http://www.pcworld.com/arti...

Their conclusion? Don't waste your money on expensive cables.

I mean for 7-8 $, try it out. if it doesn't work, go and spend the real dough and get a brand one. if it does work you've saved 40-90$. and after the ps3 break your wallet blues, you'll need it:)

never believe there is no difference between a $7 and a $50+ cable unless some hollywood video guru said it on tv while showing examples or something. Even USB or Parallel Printer cables don't go for $7 bucks, while that snot new technology.

should by them now, while its cheap and available?

never go cheap when it comes to digital entertainment. If you want to get a 7-10-30 dollar HDMI cable you might as well just use the dang component cables. I'll say it again never go cheap on digital entertainment. Why would you deem ps3 600 price tag then say that hdmi shouldn't be over 10 bucks...?

Anyone here who thinks you will get a better picture with a more expensive HDMI cable doesn't know what they're talking about. HDMI is a digital connection and does not suffer from the same issues as component/composite cables. Digital connections have error correcting and whatnot to fix any slight signal loss that occurs. If the PS3 sends out "12345", your TV will get "12345". This is the whole point of a digital connection.

If your cable works, there is no further quality to be gained. This is what people mean when they say "It works or it doesn't".

Same with optical/toslink cables.

Don't be fooled by marketing for expensive cables. They prey on uninformed consumers to buy wildly overpriced cables. Stores like Best Buy and Circuit City push these cables because they have high profit margins.

And to the guy who mentioned USB / Parallel. Same thing. You think they're expensive because when you goto a computer shop or best buy they only carry cables with high profit margins. You can get a USB cable off the net for $1-2 that works as good as your $30 cable from Best Buy.

Cheap Cables are just that, CHEAP. Cheap quality parts that are more likely to have interference, Just because Sony stuck a HDMI port into the PS3 doesnt mean you have to use it, Component is fine guys, thats why the Xbox 360 are doing just fine also.

I thought that all of this was already discussed in this earler news post:
http://www.news4gamers.com/...
And again, nothing has changed. EMU, you were right then and are still right now. Kewlkat007, I guess that our discussions did not pursuade you. I'm terribly sorry for you that you think that way as it really oculd save you some money.

Let me post again what I said earlier:
From kewlkat007: "I will never believe there is no difference between a $7 and a $50+ cable unless some hollywood video guru said it on tv while showing examples or something."

It is a bit hard to understand, isn't it? I understand where you are coming from. However, you can find around the net where people have done mathematical tests that show just exactly what percentage of how much of the signal actually is received by the TV through the monster cable versus the monoprice cables, for example.

The reason there is so much of a price difference is business. Monster and these retail stores know that most people do not even know what HDMI is, let alone know what a good cable should really cost. Monster, for example, takes advantage of this ignorance and is able to get whatever price they want for the cables. Knowledge is power, and often times, it is money in your pocket.

Just check out this picture of a monoprice cable. One can see that it is built very well (not a plastic covering like some Phillips made cables):

on the feedback of the manufacture. Some go the cheap way like what Lionel Hutz posted.

Krimson, you said:
"HDMI is Digital. No signal loss."

That is not entirely accurate. Although it is possible for a $20 HDMI cable to be equal to a $100 monster one, there still are differences from one cable to another. The saying, "either the entire signal is passed through or none of it is," is not correct all the time. Some worse quality digital cables can produce pixelation and macroblocking.

The truth is, as EMU indicated, is that monoprice.com IS THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN THE DIGITAL WORLD. Any audio/videophile knows this. (Really, check some of the AV forums out there. It really is known as “the best kept secret in the digital world.”

I am not here to tell you that all digital cables are the same, because they are not. There is a common misconception that either digital cables work or they don't. The point is, just like with analog cables, there is a difference between digital cables. The difference is in the durability (measured by AWG - referring to the wire gauge of the cable in which the lower the AWG number, the better quality cable) and length of the cable. Pixelation on the screen may be noticed on longer digital cables (generally over 40 feet) and with cables that have a bad AWG.

I bought two HDMI cables from monoprice.com already - one for my cable box and the other for my upcoming PS3. The one for the cable box is working great with no problems.

Because the HDMI 1.3 thing has been brought up in someone's comment, I thought that I might as well post this here(it is a HDMI topic anyway)

The first problem with HDMI 1.3 is that no current player supports 1.3 with the PS3 most likely being the first blu-ray player to have such a technology. The second problem is that you also have to have an HDMI 1.3 compliant input as well. So, if your TV does not have 1.3 compliant hardware, the source does not matter (1.1, 1.2, or 1.3) because the quality is only as good as the weakest chain in the link. The main difference in HDMI 1.3 is the audio capabilities. 1.3 will support full 7.1 lossless audio which precious versions of HDMI were incapable of doing. Picture difference will not be that great considering that 1080p with a few billion colors of the NTSC standard are already capable on all types of HDMI. 1.3 will have a higher bandwidth, but TVs are not even that advanced yet to use all that extra capability.

Lastly, for those of you that are wondering more about this 1.3 thing, all HDMI versions are compatible with each other. As for the TV sets, only a hardware upgrade can make the TV compliant with HDMI 1.3. A firmware update will not make it so. In order to get it then, you'd probably have to buy a new TV that has 1.3 (most likely available summer ’07), or for the more adventurous, open up the set and install the new hardware at risk of destroying your TV :).

I hope that this can help some people that were confused get a basic understanding of this whole HDMI problem. Why do things have to always be so confusing?

Thanks for reading,
Jared