difference between 30$ and 120$ hdmi cable

[laosoul]

i was just wondering if there difference between high end expensive hdmi cable and cheap hdmi cable

[BR7]

The only difference IMO is a greedy retailer.I am sure you are referring to Monster and if you are the $30 one will serve you well.I feel that monster is a bit over rated and over priced.

[admin]

I love how salespeople try to push Monster cable products on you whenever you buy something. You can usually get the same quality cable from another brand for half the price, and even then, it only offers a marginal improvement over standard premium cable (avoid cheap cables though, especially analogue ones).

For digital cables such as HDMI, there is no real difference between a cheap one or an expensive one - they either work or they don't, there's no degree of quality you get with analogue cables. The myth that expensive digital cables provide better quality comes from people still thinking about analogue cables (where quality of the cable does affect interference, which in turn provides differences in quality). It's like saying because I downloaded a file from a far away country, that file would have worse quality than one I download from a local mirror - digital stuff doesn't work that way.

There are issues with cable length when it gets too long though, and you may get what is referred to as a "sparkle effect" with cheaper cable (some pixles basically fail to be transmitted, and so there's this sparkling effect) - this is probably the only time when you want to buy a more pricier cable, just for the convenience of being able to return it if it's not good quality. A booster/extender device may be needed if you want such long runs (anything over 10m needs serious consideration).

[ed klein]

Just talking purely on the type of cable (lightguide/fiber or copper leads, the fiber optic light guide would be the fastest.

I don't think the HDMI cables are fiber optic I believe they are all copper conductors.

HDMI cables at 3 ft to 6 ft in length, no real speed difference in electron flow.

I would be more concerned if the HDMI cables are if I remember correctly 1.2 version or 1.3 version and GOOD TIGHT connections on BOTH ends. And not bending the cable any more then necessary.

[admin]

The various HDMI revisions and cables is a bit of a tricky thing, because many manufacturers don't list HDMI revisions for cables. Some older cables will work with 1.3, while some won't. New cables will probably state 1.3 compliance, or "category 1" and "category 2" cables (2 being better). More info here:

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/certified-hdmi-cables.htm