that argues otherwise is being a blind fanboy, simply put. Get over yourselves.

but that's simply because my TV is 720p/1080i. Maybe in a few years I'll switch to 1080p and finally be able to use HDMI (which is what my dad uses...he brags about it too, and rightfully so. -_- )

I'll probably be using that Optical port pretty soon though. Kinda cool that PS3 has all this stuff built in.

i've been using optical audio since i got my ps3 because my receiver doesn't support hdmi input. parents actually bought the receiver the same day i got my ps2 years ago.

but yeah, picture quality: phenomenal with hdmi

So I pretty much gave everyone here bubbles, except for well you know who, for actually having an intelligent conversation.

Maybe in a few years though when HDMI gets better quality standards and a reasonable price there will be an actually reason to switch. Only real reason now is if you want to have 1 cable vs 5. Personally I could careless, its all behind the TV where I don't see it anyways.

I like HDMI for one reason.

Convenience, one wire, for HD audio and picture.

I use HDMI for my PS3 and 360. But its mostly because I dont have a surround sound system yet and because I dont want that many cables hooked up to my 1080P HDTV. I have 3 HDMI connections so I am good unless Nintendo comes out with a HD videogame console anytime soon :p

Honestly I swtiched between component and HDMI on my 360 and couldnt really see the difference in quality. I only have HDMI for the PS3 but have to admit that upscaled DVD's and the 5 free Blu-Ray movies I got look great.

Though I dont think HDMI is a necessity right now. It is nice to have audio and digital all in one cable though. Unfortunately I got suckered into buying the more expensive cables. But then again all my component and s-video cables in the past were Monster cables too. If anybody asked me whether HDMI was a make or break feature for a videogame console I would say no. But if your going to watch Blu-Ray movies or HD-DVD movies at 1080P then I believe HDMI is a must because alot of 1080P HDTV's dont support 1080P resolution on component output.

The difference is the speed of data transfer. Back when I had Comcast digital cable, I started out with compoenent connection. The problem with components was that when watching tv, the fast motion image would get pixelized really bad. With HDMI connection, it eliminates that pixelization. As for picture quality, it's all the same.

For gaming? I don't know.

That silver has the best conductivity.

1. Silver
2. Copper
3. Gold (plated)
4. Steel (STD)

However gold plated retains better physical quality as it does not corrode as easily. what's exposed to the air and moisture should be gold plated.

Solid silver wire is very expensive. And since corrodes easy is probably most likely avoided.

If people use HDMI on non-high-quality signals and hardware they will obviously see little difference. Just because a television is 1080p or a signal is high-definition doesn't mean that it is 100% high-quality. Most television streams are compressed, yes, even high-definition signals and channels, of course reasons are bandwidth issues on the providers' end.

Get the highest quality video you can (blu-ray/hd-dvd) or other non-compressed format, and then view it on a TRUE 1080p television (no up-scaling clones), you WILL see and HEAR a difference. Let's remember HDMI also gives you a totally digital audio output signal as well and a totally digital output signal. Sure optical can also do digital, but, HDMI still has one of the highest audio output capabilities out there, if you run it through a TRUE 7.1 surround system (not an up-scaled 5.1 channel system) you WILL hear a difference as well.

It's obvious that using "common" hardware will lead to less-positive results, however, if the money is spent correctly on QUALITY hardware (not "affordable" hardware) then the difference is easily distinguishable.

Those other games look great and all, BUT I THINK I JUST WITNESSED A GOD-LIKE GAME!!!!!!!!!! =D

This is the first time I've seen such an unbelievable game exclusive to one console in more than 5 years. This game is SO AMAZING, it makes me want to buy another 360 from JAPAN & play only THIS GAME ON BOTH CONSOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is now the sixth time I have watched this trailer, and oh man, I want to buy a 360 to play this game NOW!!!!!!
http://www.gametrailers.com...

This game reminds me of an epic film, filled with everything. My friend Karai in Japan is buying a 360 just to play this game.
http://www.gametrailers.com...
Its like Star Ocean but even more unbelievable, proving that games are far from dead. They are about to get a full revival thanks to this game.
http://www.teamxbox.com

I predict this game sells over 2 million copies worldwide, and I'm not kidding, because I also predict a whole lot of people who never seen a 360 before are going to get one because of this game.

Move over Final Fantasy, there's somebody else taking over!!!!!!

=(D INFINITE UNDISCOVERY= MASTERPIECE

HDMI provides FARRRRR more bandwidth than component ever will.

no comparing an analog signal to digital.

resolution is ALLL ABOUT bandwidth, that's why DSL is so much faster than 56k yet it rides over the same copper wire. you can pack that much more information on a digital signal as compared to POTS that could only reach 56k.

Contrary to what others say here, I find that HDMI has is noticibly better than component. My brother has his PS3 hooked up via component, which has a fine picture still. I have mine set up via HDMI, and after seeing the PS3 running through component so long, I could see that the clarity was starker, and the colours more vibrant. Very noticible in videos, and quite so when playing TESIV: Oblivion. It's significant enough that my brother says he's getting a HDMI compatible TV soon.

How do you get sound if you have connected your console via DVI to HDMI on your monitor.

I think people have a tendency to think if it's newer it must be better. For me I haven't noticed any difference at all between the two, same thing for cables that are gold tipped. I am certainly a novice when it comes to this type of technology but they sure make it sound like your going to get such a big improvement.

Is it a major breakthrough? Naaa. But it is less wires running in the back of my LCD and Xbox 360.

To all the people who play over HDMI .. you can switch some of the BD/DVD settings (upscaler = off, 24hz mode = off or automatic, PS2 upscaler + smoothing = off ... ) to make Skate run better on the PS3.

just try to change some of the Game and BD/DVD settings in XMB. worked for me and framerate was 99% stable when i played offline in Freeskate without traffic and security - too bad it doesn't work for the online lags :-(

personally on my TV the difference is like night and day.You notice the biggest difference for TV though.Everything is so much brighter and vivid,not to mention the sound is much louder and crisper.I ran both Componet and HDMI at the same time and just paused a show and switched between the 2 and my jaw hit the floor at the difference between them.I know it isnt this way for everyone.I think it depends alot on you HDtv.However on video games not much of a difference there it seems the picture is brighter but thats all really.

The new uncompressed audio streams (Dolby True HD & DTS HD) need a HDMI connection. It is not possible to use fiber optic.

On the quality of the digital source DVD/HD/PC/HDconsole and the quality of the monitor/TV that plays it and if you don't mind spending more for the quality of your cable also is a fair improvment (no you don't need $150 gold) Bottem line the better the picture and sound the more you have to pay.

Many HD TV's now days offer great support for component and their is no need for HDMI. Those with strange HDTVs made in Spain or Mexico that still offer S Video are well screwed. If your trying to hook up a laser/beta player to a $3000 HD plasma then you my friend are the hardcore of harcore. With STV/Standard TV still the dominate source of home video none of this matters anyway when they can only use the red, white and yellow or S Video.

If you own an HDTV do some research on your model and find what best compatible for you and in your price range.

Sonyfanboys will flood this thread with disagrees on any one that doesn't believe HDMI is teh 2nd comming of christ because sony told them this was so, and that HDMI allowed for 1080p/120fps on all games with 4d graphics!

When I hooked a VGA cable (from my 360) to my Samsung 56' HDTV, I noticed I cannot adjust the color scheme. Has anyone experience or have a answer?!

HDMI is better:
·One wire
·Better picture
·Better audio

there is a big difference hook up a ps3 using both right in a row me and my friend did there is a big difference not only in picture but in sound case closed.

LOL Now its just too much.

(First) HDMI= 1 wire
Composite= 5 wires (3 for video, 2 for audio)

(Second) HDMI= filters little artifacts (barely noticable) that composite shows.

(Third) Composite= you can use any video wire to get the same source, meaning that you can use regular audio/video wires

(Fourth) Composite= you can put your 2 stereo wires to a surround sound system. While with HDMI, you would need 2 HDMI wires and a expensive sound reciever (over 700 dollars) to do so.

(Fifth) HDMI= more expensive (but is cheap on Amazon)

Lastly they both have thier strong and weakness. Hope this help a little

Data transfer much higher on HDMI. IT is the next leap. It is digital - so picture will be perfect. At the moment we should not see much difference - but in future when we see support for Deep Color - then we will see the difference in for example the range of shades in black (and every other color). The data transfer will be too high for the rest - and you will need HDMI - but for now - there is not really titles out there that takes advantage of this.

The big reason of course - is DRM. They had to sugar coat it with the upgrade in resolution, colors, transfer speed, digital etc. But the big reason is DRM. And the displays will support HDMI. Which will mean - as with the PS3 - (I have a component cable) - if I want to watch a BR title in 1080p - then even if the component cable can support it - the PS3 forces it to 720p. Well - not much of a problem - as my video projector supports 720p and not 1080p. And when I do get a 1080p - then I will of course get the HDMI cable. The reason they do this is obviously a bit of clever marketing with a long term goal. Wean the user of component, get them over to HDMI, and presto! DRM enabled customer in place. Great move on their side. Very clever.

there is a deference, HDMI is a bit better, you can tell, you must see it to believe it, lol

side by side comparison on my 50" plasma, with one 360 connected with hdmi, and one 360 connected with (expensive) component cables. I used the Bioshock demo to compare. Switching back and forth I found out that the hdmi gave a much sharper picture, and the colors were brighter. It actually made quite a difference. I must say I have a pretty critical eye when it comes to this stuff though.

My 1080P Samsung accepts 1080P with component cables. I'm more than happy with the picture. HDMI may make it look a little better, but I'm very happy with what I have.

Many of the posts i have read on this subject suggest digital is best,because it's binary data, therefore the correct bits are there or they aren't, and as a consequence, the signal is perfect or it isn't. O.k that's a fair point as far as it goes.However, lets take audio as an example.Just because all the binary data is transferred from your 'whizzo' digital CD device to your other whizzo digital device without any loss or interference to the digital signal, that does not make it sound better than analogue. Here's why.There's a major flaw in your logic, that flaw is that your binary data isn't actually carrying ALL the data that is needed.Analogue audio can be vastly superior to digital sound systems,because no matter how you view it,your digital version of a recording is only carrying an APPROXIMATION of the original sound to start with. So the fact that all the data is read correctly is irrelevant.If you have ever seen what the digital data of an audio recording looks like in comparison to the original analogue source, then you would know exactly what i mean.Digital is NOT automatically superior to analogue in every case.As for quality of cables, many digital devices including some CD players are designed to 'replace' missing data by using various algorithms and checksums.So there may not be a perceived difference, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.In some instances a cheap cable may suffer interference, but this is being compensated for. HDMI vs component?.My personal experience is that HDMI gives a slightly sharper image.Having said that analogue CRT's still give a better overall picture than LCD's or plasma HDTV's IMHO

Lets separate the comparisons before making any arguments:
* Digital vs Analog
* HDMI vs Component vs VGA
* 720p vs 1080p
* LCD VS CRT

Digital is better than analog in two aspects - Accuracy, and services. The digital signal is just an signal that is formatted to indicate on, or off. Is the signal high or low? The analog signal doesn't use such a simplified format and allows for results of somewhat high, and somewhat low, etc... The amount of bandwidth analog contains is currently higher than digital, but this higher amount of data is not really usable if the hardware is not capable of displaying that data, or determining if there are errors on it. As far as services go, your digital signal can provide control signals that indicate supported features (Power on, Power Off, color format, error control, whatever). If you have high end analog equipment + source, it will sound or look better than a crappy digital one.

HDMI vs Component vs VGA... Well, consider the analog vs digial comparison and NOW apply format and hardware specifications to them. These specs determine what must be done to interpret the data being transfered. My knowledge on these specs are limited, but I know enough about HDMI and Component to understand that HDMI can't run as far as Component without catastrophic degradation. On the other hand Component has a lower bandwidth limitation, and doesn't provide services that HDMI can because of it's digital based format. So you can understand here that high end Component hardware can look as good as high end HDMI, until the bandwidth runs out or until interference screws with the picture.

LCD vs CRT is a simple argument if we are only comparing picture quality. A good CRT currently has a better color & contrast than LCD. In time I expect people to forget how good things are supposed to look, and be wowed with the new LCD that has this awesome contrast ratio and dynamic color range... something the CRT always had. LCD is playing catchup, and many of us that have LCD TV's are arguing Component vs HDMI, and Analog vs Digital.... Those arguments are distractions until LCD/DLP/Whatever can catch or surpass the CRT.

IS there a disagree monkey going about? ... nearly ever post made here has a disagree or 2.

Obiously someone thinks that everyone is wrong here "rolls eyes"

HDMI v Component or VGA all depends on the TV IMO. Simple as that.

when i first got my PS3 i had component rca wires only.and i have a sharp aqous 52 and it was burning pixals in the upper left.so i went to get a HDMI cable to see if it would fix it and never had a problem since.its been about 7 mounths now.get HDMI or chance having a problem!